About us,
who we are,
what we do,
& how we do it

We start every brew with the finest crushed malted grains. Milling is the physical crushing of malt kernels into smaller particles in preparation for mashing and lautering later down the production line. The finer the grind, the greater the amount of sugary wort that can be extracted. The ratios and type of base malts we use varies depending on the beer we’re making and the exact flavour we want from the final product.

This is where the brewing process begins. Malted barley, wheat and other grains are mixed into the hot water from the HLT to form the mash. The water is absorbed by the malt bill and releases the natural starches, flavours, and colours inside. The starches become sugars which is the food the yeast consume to produce the all-important alcohol. After mashing, more water is added to the mash tun via the sparge arm, filtering through the grains and carrying the sweet sugary liquid with it, leaving any solids behind. The liquid, now known as wort, then escapes via the mash tun’s perforated base into the kettle. The wort is initially cloudy due to unwanted particulates so is put back on top of the grain bed to percolate further. Once the wort runs clear it is time for the boiling process

The kettle is used to vigorously boil the wort for more than an hour. The exact time depends on the beer being made. This prolonged heating stops the enzyme activity from the mash stage, fixes the amount of sugar that will become available to the yeast, and sterilises the wort. Anything that touches the beer from this stage on will have to be completely sterile. The boil stage is also when the hops are added. The heat helps release alpha and beta acids from the hops. Carefully timing when we add them allows us to control the flavour of the drink, from its bitterness to aroma.

Once the boil is done, the wort is cooled and then transferred to the fermentation vessel. Here, the yeast gets busy reproducing by dining out on the sugars that have been produced in the earlier stages. The more sugars we have at this stage, the higher the final ABV of the beer. Different yeasts produce different flavours and aromas in the beer by creating different alcohol esters during fermentation. The flavours and aromas of our beers are also perfected during fermentation by adding further hops to the beer or “dry hopping” them.

The aim of this final part of the brewing process is to perfect the beers’ look, aroma and flavour. We chill and further dry hop our beers and add vegan finings to clear the beer of unwanted yeast, proteins, or hop particles. We then apply carbon dioxide pressure to the tank to give the beer its all important carbonation and mouthfeel. It can take days or weeks for the beer to be ready for packaging, depending on the flavours and levels of carbonation we're trying to achieve in the finished product. Once we’re happy it’s perfect, we start the bottling process.

At Windmill Hill, even this final stage is done by hand. That’s right we bottle and label every single beer ourselves. We think this shows our love for our products and guarantees each one is exactly how we want it. This is also the part of the process that really makes the beers our own. All that’s left to do now is deliver you your drinks so you can enjoy them and share in our love for some of Warwickshire’s finest craft beers.