About us
Brewing It My Way
I used to spend my time making all-grain homebrewed beers on the stove top in our old kitchen (kitchen mayhem!) I’m self-taught, and even though I was only just starting out with all-grain brewing, my beers were getting good feedback from friends and folks at work.Brewing It My Way
I used to spend my time making all-grain homebrewed beers on the stove top in our old kitchen (kitchen mayhem!) I’m self-taught, and even though I was only just starting out with all-grain brewing, my beers were getting good feedback from friends and folks at work.
After being made redundant from my engineering role a little later, I sent an email to Saltaire Brewery asking if a homebrewer could come and have a look around. I got a reply back saying I was being put in for a position they were hiring for! I didn’t even know there was a job going, let alone what I was applying for. Luckily I had attached my CV just on the off chance…
I took the position at Saltaire Brewery, washing casks and supporting the brewery team, and ended up as “Brewhouse Team Leader” with some of my own recipes becoming regular additions to the Saltaire range. I learned some solid brewery procedure in my time there, sharpening up my homebrew skills to the level of a “proper” brewer. Thanks to this, I studied for and passed my Institute of Brewers & Distillers exam.
A Place Of Our Own
It was time for me to do my own thing.
Wishbone Brewery began to take shape in my mind back in 2011 with me registering the domain name and grabbing the @ on Twitter. At the time I did a lot of research into setup costs and found I might have to start very small and cheap. It wasn’t really until 2013 that more serious thought was put into Wishbone and talks with a local business adviser focused my mind and made me have a more structured approach – costs were added up, pubs were talked to, and family investment talked about.
In 2014, planning was getting more serious and funding was secured for our family-run brewery. Everything takes a long time when you’re starting a brewery, and finding the right premises was interesting to say the least. Several times our hearts were set on somewhere perfect, only to be gazumped. In late 2014 we signed the lease and ordered the brewkit! It took a restless night and some imagination to see a future in the premises we chose, but it’s working for us now.
In Great Company in Keighley
Wishbone Brewery is entirely indoors, we started with the First & ground floors though have recently cut our costs and condensed operations to the ground floor. We are just a six minute walk from Keighley Worth Valley Railway station on Chesham Street just off Dalton Lane in Keighley, West Yorkshire. In Keighley we’re in good company, with the mighty Timothy Taylors Brewery, Bridgehouse Brewery and Goose Eye Brewery all practically a stone’s throw away from our front door.
Our brewery building is a mill shed that used to be part of Sir James Hill Textiles. My dad used to work here and I still remember the smell of wool grease the place had from when I was a kid going to work with him on a Saturday. Now the shed smells of hops, malt, and beer.
The brewery premises are based on Chesham Street just off Dalton Lane in Keighley, West Yorkshire. We have the ground floor and first floor (just the ground Floor since December 2023) in a mill shed that used to be part of Sir James Hill Textiles, my dad used to work here and I still remember the smell of wool grease the place had from when I was a kid going to work with my dad on a Saturday… I’m sure the smell of Hops, Malt & Beer will be an interesting change from wool grease.
The Wishbone Brew Kit
Our brewhouse is built by Pureweld with conical fermentation vessels (DPVs) built and imported from Zhongde in China. DPVs are Dual Purpose Vessels used to both ferment and condition the beer prior to being racked to cask or carbonated for keg and bottle. We use whole hops in the boil and pellet hops for dry hopping in the conditioning phase after fermentation.
All the dry goods like Malted grains get lifted to the first floor where we have our malt loft and grist case (a big hopper that the malt is tipped into before being fed into the mash tun), the malts then slide down the chute getting hydrated as they go to the mash tun on the ground floor. The Copper – our boiling vessel for the sweet wort and hops – sits next to the Mash tun with a Hot Liquor Tank and our Fermenting vessels are in this area too. And that’s how we do things around here! Fresh and delicious beer from a Victorian textile shed in Keighley, West Yorkshire. Come and visit us on one of our tap open days.
