The Heavy Water Brewing Blog

  Just in time for Halloween, Thanksgiving and the cold Autumn nights, our next seasonal treat, Pumpkin π , is now available. A delicious amber ale flavoured with pumpkin, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla. It's the taste of autumn. Beer is not just for drinking... It's also great for cooking and baking with. Our seasonal spiced ale, Pumpkin π , adds a fantastic extra dimension to a fruit cake - try this recipe from Isobel Dunnet-Joye, it's delicious! 440ml Pumpkin π ale 500g dried fruit (any combination, but we like a mix of currants, raisins, sultanas, cranberries, dates) 120g soft brown sugar or coconut sugar 300g flour (any, but Isobel recommends a mix of spelt and ground almond) 3 large eggs, beaten 1 tsp baking powder 1-3 tsps spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice or other to taste) Soak the dried fruit in the beer for at least 24 hours.  Combine all the ingredients.  Put in a lined and greased 8" (20cm) tin.  Bake in the oven at 140C for 60-90 mins until cook...

Have you ever wondered what we do with our spent grains?  After we've finished brewing each of our 500L batches of beer, we have around 100kg of used grain left. But there's still plenty of goodness (and some sweet sugar) left in it, so we give it to a local farmer, Matthew, who feeds it to his cows in Old Minster Lovell. They love it! 

Our long-awaited canning machine has now arrived!  Like most craft breweries, we’re moving over to packaging our beer in cans. Why? Aluminium cans keep the beer far better than glass bottles – they are totally lightproof and air-tight (which bottles are not). Light and air are two of beer’s worst enemies! Beer in cans chill in the fridge far quicker than bottles – more convenient and energy-saving. Cans do not smash if they are dropped – glass bottles, not so much! Cans used in the 70s could taint beer with a metallic taste. Modern aluminium cans are lined so this doesn't happen these days. Aluminium cans can be recycled indefinitely. 75% of aluminium produced since 1888 is still in circulation today. Recycling a can uses 95% less energy than producing a new one. A 500ml glass bottle weighs c.300g, whereas a 440ml aluminium can weighs c.20g. Hence transportation has less environmental impact. We're back to brewing full-speed and getting old favourites and exciting new beers int...

  New year, new floor - no brewing this January as the brewery is stripped out to have floor drains dug and industrial paint applied. No more constant mopping every brew day! The old Braumeister 200L brew kettle has been sold and we’re eagerly anticipating the arrival of a shiny new 500L one to upgrade our production capacity, along with some 600L fermenters. We’ll be brewing some old favourites and some exciting new recipes as soon as it arrives!

  Our online shop is now open! Try this Taster Pack of all our current beers 10x 500ml bottles for £39.50.  We’re offering free delivery inside Oxford ring-road, and also to New Yatt, North Leigh, Long Hanborough, Bladon, Yarnton and Kidlington. We also deliver to Thame and Abingdon for a £5 charge. Email us if you’d like us to add your home to our delivery list...  Minimum order online is 6 bottles.

  Our first day trading on Summertown Farmers’ Market was a great success, and it was lovely to interact directly with customers new and old. Our first 7 beers all sold well, our new banner looked the part, and we’ll be back every Sunday 10-2 until Christmas!

  We’re very pleased with our first bottled dark matter, Dragonfly 44, a rich, dark, roasty 4.8% stout packed with espresso coffee flavours, a creamy, oaty body and nice, bitter finish - it completes our first 6 beers, so we can make up mixed 6-packs. We’re just awaiting Licensing approval before making them available through our online shop for sustainable bike delivery within the Oxford ring-road. To celebrate, we gave our fermenters nice new coats (hoping to reduce the condensation on the brewery floor, the electricity bill for glycol chilling, but also because they look smart!).

New beers keep rolling out of the Brewery and finding favour, with Oxford Marmalade, 5.5% bitter orange IPA, and Schrödinger, 4.8% German-style weissbier, joining Standing Wave, 5% West Coast IPA, to make rather a tempting mixed 6-pack. Steve putting a keg of Oxford Marmalade on tap Steve & Ade with Luciana, lovely landlady of the Teardrop Bar in Oxford’s historic Covered Market

Our first beer Standing Wave is bottled, kegged and hits the shelves - selling out almost straight away. 5% West Cost IPA, it’s citrussy and very hoppy!

  After 2 months at sea, our shiny new 500L Unitank pressure vessel has finally arrived from China and we’re pleased as punch. Now we can carbonate our beer, and ferment under pressure.

Second brew, Oxford Marmalade, 5.5% bitter orange IPA, and Kathryn and Lizzie came to help.

Steve & Charlie kicked off brewing operations (Ade still making his way back from holiday camping in France), making the first Heavy Water beer, Standing Wave, a 5% West Coast IPA dry-hopped with loads of Citra, Amarillo and Cascade. Steve mashing-in the Maris Otter The wort looks (and smells) fantastic Charlie dosing lots of Citra hops And it’s in the can!

Church Hanbrewery have now kindly agreed a deal that will allow us to "cuckoo brew" (i.e. rent space and equipment from them when they're not brewing) at their Brewery In the Cotswolds outside Oxford. We've also taken delivery of our first brewing equipment, in the shape of 240L stainless steel Speidel fermentation vessels (FVs). Can't wait to start filling them with beer!

After many months of planning and discussion, Ade & Steve incorporated the Heavy Water Brewing Company Ltd in January 2020, on a mission to brew and share the best in craft beer with Oxford. In keeping with our planned 1950s theme, we made a photographic souvenir of our first big milestone.