Dustin Crewell
dustincrewell.bsky.social
Dustin Crewell
@dustincrewell.bsky.social
Hockey dad, writer, nerd.
Mead update: Lamfada (blackberry/blueberry/sweet corn/sage), aka the little mead that couldn’t wait. 5 full bottles, 4 small ones. Great purplish-red color, complex flavor. Not sure I could do this again if I tried.
July 6, 2025 at 2:02 AM
MEAD UPDATE: 6 bottles of Chainbreaker (hibiscus/rosehip), hoping to salvage a 7th once the dregs settle again.

Lamfada (blackberry/blueberry) is in secondary after telling me it wanted to be MUCH different than I’d intended.

Starting on Imbas (hazelnut/oat chai).
June 17, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Mead update: Raven's Hope (cherry) went in too early, keeps trying to pop the push-top corks.

Chainbreaker (hibiscus) is filtering in preparation for bottling. Yay!

Lamfada (blackberry/blueberry) was a comedy of errors. Fermentation in 4 days, closer to beer than wine. Hopefully ages out well.
June 12, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Mead update: Raven’s Hope (cherry-cranberry) is bottled. Predicted 8 bottles on the dot.

Flavor is AGGRESSIVELY fruity. Hopefully aging smoothes the edges a bit; otherwise a little water works wonders.
May 24, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Mead update: Chainbreaker (hibiscus/rosehip) is brewing. Using a different nutrient this time, so we’ll see how it turns out.
May 16, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Mead update: Scoundrel is all done, 7 bottles. Smoky, tannic, hint of vanilla.

I’m, uh, running out of bottles. 🤣🤣
May 6, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Mead update: Raven's Hope (cherry/cranberry) is in the pipeline.
April 8, 2025 at 3:20 AM
Mead update: first rack of Scoundrel; once it’s settled enough, I’ll rack again and cold steep the tea. It’s going to need it - assuming my readings are right this is a whopping 27.5%. 😳
April 6, 2025 at 1:42 AM
5 bottles of the pomegranate-blood orange mead, and probably another half-bottle once the dregs settle out. Gonna call this a success.
March 29, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Mead update: Plain mead finally settled out, got 2 bottles. Fig mead is also in 2 bottles, needs a *lot* of aging. Pomegranate mead is settling and *almost* ready for bottling, expecting 4-5 bottles of that - taste is mellow but I'll let that age a while too. Just starting on the tea mead.
March 24, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Pomegranate/blood orange mead moved into secondary fermentation. About 9% ABV right now. Still needs to age out the yeast, and the orange is much stronger than the pomegranate. A little juice before bottling will trade ABV for flavor, but should come out great. :)
March 5, 2025 at 3:11 AM
Late-night taste-test led to emergency midnight bottling of the first batch of Newton’s Mead. May have left the vanilla and cinnamon in a *tad* too long, but it’s still tasty.
February 12, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Been trying to stay positive and active - trying to work out, making mead, the 3D printer is churning out stuff, getting writing done...

But also trying to grapple with how many people I considered friends have turned out to be remarkably shitty people. It's depressing.
February 10, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Oh. That *might* be a little bit more sediment than I’d expected. 🤣🤣

At this rate I’m going to lose a whole bottle’s worth.
February 7, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Somehow, I feel like I may have picked a bad time to pick up a hobby that involves sizable amounts of honey and fruit, especially since it creates a sizable amount of alcohol.
February 4, 2025 at 7:26 PM
So, on a TOTALLY unrelated note, my second batch of mead is coming along *swimmingly*. Still a few months from being bottled and aged, but pretty happy with the progress so far (2 wks in).
January 23, 2025 at 10:42 PM