Recipes, Tutorials, and Themed Brews

In the world of Dungeon Crawler Carl, the Rev Up Immunity Smoothie is infamous for tasting like "the diseased asshole of an incontinent skunk"—made from toilet-grade moonshine and blended Laminac Elite corpses. But today, we’re fixing that!

In Part 1 of this fantasy homebrewing build, we take those wild lore effects and transform the recipe into an ultra-refreshing, easy-drinking Strawberry Lemonade Melomel Mead!

We're crafting a low-ABV (session style, ~9%) honey-wine using frozen Costco strawberries, local clover/alfalfa honey, black tea for mouthfeel tannins, and Lalvin 71B yeast. Watch step-by-step as we construct the must, rehydrate our yeast, calculate initial gravity, and prep this batch for primary fermentation!

Today, we are taking one of Skyrim’s most broken alchemy recipes and turning it into a real-life Resist Frost Potion! By pairing real caramelized pie pumpkin with a blend of warming spices and sweet clover honey, we are crafting a rich, 14%+ high-ABV pumpkin spice mead designed to take the edge off the winter chill.

Whether you are here for the deep Elder Scrolls Skyrim easter egg or you want a complete tutorial on making pumpkin spice mead from scratch (or both!), this homebrew walkthrough covers it all: rehydrating Lalvin EC-1118 yeast with Go-Ferm, aerating must with power tools, preparing pumpkin, using a brew bag, and taking hydrometer gravity readings.

Finalizing and tasting our Dungeon Crawler Carl-inspired melomel: Mongo’s Slobber and Sinew! After sitting on wine tannins to build up the mouthfeel, this high-gravity strawberry cherry mead is ready for finishing. We’re doing a quick hydrometer check, racking off the lees, and balancing the flavors by back-sweetening with raw wildflower honey to lock in the ultimate semi-sweet profile. If you’re learning how to make melomel at home or want practical mead-making tips on finishing, rack-backs, and balancing acid versus sweetness, this video breaks down the exact process. We cover how to handle young mead off-flavors, maintain sanitization, and prep your batch for thermal pasteurization to prevent re-fermentation in the bottle.

If you’ve been paying attention in the dungeon, you know that certain powerful creatures are easily offended. And when they get appalled, blood gets spilled. Today, we are brewing a mead designed to look like it came straight off a fourth-floor battleground: Mongo’s Slobber and Sinew.

This is a fruit mead, also known as a Melomel. We are aiming for a terrifying, deep blood-red color by combining three pounds of whole strawberries with cherry juice and honey. Because of some previous dungeon chaos (check out the Carl's Jug O' Boom video for context), this batch is coming in a little stronger than planned, with a potential ABV around 14%.

Grab your favorite fermenter and let's get brewing!

Today, we are following up on our strawberry cherry mead (Mongo’s Slobber and Sinew) to check in on how primary fermentation went after two weeks in the fermenter. We aren't rushing this process. The fermentation started off strong and finished down dry, so we are taking a hydrometer reading, calculating the final ABV, and doing an initial taste test. Because the berries stripped of their color and left behind a flat mouthfeel without enough tannins, we are racking over to secondary fermentation to clear the mead off the heavy fruit sediment and adding wine tannin to build up the body. Watch to see how to handle fruit racking, tannin adjustments, and managing air exposure during secondary!