First Mead, recipe review and tips

Hello everyone,
I have been brewing some good beers (and some unfortunate not so good beers) for a few years now and have decided to delve into the world of mead. I have done some research into making mead and have attempted a recipe. I would like for someone with more mead experience than I to review this recipe and let me know if I am off base, complete wrong, or doing ok.

my NFC (no fraggin’ clue) Mead
10 lbs wildflower honey
5 lbs clover honey (they didnt have 15 lbs of wildflower)
4 tsp. Acid Blend -added to primary
4 tsp. Yeast Nutrients -added to primary
1 tsp. Yeast Energizer -added after fermentation starts
1 tsp. Yeast Energizer -added after 12 hours
1 tsp. Yeast Energizer -added after 12 more hours
1 packet Safbrew S-33 dry ale yeast, added to yeast started made with DME

I chose ale yeast over champagne yeast to try to avoid a dry mead.

What are your thoughts? Any feedback is appreciated.

My first thought is, how many gallons are you making? If that is a 5 gal batch it will be pretty darn strong right? Whats you projected OG, what kind of FG are you looking for and can s-33 handle that?

I dont have any of my books or notes with me, won’t that put your OG above 1.120? If you want it that strong I’d go for a wine yeast but other folks may be more help there.

I’ve never used acid blends. It seems like most folks say hold off to see if you need it towards the end, but again, others will have better info on that.

dob

Thank you for the reply Dob,
To answer your questions:
The batch turned out to be about 5.5 gallons (I added a little to much water to the primary)

According to a calculator I found, the OG should be about 1.101 (my test tube has been broken for about a year and I found that in my beer brewing I dont really care what my OG and FG are, so I am just in the habit of not caring)

FG: I wanted a sweet mead as opposed to a dry mead, didn’t care so much about the gravity would be. Read that 3 lbs honey per gallon is required fo a sweet mead so I went with the 15 lbs.

Yeast: S-33 said it could handle 11-12% ABV

Doesn’t sound like too much honey to me. I used 15# of orange blossom for a 5 gallon batch of traditional mead and it’s tasting pretty good and it’s been less than a year. My previous batch I used 12# and felt it needed more. I didn’t use any acid blend tho and technically you should do your nutrient additions based on SG not time, however, you’ll be fine. At least you’re doing staggered additions. Yeast wise, I’ve always used Sweet Mead from our host.
:cheers: