Carbonated?

I made up my first two batches of mead last year, and bottled after 5 months, and 7 months after that, I opened a bottle of carbonated mead.

I'm not sure where I went wrong, but can someone shine some light on why my mead is the consistency of champagne?

There are two possibilities. One is that you bottled too soon, and the mead continued to ferment in the bottle. The other is that you bottled too soon, and the mead was gassy when you bottled it and the gas can't go anywhere so it's "carbonating" the mead.

That definitely makes sense. Any tips/tricks for knowing when to bottle? The recipe I tried said when it was relatively clear, and I waited past that date a while to be sure.

I have yet to bottle my first batch because when I shine a flashlight through it I still see bubbles rising .... SG has been constant for a while now but I do not want to risk the bottle bombs I have read about here.
I have 4 carboys waiting and with my luck they will all be ready simultaneously.

Try bulk aging for a few more months before you bottle. I've bulk aged a couple of cysers for 2 years & counting. If you're in a hurry, you could degas before bottling. I like to bulk age & let nature do it's thing. Regards, GF.

Exactly! I agree with GF.

One other thing I learned the hard way is weather matters. I have a cold house in the winter, which clears my wines and meads beautifully. However, if I bottle it when it's still chilly, the wine "holds" onto the co2 and when the weather warms, I get bubbly wine. It will degas naturally on its own eventually in the carboy, but I always check it now to make sure.

When you take a sample, it should be perfectly still. Perfectly. Not one bubble. Shake the sample gently- it still should be still. If you see bubbles rising quickly, it's gassy.

Rely on successive FG measurements to ensure the fermentation is finished, use your eyes to ensure clarity and lack of gas, and even then you could wait another year to bottle.

Usually, my wines are about a year old when I bottle, and the meads are older, but I have a rhubarb wine that's been in the carboy since May 2008. I can bottle anytime, but it's nice to bulk age wines that are a little harsh.

I really like it though. It's actually extremely tasty and has about the same bubbly-ness as champagne. I might try to replicate the results in one batch this year, and get the rest flat.

So take a sample and shake it. Sounds simple and effective Thank you!