No Brainer Recipes?

So I've been away from brewing all together recently, had bigger fish to fry, and I'd love to get back into it with a nice mead. I want to start with a really small and easy batch in a half-gallon jug, just to get my bearings. Does anyone have any good first timer mead recipes? I'd especially appreciate it if you could convert it down to a half-gallon for me, but no big deal.

Thanks so much!

Just make a gallon of JAO. Straight forward, ingredients easily source, mix it up then leave it (pretty much).

The recipe ? just do a search as its all over the place...

Well I have a batch of JAO fermenting in the closet, instead of raisins I used blueberry raisins. Then I found out that the raisins are used for yeast food, should I add some raisins, or will the blueberries work all the same?

Also how soon after it clears can you drink JAO? I've read that some people will age this stuff up to a year before they drink it, and others only wait till it in the bottles, some even finishing most of it before then.

Also on another note, I was short about a pound of honey, and I made most of it up with sugar, do you think that's going to make much of a difference?

Thanks!

The blueberries should work well enough, methinks.

Taste as it goes, and decide when to start drinking it yourself--a thief is highly recommended. Just, whatever you do, secret a bottle away for awhile and try it months after your stock is gone--you'll be amazed how much it's improved.

Using sugar (especially such a high %) is likely to have thinned the body and added a raisiny character. But since the recipe originally called for raisins, maybe that wont be too bad . If it's rough the first time you taste it, tuck it back in the corner and give it another month or two. Age cure all ales (and meads, too!).