Okay, I'd try something like this:
15.5 Lbs. Light, mild honey - fresh clover, tupelo, orange blossom, thistle or something like that.
water to 4.5 gallons total - target gravity 1.125
Peaches 15 pounds
ICV D47 5 gram packet
DAP 9 grams
Fermaid K 18 grams
Pectic enzyme
These numbers could be refined a little if I knew the gravity of the juice from the peaches.
I'd mix the honey in the water (you can warm it a little to make the honey easier to pour if you have too) to get the target gravity in a volume of about 4.5 gallons. Then take 5 pounds of peaches and remove the pits, and slice them up and add them to the must. Add pectic enzyme per the directions. If you feel nervous, you can add 4 Campden tablet and let it sit 24 hours, but I would skip it and just pitch the yeast.
Rehydrate the yeast in 100 cc of water at 100 F, then after 20 minutes, pitch it in. I'd use a large plastic bucket (7 gallons or more) if I were doing this to prevent MEAs. Keep the fermentation temp below 70F (60-65 would be ideal). If you can't keep the temp down, I wouldn't use this yeast and would rework the recipe.
At the first sign of fermentation, I'd add the DAP and 1/2 of the Fermaid K. Then aerate the must well. As the fermentation goes, the peaches will be pushed up to form a cap and you should swirl or punch down that cap twice a day.
When the gravity gets to around 1.090, add the remaining Fermaid K. Continuing punching down the cap (or swirling it to submerge it) until the gravity stops dropping (that could be 10-14 days, but you never know).
When if has finished, you can rack this onto the other 10 pounds of of pitted peaches. You can either rack it to another bucket, or you can rack it to a carboy (6-gallon). I'd dose it with pectic enzyme again to help break down the peaches. The fermentation might kick up again with the peaches, but it may stay quiet. I'd let it sit on the peaches for 7-10 days (or until the peaches look kind of bleached out), then rack to a 5 gallon carboy (there may be a little extra left that you can store in a PET plastic bottle with a cap with the air squeezed out that you can use for topping up later). Hopefully the gravity will be about 1.000-1.010
After it has dropped a thick layer of lees, I'd rack it and add 1.5 Campden tablets per gallon (if you sulfited previously, then just 1 per gallon). Let it clear completely, and decide it it needs more sweetening. If so, add more honey and keep it under airlock until it clears again.
Then it should be ready for bottling. It will need at least a year of aging.
There are countless variations that you can incorporate in this process, but this should produce a fruity 14% ABV mead with an identifiable peach presence.
Medsen
