Achouffe Mead

Hey all,
will be making my first mead this week, slightly Belgian modified, so I am wondering what you think of the recipe:
- 62 % flower honey
- 38 % Candi Sugar, Amber
- yeast nutrient (boiled yeasties)
- White Labs Belgian Ale (WLP 550); supposed to be the Achouffe yeast strain

ABV for this would be 9,9%, I am wondering what are you more experienced mead makers thinking about this? Maybe I should put 80/20 ratio for honey/candy sugar. Will be making a 50 l batch and split one half in a corny to force carbonate, but for the other half I don't know if I should carbonate it in the bottles or just leave it plain? Which mead do you perfere?

Cheers

Sounds interesting. I'm not very experienced with mead but I use those ingredients in beer and as I read your post I thought I'd like to do that. It's gotta turn out good either way. Please post how it turns out.

I made a "belgeglin" using saison yeast (3711 French Saison), bitter orange peel and corriander seed. Came out really well, and I'm sure the 550 will do an equally good job on a mead. I didn't use any candi sugar, though, all honey. I have no idea how much sugar you could substitute for honey before it becomes "too much," but I think 38% might be a bit much, and would agree that it might be best to go more towards the 80/20 ratio you suggested. I think you'll still get plenty of color and character from the candi sugar...it is a mead after all though, and I think the honey should dominate.

As far as carbonation goes, I think it's up to your own preference...I perfectly enjoy still mead, so I have never carbonated my meads. I suppose one of these days I'll make a sparkling mead, but just haven't felt the need yet..