when to bottle? force-carb in keg?

I have a counter pressure bottle filler, and a full keg setup.

What's the smart way to bottle if I want some carbonation? Should I keg, force-carb to desired level, then counter pressure fill bottles?

What is the time to do so? I pitched it on 8/8/8, and it's showed no visible activity in a few months now. Should I wait until it's 9-12 months old for carbing/bottling, or do it now and let it sit in bottles occasionally sampling?

nobody has done this?

Whats the recipe? I'm guessing it's the 90909 barley wine? If so I'd let it sit in secondary for 6 months or though, then bottle normally. I wouldn't keg a BW but that's just because I wouldn't drink it that fast to tie up 1 of my 3 taps.

it's an 8/8/8 mead, just honey water and yeast.

I was just considerring kegging in order to get the carbonation right, then counter-pressure-bottle-filler to get it put away in bottles.

Unless you've used a counter-pressure-bottle-filler before, I would advise against wasting mead on that experiment. It takes some technique and usually you lose a bit when you're finding the right method. Plus, bottle conditioning usually develops better in my opinion....

If you're worried about yeast, you can add a package of similar yeast with the priming sugar right before bottling. It might be a few months before they reach a desired level of carbonation (there are websites and previous threats that tell you how much sugar to add to get a certain level of CO2. The possible downside of bottle conditioning is how sweet you want the mead. If it is a dry mead, no worries, if it is a sweet mead there is the chance that the yeast will eat up the rest of the sweetness.

If you have the time and know how to use the CPBF it might be a better route for you. It is more work than just adding some sugar, but you will end up with a clearer mead (assuming you have stabilized and it is clear to begin with) and a level of CO2 that you desire.

I can use the ghetto-bottle-filler (picnic tap, racking cane, drilled stopper) pretty well.

I tasted the stuff while kegging it yesterday. It has the most awesome honey floral smells (just like the honey did). There is a lot of alcohol and hot alcohol flavors. It grew on me as I sipped, but it's definitely a serious drink. I think I'll try and hunt down some 6 or 8 ounce bottles to package it up and store it for a while in a relatives cellar. I'll crack one every 3 months or so and see how it matures.