Elderberry Melomel

So this is my first attempt at a mead, I don't know if I've ever had mead before so I really don't know what I'm shooting for, but I have had Elderberry wine so I thought that fruit might work for adding a flavor I'm familiar with.

1 Gal batch

Heat 32oz of water to boiling simmer the following: 4oz Dried Elderberries, 1/2 lb Brown Sugar, 1 Clove, 1 Tsp Yeast Nutrient, 3lbs of Sage Honey and let it sit on Low/Med for about 15 minutes.

Add cold water to mixture and pour into a 1 gal container. It was too hot to pitch yeast (85) so I put the airlock on and waited one day to pitch. Pitched Safbrew T-58 around 70 degrees.

Within the first week I had to replace the airlock several times, probably due to limited head space in 1 gallon jug.

OG 1.130 SG after about 40 days is 1.026 (Racked to new container and added about 1.5 cups of water to top off, forgot to check gravity after that)

That puts it at around 13%abv I think. Fermentis site says it should only be able to go to 11% or so. So I can't expect much more out of the yeast and it's a fairly sweet, which I can deal with, but how much longer should I let it go before bottling??
In about a month I'm going to a friends wedding and I'd like to have a few small bottles to test if possible.

Any ideas or input on this recipe or techniques???

A month in secondary/conditioning may be pushing it. But my basic answer is its ready to bottle when it's clear. After that it's ready to drink when ever I open the bottle.
I would say if it is cleared, bottle up a couple of 12 oz bottles, bring two to the wedding, and share the rest with them a year later.
That way you all can enjoy the difference between done and ready.

I bought a sixer of 7oz Corona bottles and I think I'll fill 4 of those up. I was thinking of doing 2 plain and 2 with some oak chips that I have sitting in some Port (with a little whiskey to sanitize). Not sure how that will turn out but I figure with some small bottles, no big loss there, and then sit on the rest for a while.