first mead - want suggestions on this recipe

I have never made mead before. Just some wine and some apfelwein.

This is what I want to try and am looking for suggestions and comments.

I purchased 3 gallons of cherry flavored apple cider.
and 12 lbs of honey from a local producer.

I have a set of empty 3.5 gal carboys that need filling. One of them does anyway.

so I thought I would use the cherry cider and the local honey to make mead. but thought I might add some vanilla and cinnamon to it as well just for kicks.

My thought was to heat 1 gal of water, dissolve honey in it. add 4 campdon tabs. put 3 gal of the cider into a primary along with maybe 4 oz pure vanilla. take OG.

start yeast culture and pinch after 24 hours.

Then let ferment with stirring for at least a week in primary.
when transferred to secondary add 2-3 cinamon sticks and continue ferment.
at time of first rack leave the cinnamon behind.

any thoughts on the recipe or procedure?
any comments appreciated as it is my first time.
thanks
wade

Well my initial thoughts are 1 gal water, 3 gals cider plus honey will overtop a 3.5 gal carboy. You could heat a gallon of cider to dissolve the honey and skip the water altogether. You'll want to leave a little bit of head space, so you'll likely only need 2.5 gallons of cider or slightly more. What yeast are you using? I would cut the vanilla back quite a ways as such things can really overpower a mead when adding too much. Where did the cider come from? Locally produced / farmer's market? Or commercial store? If the cider is pastuerized, no need for the campden tablets.

Thanks for the input. actually I was hoping to use my primary which is a 5 gal pail.
I was going to make enough to fill the 3.5 carboy at time of initial transfer and hoping to also filll one more 1 gal for topping up along the way. So I really want at least 4.5 gal total to start.

thanks for the input on the vanilla.

The cider is murrey's brand and it has been pasturized but no preservatives.
I picked up a yeast that was EC-1118.

I was kinda hoping to shoot for a starting OG before pinching of maybe around 1.1.
Make sense?

also I dont think I want to boil my honey. just heat up water enough to disolve it. any opinions here?

Any other comments or ideas are welcome.
thanks
N2

Some additional thoughts/suggestions:

You don't need to add campden, especially if you're using already pasteurized juice...

Boiling honey is not the devil that some people make it out to be, but you definitely don't have to (even without the campden)...

I have a feeling that 4 oz of vanilla is going to be a bit much in a batch this size...I'd shoot for adding a much smaller amount and testing the result before adding more (if needed) in small additional increments....

If you're new to making mead, I'd definitely check out the concept of staggered nutrient additions and do some form of it...

Well hope it works out.
Here is the recipe and the cost run down.

3 gallons murray's cherry flavored apple cider
3/4 gal water
11 lbs local honey -
1 lb sourwood honey
2 tbs nutrient
1/2 tsp energizer
2 1/2 tsp acid blend
1 tsp tannin
2 oz pure vanilla extract
EC - 1118 yeast

added 2 more tbls acid blend to adjust acid to .56 tartaric

OG is 1.130 at 64 deg F.

just pinched yeast after 12 hrs of culture...

plan to add staggerd nutrients as per recommendation on net.

I ended up with almost 5 gal of mash......

hope it turns out. total cost:
11 lbs honey - 40$
1 lb sourwood honey - 8$
2 oz vanilla - 5.69
cinnamon for secondary - 2.86
EC yeast - 1.75
3 gal cider - 18$
Total - $76.30

So I guess if it turns out good it will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 15.26 / gal or maybe a $1.90 / bottle...
course that is not counting the loss for racking etc.
still...kinda fun.
wish me luck.
N2