Traditional Clover Mead for Blending--Foam Over!

The way I see it, the only way to have mead on hand for blending with wine to make pyments and throw on spices, fruit, etc. in the secondary is to have traditional, cleared mead ready to go. So, I put 15lbs clover honey in enough water to bring to 1.085 (call it 5.5-6 gallons of initial must), threw in the first nutrient addition and some rehydrated Lalvin 71B-1122.

We had active fermentation yesterday morning, so in went the second nutrient addition and a good stir (did you know that a racking cane chucked into a cordless drill makes a great wine whip?)

This morning, I went down to de-gas and rouse the yeast--in went the racking cane/drill monster and I had terrible foam over! I added foam control drops but likely lost 3-4 quarts. Sucks.

Do I need bigger primaries, smaller batches, gentler de-gassing, or some combination? This is my first mead where I know what I'm doing (to an extent) so I'm hoping for primary to be done after a week or three.

Any advice is appreciated!
jkpq45

Gentler de-gassing. I typically only hand-whip my meads that early in fermentation because they are throwing so much CO2 that a mead eruption is almost guaranteed if you hit it too hard. With a hand stirrer, you have control over how much comes out, and how soon.

Anti-foam drops can also help, although I don't typically use them. Careful stirring over the first few days is enough to keep things in check for me.