MLF in Mead

So I've heard quite a bit about malo-lactic fermentation in wine (after checking it out a bit on the white labs website). I understand how it is supposed to contribute to aging and smoothness by fermenting certain acids into lactic acid which is much less harsh. In searching this forum, I have found a lot on doing this with standard wine, but very little on this practice with regards to mead.

Why is that? Are there less acids in mead to convert to lactic acid (thus making the MLF less effective)? Has anyone tried this (please report if you have)? One fact I gained from White Labs is that if there is residual sweetness the MLF can ferment the sugar which creates off-flavors...anyone have a guesstimate (or empirically based) SG reading for the amount of sugar one should avoid if using MLF? Like, 0.990 SG would probably be fine, but what about 1.000 or 1.010?

So apparently honey has moderate-low malic acid, and is not a prime candidate for MLF - still, though, has anyone tried this? What effect did it have? If there's a detectable amount of malic acid in mead (which there is), a MLF should have some sort of impact. Having real trouble finding information about using this in mead.

bringing an old topic back to life......

I've been interested in doing an MLF in mead for some time now. After reading up on it, even though mead has small amount of malic acid..... there is still enough to make itself noticeable.

I just mixed up a batch of Mesquite/OB mead yesterday (starting OG 1.085 - Medium), and will be giving MLF a try on it once primary dies down. Theoretically, with an MLF... it should defeat the need to go back and back-sweeten, since it should convert whatever malic acid is there into lactic acid, thus creating a better, rounder mouthfeel and perceived sweetness.

I'll post back once everything has done its business!

MLF will soften a wine or mead, it will convert the malic into lactic creating a smoother product. Other sensory effects such as more body and mouthfeel will directly depend on the MLB that you use. I've put dozens of wines through MLF, it is standard procedure for me, all reds go through MLF, I can tell you from experience that if you're putting it through MLF in order to avoid back sweetening, I don't believe that you will be happy, plus remember, once you put a wine or mead through MLF, if you decide to back sweeten, you will not be able to add sorbate to stop any new fermentations, sorbate and MLB do not play well, the mead will get an awful off taste of geraniums.
Another thing to consider is the MLB that you are going to use, you really need to understand its tolerances, you mentioned White labs, if you are using their MLB, make sure that you understand that you need to pitch it at 5 brix, and the SO2 tolerance is 10ppm.
If this is your first time trying Malolactic Fermentation, I'd use either Lalvin Bacchus, or VP 41, these have a greater temperature, and SO2 tolerances, lower VA production and better nutrient requirements (less).
I've written up a fairly detailed article on our sister site, Wine Making Talk if you are interested.
Tom