First hydromel: fall/spiced hydromel

[CSAYank]

So I've been doing some poking around and kinda putting together ideas for a hydromel. I've done 2 high gravity meads but I'm looking for a quicker turnaround. I'm planning on doing a 1 gallon batch, using 1 1/2 or so pounds of honey, cinnamon/vanilla additions or really anything else you guys/gals think would be good. I have no idea how much. A will also most likely stabilize and back sweeten with either honey or apple juice concentrate. Any suggestions?

 

[TandemTails]

I did a fall spiced cyser last year and it turned out pretty well. I definitely overdid it on the spices though. Now my rule of thumb is no more than 3 different specialty ingredients (excluding honey, water, yeast, nutrients).

I'd just stick with honey, cinnamon+vanilla and let that ferment dry. Once that's done and aged a bit, sample it and see how it tastes. If you think it's lacking something, pour two samples containing a few ounces each and then add some honey to one and apple juice concentrate to another and then taste them to see which you like best.

If you prefer it back sweetened, then stabilize it with k-meta and k-sorbate and back sweeten with the sugar you most prefer. I like to aim for an SG of 1.010-1.015 after stabilizing and back sweetening for most of my meads. For a short mead that should be plenty