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Commercial yeasts are fairly tolerant of sulfites, but for bottle conditioning I would limit them to "1/2 dose", which is about 25 ppm. For wine and mead, it's the sorbate that inhibits yeast growth. However, grapes carry Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) in nature, and that can metabolize sorbate...

And when you get to the point where you want to fine tune your mead for tannin or acid adjustments, lower ABV makes that much easier. Otherwise you are fighting the alcohol burn. Ryan Carlson (Squatchy) at GotMead recommends making your traditionals 11%.

Use potassium bicarbonate for that. Not dilution.

Yup, 1.147

First, 1.150 is an outrageously high starting gravity. If that's correct then I'm surprised the yeast was able to ferment it. Most times it'll go into sugar overload (osmotic shock) and not start at all. Please give us your recipe in terms of amount of honey and water so we can validate your...

I would use the KC fining before racking and give it a week to settle out. That should be enough.

It's unique. At 8 months it's very tasty. My avatar pic is my first mead, a JAOM.

And of course, there's always the JAOM for beginners... ;)

That's a myth. Oxygen itself is not flammable. Burning is "rapid oxidation", meaning that oxygen is required for combustion. The danger lies with high O2 concentration, where the slightest spark could ignite something that otherwise wouldn't burn.

"Plastic" isn't a common wine fault that can easily be traced to process issues. In the beer realm it's often associated with keg lines. Since you're kegging your mead maybe that's your issue.

These work too... fruit fly traps

Transfer when the SG hasn't changed for a week.

Beer bottles, not corks. Other than that, you're fine as stated.

There's an awful lot to learn for a noob. Simplest answer anyone can offer you at this point would be to consider the BOMM recipe in the sticky on this forum: BOMM Mead Very detailed and pretty much guaranteed success. Keep the POM in your head as a future enhancement.

I've never made a fruit wine, but here's some guidelines: Fruit Wine Yeasts

What temperature will it ferment at, and how much ABV?

For some folks, I suppose. My mom made strawberry rhubarb pie for the family when I was a kid and I hated it.

Rhubarb... ICK.

As another 'quick and dirty', you can say that a half pound of honey per gallon of must will add about 2.3% ABV on the average.

Ale yeasts often say to sprinkle on the wort. Wine yeasts tell you to rehydrate. I do whatever is written on the packet.