48 hours and no bubbling! :(

[Nyxsmead]

Ok. If you split the batch, you won't shock the yeast any more than they have already been shocked. If anything, that should wake them up.
No, do NOT shake it.....swirl it around in the carboy or GENTLY stir, NOT slosh & splash. If you have a problem getting all of the leese off the bottom, stop the racking process when you get close to the bottom & give it another swirl to get that leese into suspension.
I take readings fairly regularly, but, I'm extremely diligent about sanitization, with everything. After you put the must together, you'll want to take a reading every few days to monitor the gravity for your nutrient additions.
I understand you wanted to do it all up front & not have to add anything later, but, you may want to make a few traditional meads first, to get/understand the process of mead making.
Traditional = honey, water, yeast & nutrients, if you have them.
Once you have that down, the rest will become a lot easier.
It's a long read, but, read this thread on BOMM, front to back. It's loaded with a lot of useful information about mead making.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/brays-one-month-mead.429241/

Thank you for taking the time to explain this to me. I love the mead community and I really want to learn and get better, I don’t know anyone personally with any brewing experience and my learning style depends on communication so it has been a bit tough trying to teach myself but I’m glad I found this website!
thank you soooo much again!

 

[Nyxsmead]

Thing that bothers me about this situation is 1 gallon of cider + 4 pounds of honey yielding an OG reading of 1.100. That just can't possibly be right -- not even close. And if you're not measuring SG accurately, you're going to have a hard time with this batch, and with this hobby.
You might want to try measuring SG of plain water, just to make sure your hydrometer and your measuring technique are both OK. Then measure the SG of your must again, before you start making amendments to it.

I’m sorry I bothered you with my inaccuracies, honestly, I didn’t write down the OG when I did the reading, it slipped my mind, but I had that visual memory of it and when I tried to remember I had to guesstimate /.\ I remember it being towards the bottom but not too low on the hydrometer and I was just so concerned with my not having a drill that I just wasn’t attentive enough with the reading. I will definitely learn from this. Thank you.

 

[Toxxyc]

My OG was 1.100
The reason I put so much honey in at first was cuz I didn’t want to have to back sweeten or add anything in 2nd fermentation. I don’t have an extra fermenter, just one more 1gallon carboy. I could do the splitting that “miraculix”suggested. :/

I suspect you incorrectly measured the OG, possibly due to some honey not being dissolved.

 

[Dan O]

Thank you for taking the time to explain this to me. I love the mead community and I really want to learn and get better, I don’t know anyone personally with any brewing experience and my learning style depends on communication so it has been a bit tough trying to teach myself but I’m glad I found this website!
thank you soooo much again!

Glad to help. We've all been the new kid in the room @ one point or another with unanswered questions. Others have been very helpful to me, I'm just returning the favor for the new people coming in, just in case nobody else can respond. Good luck.

 

[RufusBrewer]

Maybe you know about this site already. Maybe not.

https://www.meadmaderight.com/

 

[Nyxsmead]

Glad to help. We've all been the new kid in the room @ one point or another with unanswered questions. Others have been very helpful to me, I'm just returning the favor for the new people coming in, just in case nobody else can respond. Good luck.

I still haven’t split the batch, wasn’t able to get to the store. I fear the longer I wait, the less time I have.
Btw, I was wondering if you could tell if it’s fermenting well by the looks of it. I was thinking about posting a video of what it looks like, you can see a lot when I flash a light through it. It’s starting to bubble a lot more now, but I know someone said earlier bubbles mean nothing. A part if me is hoping I “get lucky” but then the other part of me just thinks about how it really is a lot of sugar for the yeast to handle..

 

[Nyxsmead]

Is there a gravity reading that would indicate that my mead isn’t turning into a hot fusel mess?

 

[IslandLizard]

Is there a gravity reading that would indicate that my mead isn’t turning into a hot fusel mess?

A gravity reading has nothing to do with fusel alcohols, they're created by the yeast fermenting at higher temps. Sometimes also due to yeast stress, such as lack of nutrients.

 

[Toxxyc]

A gravity reading has nothing to do with fusel alcohols, they're created by the yeast fermenting at higher temps. Sometimes also due to yeast stress, such as lack of nutrients.

Or due to increased alcohol or sugar content the yeast is working in.