All of the above is good stuff. Just pulling things out of my head, I would say the following things:
You can't over sanitize or over clean. Mead likes to age, aging and contaminants are a bad mix. If you are not heating your ingredients, use potassium metabisulphite (campden). I have made vinegar from sealed, clean store bought apple juice. (not intentionally)
Probably the most common novice mistake is trying to boost the alcohol. First learn how to make a good tasting batch, almost nobody wants to drink rocket fuel.
Watch the temperature. Too high: fusel alcohol, hangovers, rocket fuel. Too low: Stalled fermentation, sulpher faults.
Be patient, Mead loves to age. I use Wyeast sweet mead yeast and ferment cool. It takes about 3 weeks to finish bubbling. I leave it 6 weeks on the yeast, three to do the coarse ferment, and 3 to clean up. 5 years later I am still happy with the results. Then I rack to a 5 gallon carboy, fit an airlock and park it for a year. I put it in a keg and carbonate. Two years ago I got told to double the batches, so I guess she is happy.
Be really patient, the higher the alcohol the longer it takes to age usually.
I use plastic bucket for the first few days, lets me stir and check gravity easily. I cover it with a sanitized bandana held in place with 1/8 inch bungee cord around the neck. When the foam dies down and gravity drops to half I rack the whole mess to a 6.5 gallon for the rest of the 6 weeks. This way I can keep the yeast with it for the whole 6 weeks.
I use 4.5 gallons water, 12 pounds honey, a pound or two of sugar and 10 oz dried hibiscus. (the sugar dries it out a touch, seems sweet to me otherwise) I boil the water, add the honey and sugar, boil for a few minutes and skim the crud. Add hibiscus and boil for 10 minutes. I have a chiller for beer, so I chill to below 70 and pitch. But that is me, you may prefer a cold method.
Pay attention to the nutrients. stressed yeast produce drain cleaner.
I always use starters for my yeast, but then again, I keep splitting them and building again to do 5 batches of 5 gallons each.
Many say to never boil honey, you lose the varietals. I don't care. I am using hibiscus as a flavor, it steps on the varietals anyway. It works for me, the hibiscus has to be boiled anyway. I buy honey cheap, just simple clover. (but I may try wildflower soon) And lastly, I have a medical condition that I should not eat raw honey, And I am making this for me after all.
Start small, get comfortable. make what you want, not what someone else thinks is best. This is a hobby, enjoy yourself.
Read, a lot, seriously. There are great resources for free on the web. There are good books in print. I spent weeks reading on line, then dove in. still took a while to get comfortable, but it was worth it.
