[Arkcon]

 * 3 piece Airlock (econolock?)
 

During the early fermentation, the three piece is nice, to let gas escape rapidly.  However, when the fermentation slows, you may want a bubbler-type airlock, so you can see how the fermentation is going.  You can count rate of bubble release to see how the fermentation is slowing, and you can observe it like a manometer -- when the fluid level in the bubbler backs up, you know gas has redissolved, and fermentation stopped.  Mead can ferment very slowly after an initial burst of fermentation because the environment isn't as optimal for yeast as grape juice is.

Nutrient and energizer are particularly important for mead fermentation.  Yeast needs those micro-nutrients to grow healthy.  Soon, it will be in a very unforgiving environment  -- as sugar decreases, and alcohol increases, and other waste products accumulate.  You'll want the yeast healthy from the start ... they only reproduce under aerobic conditions.  Once they exhaust the oxygen, only the existing population will continue the ferment.  'Course, some mead aficionados dislike adding any chemical additives, even nutrients, and say they can taste additives.

On that subject, it brings up a who other "holy war" topic.  Will you boil your diluted honey, to precipitate trace proteins and sterilize your diluted must, or will you try to retain volatile components by just dissolving the honey in water and starting the ferment?  But in that case, what if something else gets hold of your must first?  You can get some odd flavors from wild yeasts and bacteria, even if your yeast eventually wins out.

P.S.  What do you have to sanitize your equipment?

[billnotgatez]

Below is the recipe I got from the brewers shop for my first mead and I have some issues with it.
So I am going to call them up.

Recipe
Mead - 1 Gallon

2 pounds of honey
1 tsp    of yeast nutrient
1 tsp    of acid blend
?        of yeast energizer ( I put this in - not in recipe)
1 packet of champagne yeast

Boil honey, nutrient and acid blend for 5 minutes in 1 quart of water.
Skim off any froth.
Pour into ferment bucket
Top off to 1 gallon.
Cool to 80 F degrees.
Add yeast.
Ferment 2 weeks.
Rack to secondary (gallon jug).
Let mead sit until clear, 2 to 3 months.
Bottle, Age at least 4 months.

-------------

First issue is why they did not put in the amount of energizer?
  (my answer is - the kit is general and not for just simple mead)
Why did they not say to start with all equipment sanitized?
  (my answer is - they assumed I would understand this based on the book that came with the kit and I think they mentioned it when I purchased the kit)
Why do they suggest boiling when it will cause loss of aromatic compounds?
  (my answer is - they kept it simple for the first time and it will make passable mead)
Why they do not mention the airlock and bubbles.
  (my answer is - They used a lower amount of honey than most recipes, so that the fermentation would end early thus letting them use a time based approach, which makes it simple for the first time)

I will let you know what answers I get from the brewer's shop.

[billnotgatez]

@Arkcon

Your point about the bubbles is a good one, so I am going to get the other type of airlock and use it later in the brewing.
 
I am going to sanitize all equipment with the chemicals provided this first time. Maybe in the future I will rely on boiling equipment that can take it and use chemicals on the rest.
I think I am just going to heat the honey and water as low as I can and still kill the microbes before cooling and pitching the yeast. So no boiling of the mixture. Hopefully, this will keep some of the volatile components.
I think I am going to use bottled spring water but I can not trust that all the microbes are out of the honey. So I am going to pasteurize.

I am going to use all the nutrients the first time to be sure that all goes well. But, I can see modifying the process to use natural stuff like fruit to get the right acid environment.

I am going to research what actually is in those bottles of nutrient, acid, and energizer.