Making the Orange Creamsicle Melomel

I began making the orange creamsicle mead and videotaped the process though it makes the whole thing more complex and confusing.

As usual, I heated up 4 cups of water in the electric kettle for 1 minute and raised the temperature to 113F. Next using some of the hot kettle water and some of the reserved spring water, I poured it into a bowl to begin rehydrating the yeast. The temp was 103F, which was right in the middle of the recommended 100F-105F for the Cote des Blancs yeast.

Next I poured about 1 cup of the hot water into the spring water bottle and added a 1/2 tsp of bentonite which I vigorously shook to mix together. Once that was done, I took the 3 lbs of honey (exactly 4 cups) that I had heated up in building water and poured it into the fermenter,, again shaking vigorously to blend the two together. I then added a 1/2 tsp. of yeast nutrient, 1 tsp. of yeast energizer, and a 1/2 tsp. of pectic enzyme, again mixing thoroughly.

Having opened and poured off the contents of two 12 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate cans into a pitcher, I poured the melted contents into the fermenter and added the rest of the hot water to the fermenter, which altogether gave me approximately 3/4 of a gallon of must at a temperature of 75.4F.

I took a hydrometer reading and was shocked to see the gravity reading was so high: 1.170, or so I guessed because it was literally off the scale of the hydrometer. I've read that a gravity reading that high can cause problems getting the yeast to ferment, and though the must temperature was a little high for where I wanted to pitch my yeast, I did so anyway.

I'll see if there's a ferment going tomorrow. If not, I'll repitch more yeast, some EC-1117, which has higher tolerance for high gravity meads. I may also split the mead in two and make 2 one gallon batches, presumably it ought to cut the gravity in half.

I did check the mead about 8 hrs later and it seemed some fermentation was occurring. There was foam on the surface if the mead and some weak bubbles in the airlock.

UPDATE: 9/23/2017: Fermentation is going fine, and I began degassing the mead twice daily and had two foam overs on day one. I decided (temporarily at least) against dividing the mead, but that is subject to change.
UPDATE: 9/24/2017: Sheesh! Another foam over when degassing. And I barely did it for a few seconds, so I'm going to have to be super careful going forward because a lot of mead has been lost in the process. Gravity reading is starting to drop, down to what I think is 1.164, but it's still off the scale. pH is also at 4.07.