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Yeah I've been gassed pretty good by the yeasts before. Nothing to worry about.

It's hard to tell in the pic if that's fruit or just fruity foam from fermentation. I wouldn't be worried about it either way. You can top up with whatever you like, you shouldn't need much if any at all. It looks pretty full to me, I don't think it would oxidize.

That's the basic process, yes, but don't worry about the time frame. Not every fermentation is going to complete in a month. Primary fermentation ends when fermentation stops and the SG of your mead stops dropping. Secondary fermentation is where you'd add any additional flavorings that you...

That's not very long. Let it sit and do its thing. It will clear. You're running on mead time; the mead isn't running on your time.

It tastes good but smells like vomit...? Don't smell it. But seriously, just let it age for a while. Any vomity off flavors will more than likely age out.

I should think if you're going for an IPA level of bitterness, that'd mask any delicate aromatics from the honey anyway. Boil away.

Caramelizing the honey renders some of the sugars unfermentable to the yeasts, so it stands to reason that a bochet will have a bit more sweetness to it than a traditional. It does sound like yours has a bit too much sweetness though. I would bite the bullet, pitch a wine yeast, let it ferment...

In my experience, "pumpkin" flavor is actually the spices that commonly accompany pumpkin, and the actual pumpkin itself is just a delivery vessel for them. That being said, those are some tasty spices...

If you don't want a dry mead, just stabilize with sulfite and sorbate and backsweeten to taste with additional honey.

Taste it. Honey doesn't spoil and I've heard a few accounts of aged honey being heavenly. It might turn out that you're sitting on the holy grail of honeys and you might just want to make a traditional to highlight it.

Normally I'd say to let it run its course... but then you mentioned thirteen gallons. Holy crap. Cold crash it ASAP and get the yeasts you want in there. I'm pretty sure everything would be okay, but I wouldn't want to take unnecessary risks on a batch that big.

If you're adding them to secondary and you've had a healthy ferment, you can pretty much rely on the alcohol to deal with any intruders, so sanitizing the berries isn't too much of an issue. That being said, if you still want to sanitize them I'd give them a quick boil.

If I were you, I'd rack it out now. But it really depends on what kind of yeast you used. Some yeasts are a lot more prone to autolysis than others.

Check out the thread for Bray's One Month Mead. I haven't tried it but I've yet to read anything negative about it. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/brays-one-month-mead-429241/

Caramelizing the honey will definitely lend a caramely, burnt marshmallow type of flavor. I definitely recommend it. Caramelizing will also render some of the sugars unfermentable, but I would still stabilize just out of paranoia of bottle bombs.

I think it could go pretty well in a gin influenced mead with juniper berries. It'd enhance the "Christmas tree" qualities of the gin flavor. Maybe with a hint of lime. I might have to do this in the near future.

Thats a veeerry huge question. That's like saying "what does beer taste like" or wine or cheese. The only ingredient that meads have in common is honey. Other than that, it can be anything. There are traditionals, melomels, metheglins, acerglyns, pyments, cysers, braggots, bochets... the list...

I've been planning on a strawberry melon mint mead but haven't gotten around to it. It's a great flavor combination, I've just never had it in a mead.

I very well could be mistaken but I don't think oxidization happens with brief exposure to oxygen... it should take a while. I say continue to punch down, especially if fermentation is still going on, cause that'll just fill any headspace back up with co2.

So... wait... You edited the JAOM recipe and you're unhappy with the results? Shocker! No, just kidding. I think blending it with a dry traditional would be a really good idea.