5 gallon primary and 5 one gallon secondaries

[knotquiteawake]

Have you guys done batches like this before?
I have made one batch of mead 6 years ago (still drinking through it because i keep forgetting I have it). It was a blueberry mead. I don't remember a thing about it. All i know about it now is that its purple, tastes kind of like a red wine, and is alcoholic. Its not bad though. Still enjoy it when i remember it exists.

I want to make another batch but I don't want to commit to 5 gallons of a single flavor.
I was thinking of doing a basic sweet mead recipe in my 5 gallon carboy and then rack it into my 5 1 gallon jugs with different additions. Like an extra sweet mead, vanilla-something mead, something-citrus mead, ginger mead, and so on...
I figure this way I might end up with more mead in the end because After primary fermentation I'll be racking off the trub (or whatever you would call it with mead) and in secondary have slightly more space for the liquid and additions.

All that being said what would you guys recommend as a good base (and yeast) sweet mead to use for primary to be split off in secondaries later?

Thanks!

 

[NotAnyMore]

This is how I often do trial batches, just usually 5 split into 2.5 gallon batches. I would recommend starting with a dry base mead and sweetening the smaller jars to give more flexibility.

D47 works fairly well with the honey I use, for a traditional style i will use 3 lbs/gal then ferment dry and stabilize then backsweeten and add any fruit/spices. I prefer session style meads due to their faster turn around time, I follow the same procedure just using 1.5 lbs/gal

 

[JP Smajda]

This is exactly what I am doing with my melomiles this year. Though this is only my 2nd year doing mead, having done a few successful batches last year.

I started 6 gallon primary. SG of 80 or so. The fruits are going to add a bit more sugar in the secondary. I used wyeast sweet mead cider, two packs. I have a bunch of 3/4 gallon and 1 gallon carboys I'll be setting up for my secondaries.

I also plan on racking those off in another month afterward and letting them age/ clear out for a few months at least.