Our copy of "The Compleat MeadMaker" by Ken Schramm is wearing out so I use this instead.   In all cases where water is required use distilled water.

BTW, We have found that there is a large difference in the taste of different kinds of honey.   Choose a good tasting, good quality, honey and it will show up in the tast of your mead.

Sanitize
One of the most important steps is sanitization, you don't want anything other than yeast to be multiplying in your starter, must, or final bottles (and corks).   Everything that comes in contact with your starter, must, tools, or final mead must be sanitized.   Fill fermentation bucket with water and add 2-1/2 TBSP bleach.   Let soak for 1 hr. then throughly rinse with clean water and dry out.   One gallon of clean water add 1 Tbsp bleach, and soak all tools you will use in mead making (stirers, ladle, starter bottle, hydrometer, thermometer, funnel, measuring spoons, etc.).   I use a plastic walpaper tray for sanitizing the tools.

Procedure

• Boil 1 gal. of water vigorously in a stock pot for 10 min.
• Remove stock pot from heat.
• Add yeast nutrient, and yeast energiser to the stock pot.
• Add honey to stock pot.   Ladle hot water from stock pot, to honey containers to get all honey.
• Maintain temperature of water in stock pot to 150-165°, keep it there for 15 min (may need to go back on low heat), this pasturizes the honey. Stir the honey frequently, especially when heating keeps it from scorching.
• Cool the must to 100°.
• Pour the Base (water or apple juice) from the recipe, into the fermenter.
• Pour the must from the stock pot into the fermenter, stir to get all the honey, some may have settled to the bottom.
• Pitch the yeast (starter).
• Oxegenate (stir vigorously) the must for 20 min.   I use battery drill with long stainless steel mix-stirrer, it should cavitate introducing oxygen into the must.
• Measure the must's Specific Gravity (should be 1.120 - 1.135) and log as "OG:" (Original Gravity) along with batch number and date.
• Place lid and air lock on fermenter.
• Move fermenter to safe place (about 75°).

Fermentation #1

• After 10-15 days, rack the must into sanitized carboy
• Add apple concentrate
• Add 2 tsp sodium metabisulphite to stop yeast from fermenting.

• After about 5-6 months, fermentation #2,
• Rack again.
• Allow another month or two to clarify but the apple pulp will not completely clear up.
• Near bottling time, add 2 tsp Keilesol to precipitate apple pulp.  
• Bottle

Bottling
Mix 1 tbsp of regular bleach per gallon of water.   Don't use the non-spill bleach, it foams up too much.   Fill each bottle with the beach water mixture, shake then pour mixture into next bottle.   Throughly rinse emptied bottle with clean water, using pressure jet system, and let bottle drain upside down.  

Corking
When corking, soak corks for one hour in a gallon of water with 2 Campden tablets disolved and a couple of drops of glycerine.
Align corks with bottle opening and push down (with two handled corker).