I've not been at mead making very long; less than a year so far. However, I routinely thank google for pointing me at gotmead when I first searched "how do I make mead"! Even with landing on good info it was surprising how far & fast one advances on the protocol side. The secondary/fine tuning/ingredient behavior has most of my "attention" now. A daunting task but thankfully the masters at gotmead pretty much carry everything in their head!
You know, I did the same. I've made three batches of mead. This one here, the first batch, was also made after a quick Google. I saw what was needed, popped into my local home brew shop close to the office and told them what I'm planning. They had no idea how to make mead (and admitted it) and gave me "the best they had". Which was completely wrong. I got no stabilizing agents, no fining agents, the wrong yeast and they guided me in totally the wrong way (as can be seen from the batch). The mead I made was completely incorrectly made, I had no idea on the ABV, didn't feed the yeast AT ALL, fermented too hot, etc. etc. I find the wrong info A LOT, and find the good info is hard to find. Hell, this week alone I was watching videos on YouTube from some popular homebrewers and actually found two videos where people gave the incorrect information regarding the making of wine. Regarding the making of mead, it's incredible how many people still believe that 4 or 5 raisins in a massive batch will provide "nutrients for the yeast". It's that kind of information that's damaging to the mead industry if you ask me, because if I had stopped after my first batch I would always have believed that mead tastes like off honey and burns like jet fuel.
But I persisted. I moved through the podcasts on the GotMead site. I did more and more research. I posted here and asked the stupid questions. Since the first batch is almost ALWAYS started before questions are asked, I decided to ask before doing the second. So I did. I asked a ton of questions and after about 18 months I had a pretty damn good mead in the bottle.
But I didn't stop there. I did more research. Went with better yeast in my third (and latest) batch. I got myself a fermentation chamber so I could keep the fermentation temperature constant and accurate. I step-fed like I was supposed to and stirred up the yeast at regular intervals. I didn't heat the honey and used RO water with a good composition of minerals. I rehydrated my yeast properly. Introduced it into the must at the perfect temperature. I PLANNED this batch and I STUCK to the plan. As a result, my last batch is good. It's great. It's pretty damn fantastic, and it's not even close to ready.
I'm actually planning a video to explain what I did and how I did it, specially considering I need to stabilize, backsweeten and fine sometime soon. Maybe that video will help some newbie down the line.
I'm sorry you had a shitty batch. I do however wish more people could read your experience. I say all the time that you can't turn chicken shit into chicken soup. Unfortunately, too many belive the notion that you can age everything and over time it will become a great mead. That's so far from the truth!!!
Yeah don't be sorry. That batch was doomed from the start, and I know it. As mentioned above I think I should do a video explaining my method and what I did, what I did wrong and what it resulted in. I can also compare it to my latest batch, so maybe it'll help other newbies.