/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Is this thread alive? Here's some mead I just brewed. I'll bottle it soon and start another batch. I thought I'd ask here for some advice from people with more experience. What's your mead making process, /diy/? How do I make it strong but dry, I think I'll use hops from my back yard next time.

What I do is:
- heat the must, using as much honey as is sane
- add raisins and some acidic fruit, usually citrus.
- Then I add spices,
- pitch the yeast after letting it start in a bowl of water.
In pic related I used juniper berries, tea, and strawberries.
- I do an open ferment, because I don't own an airlock and don't need one.
- Then when it's done fermenting, I siphon the mead into new carboys and discard the gross stuff left in the old one.
- Then I let it settle and repeat until the mead is clear and without sediment.
- After letting it sit in its carboy with a lid on it for a few weeks, I bottle and then
- let it age
My picture is on the ledge in the sunlight, but I've made sure that that minute when I took a picture is one of the only ones it's ever seen much sunlight at all.

How can I improve?