Danno wrote:

Am watching my first 4 litres of mead bubble nicely on the kitchen table,
would have liked to have used my shiny new 23l carboy(s) to do it, but the
cost of the honey seemed too high to warrent the experiment.

Small first batches are a good idea. There is nothing more frustrating
than pouring out 5 gallons of brew after waiting a year.

How much did you pay for the honey? In the US, if you're paying more
than about $24/G you're paying too much.

My initial foray
seems to be going well so far, but am wondering if I can exchange some of
the honey with sugar? I was thinking of using a plain brown sugar in place
of a few kg of honey, otherwise, just a basic honey wine.

You certainly could, though it feels intrinsically 'wrong' to me. I've never
tried brown sugar against a honey base so I'm not sure how it would taste.
(Now against cider... mmmm, brown sugar, how come you taste so good?)

BTW, there's also a rec.crafts.meadmaking if you are looking for the
more mead-y than wine-y folks. Also, check out www.gotmead.com.

-- WB