Brian - I realize this is an old post. I would tend to agree with Richard, that it's better to rack into carboy from beginning, but I have had success with both. As a matter of fact, the sparkling mead I brought to the last meeting, I had forgotten in the primary for ~ 1 year. It had a bit of a musty off-flavor, but I racked into a carboy, mixing with bentonite... let clear, then after a couple of weeks primed (with honey of course) half of the batch and the other half I added chokecherries to (it's still in carboy).