Buy the longest corks you can afford and of the best quality. Sink them well into the bottle - about .25 inch into the mouth of the bottle. Roughly half of the bottles blew. Also most winemakers add about .25 tsp sulfite to their 5 gal of wine at bottling to help stabilize it. I lost two carboys because I stoppered them, and the temp.
Honey does get old if it has been subjected to heat and air.
Thaw, de-pit, crush, no need to peel. Cover with water. Stir every day, after the third day try to take a gravity reading. Now add the honey. Try to adjust the gravity to 1090 - 1.100.