Dave, the SG is .994 as of this morning...lol..talk about fermenting to dry..lol... I kept "steady" temps between 86°-90°, on the high end of the yeast tolerance, and added 1 tsp yeast nutrient over the course of the first 3 days of fermentation to avoid any nutrient issues that can materialize from fast fermentations.
It still seems like it has a lot of life in it yet, time to unplug the heat mat and let her cool down, then rack, stabilize and back sweeten.
I plan to use a mix of honey and sugar to back sweeten.
Dave, I have to be honest, I never thought that i'd like a fruit wine so much, or I'd ever make a mead/melomel for that matter, I am glad that you were so excited about this, that is what really drove me to try it.
This is going to become one of the wines that i'll have to keep stocked.
as far as price is concerned, the Red Dragon Melomel only cost me an additional $25.00 to use Honey in place of sugar, that is an extra dollar a bottle...no worries.
I friend of mine from the Giant Pumpkin World, has been a bee keeper for 39 years, his honey is the only honey that I can say that I like (now you know why I was apprehensive about mead or melomel, I'm not a big fan of honey), the difference between a great quality honey and the crap that you usually get in stores is amazing. I need to contact him about getting 15-30 lbs of honey, I'm sure it would make a world of difference!
