alien wrote:

> I put on 3 gallons of mead last Sunday. 9lb of honey, some sugar to
> bring the SG up to 1100
>
> Until a few days ago it seemed to be going fine, the SG was dropping
> steadily and I was hoping to have it transfered out of the must bucket
> on Friday. On Wednesday I took a reading and the SG was 1060. I thought
> I'd give it another day or so to let the SG drop a bit more, ideally
> less than 1015, it went to 1050. The SG is still at 1050 today and
> hasn't dropped at all since Friday. The bucket is hissing and sounding
> like its fermenting away happily. If I shake the bucket, and smell it,
> the gasses burn my nose slightly and smells a little bit like match heads.
>
> I've never had problems with my wine before and am at a loss as what to
> do.

How about just waiting a while. It's only been in the bucket a week?

IIRC my last batch was something like:
1.100 at pitch
1.050 at 3 weeks
1.030 at 3 months
1.008 at 15 months

--
The Origin of Beer: Simple all-grain brewing
at the Bottoms Up Brewery http://www.bubrew.org