Agreed. Hence my confusion and the post! :)
And I still don't really see the appeal of boiling off some of the wort that the sugar was added to. The only thing I can think of is trying to help keep the sugar from caramelizing in the boil kettle, which is accomplished easily enough without the...
I just had pretty much the same problem. My RIS started at 1.130 and then the gravity did not move past 1.038 for three weeks. I ended up pitching a pack of US05 and it's now at 1.026.
But like brute said, it's only been a few days. Wait it out before you start messing around with anything.
That's what I initially thought but the part that says "add back to the run off" made me think it should be added back to the tun. So add the sugar one gallon of the first runnings, boil off half of it while continuing to sparge as normal, and add the other pound of sugar to the sweet wort. Got...
I've been doing some sleuthing around different forums for big, dark, complex beers and I stumbled on one that includes the following instructions for a sugar addition to the mash. Other then intentionally boiling off summer of the sweet wort and increasing the gravity I don't really see the...
Surprisingly the gravity dropped to 1.026. Now I'm just praying that the yeast will keep working and clean up any diacetyl they pooped out. Plan to let it sit another week or so and see how it tastes.
Quick update - a week after adding the yeast gravity is down to 1.036. I don't suspect it'll drop much lower but I'll let her ride a few more days to see how she does.
Also if you start kegging or bottling immediately after you get stable gravities you'll prevent the yeast from metabolizing byproducts of fermentation like diacetyl. Give them time to chew that stuff up.
I'm in a similar situation. I made a big RIS two weeks ago and the OG was 1.130 but it's been sitting at 1.040 for 7 days. I've been rousing the yeast and even kicked up the temp to about 72 without stimulating any other activity. I thought maybe the yeast (wyeast 1028) couldn't handle the...