Imperial Stout still sweet after two weeks in primary

I brewed http://hopville.com/recipe/737240/russian-imperial-stout-recipes/the-void this beer, using a Wyeast 1056 and a packet of windsor. The OG was 1.095 and after two weeks, it is still at 1.026. The recipe states for a FG of around 1.026. The beer still tastes incredibly sweet, and I'd rather ferment those sugars further to get a less sweet finished product.
Based on 'the Void' recipe, should I be surprised to have a sweet finished result? Is there any way to metabolize any more of those sugars? Will the sweetness dissipate in bottle/keg/secondary conditioning?
Thanks!

5 months ago I brewed RIS and fermented with 1272 and after spending 1 month in primary it finished at 1.026 as well, it didn't taste too sweet though, was well balanced but I figured its too high of FG anyway so I sprinkled packet of S-05 on top in primary and came back 2 weeks later. It dropped to 1.024 and I figured thats as low as it will go. Transferred to secondary and its been sitting there for last 4 months. Can't wait to keg it and carbonate :rockin:

Just looked at your recipe, 2 lbs of Carapils? That will explain the sweetness you having.

I'd say it is done...given the recipe there likely are no other fermentable left- with extract, carapils, roasted barley, dark malts and the like, it probably will not drop any further, maybe 1-2 points.
That being said, it should stay in primary for another 5 or so days (maybe warm up yeast, swirl them), then secondary to bulk age for maybe 3 -4 or so weeks... it is a big, dark, roasty beer that needs time to mature.
good luck!
edit: the sweetness could mean not enough bittering hops, to balance the high abv. the recipe you based it on has enough hops but you may have deviated.

Did you do a full boil? I'm wondering if you possibly didn't get good hop utilization. I agree 2lb's of Carapils is a lot, but you should still have some good bitterness to balance it with that Hop schedule.

I did, in fact, deviate from the recipe in the following way - My apologies - and I will post my deviations below.
2lb carapils
1lb roasted
1lb munich type ii
.5lb chocolate malt
6.4k pale extract
60m boil
@60: 1oz columbus
@55: 1oz columbus
@40: 1oz northern brewer
@25: 1oz cascade
@10: .5oz northern brewer
@5: .5oz northern brewer

BeertoolsPro has my [email protected] (almost double the recipe on the hopville link), Alc%@12.01 It has my OG at 1.12, but it was, in reality, more like 1.095

Thanks. Monstrous fun, this is. I'll wrap a heating cable around her, give her a swish, and wait another 5 days. Cool

Come to think of it, totally different hop profile than the hopville link - can never find Simcoe.

You can try WLP099. It works slower but it goes further than normal ale yeasts. I'd buy a tube grow up a decent starter decant the crap beer/wort off and pitch a nice thick slurry. I have some 099 going in a wee heavy that crapped out at 1.037 and it kicked fermentation back up. I just hope it stops around 1.025ish.

reet said:

2lb carapils
1lb roasted
1lb munich type ii
.5lb chocolate malt
6.4k pale extract

Click to expand...

You steeped, not mashed? The Munich did nothing, since it needs to be mashed. You have 3.5 lbs of steeping grains, that would give you a gravity of about 1.012, mostly unfermentable. This will leave you with a high FG. I think you are done.

What is 6.4K, and is the extract DME or LME.

6.4K = 6.4Kg LME
Why would munich do nothing if not mashed? The science of of this escapes me, and my lack of experience. Anyway, the recipe (void) seems not too dissimilar from others that have gotten good reviews, so I'm confused about whether the recipe itself is weak, or my processes had failed somehow.

reet said:

6.4K = 6.4Kg LME
Why would munich do nothing if not mashed? The science of of this escapes me, and my lack of experience. Anyway, the recipe (void) seems not too dissimilar from others that have gotten good reviews, so I'm confused about whether the recipe itself is weak, or my processes had failed somehow.

Click to expand...

6.4 kg LME (about 14 lbs) in 5 gallons (US) will get you about 1.101 gravity. Plus my estimate of .012 for the grains, will have given you an OG of 1.013. There is some variation on the actual extract from the grains, but the LME is pretty standard. So, if you made 5 gallons, your 1.095 reading was incorrect (sometimes the extract does not fully mix).

Some grains are kilned at high temperatures, which converts some of the starches to sugars. Crystal and Roasted Barley are examples of this, but many grains do not have this conversion process, and require the starches to be converted by mashing. Mashing is a process where enzymes are introduced (from grain) to convert the starches to sugars. Munich malt does have sufficient enzymes to self convert, but if you dilute it with high amounts of water, or add other grains (which dilutes the water) it will not be very efficient in converting the starches.

Ahhhhhhhhh. Fascinating world, this be. Sounds like some deeper research into different styles of grains for flavours and effects I must do. Thanks!