Need a little help here!

Ok, I apologize up front for asking, what I think is, a newb question...but here's the low down. I'm in my ~30 batch of homebrew, but only around my 3 batch of cider. The other ciders I've done have been "normal" (i.e. EdWort's Apfelwein) and they've been excellent. However, I wanted to "kick it up a notch." (which was probably my mistake) On 10/11/10, I put together the following: 5 gallons 100% unfiltered apple cider (no preservative....besides ascorbic acid)/10 lbs. of generic granulated table sugar/1 capsule of BrewVint Yeast Fuel. I heated this up on the stove almost to boiling point, in attempt to make sure all of the sugar could be integrated into the cider. Once the sugar was put in, I attempted to cool it down to pitching temperature. I had a packet of Liquor Quik: SuperYeast X-press (which I had in the refridgerator for several months prior...not sure on how viable it was....or how the cider would turn out), so I pitched that...however, it was around 96 degrees (O.G.= 1.118). I aerated quite a bit, and sealed it up. Regardless, I let it be and waited for 4 days. On 10/15/10 I continued to notice no activity in the airlock, so I pitched a rehydrated packet of Lalvin EC-1118. Over the next few days, I noticed some slow bubbles coming out of the airlock...so I was feeling a little better. However, on 10/26/10 I checked the SG, and it was still at 1.118!!! I figured I would vigorously stir for 60sec to see if I can get the yeast back going again (since I knew I didn't adequately oxygenate the mixture when re-pitching the EC-1118) Outside of not knowing the vitality of a used yeast (i.e. distiller's yeast...I know inappropriate, but it's what I had), along with the inappropriate initial pitching temperature and insufficient yeast count for a re-pitch (EC-1118)...I'm curious on how to proceed. Should I continue to wait a few days to see if my re-aggitation attempt was successful, or should I pitch another batch of yeast (if so, what strand?). I lay myself at the mercy of the HBT court...help me!

At 1.118 the osmotic pressure on your yeast is pretty high. You probably just killed most of the yeast you pitched into there.

I've never been foolhardy enough to try a cider that strong, but when I make really big beers, I'll do incremental feedings to lessen the stress on the yeast.

Also, the return/enter key is your friend, because reading a block of text that big is really hard.

are you certain your OG reading was accurate?

1.118 seems low for that much sugar, I would have expected it to be closer to 1.130-1.140. Did the cider seem low in sugar?

If you're sure the gravity isn't dropping, you'll probably want to make up a big healthy starter and pitch it with some more nutrient.

Nateo - I apologize for the big block of text...I was typing/thinking simultaneously and not thinking about the reader...got carried away. I'm interested in your "incremental feedings," what's your typical schedule with that?

pimento - I'm not sure how accurate my OG is in comparison to measures other than my standard hydrometer...but I believe I've been pretty accurate with this method..including accounting for current temperature. However, I didn't perform any calculations prior to adding sugar to have a target OG, so I don't know if I'm off, and if so by how much.

However, within the same day of taking the SG measurements on this "cider," I also took follow-up SG readings of 2 other big belgians I'm working on, and I'm not having any issues with them (let's knock on wood, now that I brought it up).