How badly did I mess up?

Did you take a reading before putting the wort into the fermenter?
How long has it been in the fermenter?
Did you pitch the yeast dry and at what temp?

 

Do you have 2.5 gallons or 1.5?

 

That sounds plausible that he started with 2.5 and boiled down to 1.5 gal.

 

Common reasons for higher than expected Original Gravity readings for extract batches...

- Measurement Error (eyeballed the hydrometer wrong, or not enough wort in the hydrometer test jar (hydrometer bottoming out))
- Not Enough Water (i.e. total volume or wort too low)
- If partial boil, Wort and Top Off water not thoroughly mixed before measurement
- Hydrometer not calibrated

ETA: To answer your question... if the gravity really is too high, which applies only to the second reason above, you can add water. I'd suggest RO/distilled water.

 

Add another pack of US-05 and call it an Imperial Black PA ...seriously, I don't think this recipe is going to finish at 1.015 with all dark extract... or taste like an IPA...but I could be wrong.

I like the instructions...for the most part, but what's with the goofy statement
"Dark and smooth with wheat body balanced perfectly by hop bitterness"
There is only 4 oz of wheat in this recipe and it's Midnight Wheat at that

 

No need to pitch more yeast.

Be sure to take the "brix" reading from the refractometer and convert it to OG using a good refractometer calculator. If you're looking at the "SG" scale that some refractometers have on their right side, be aware that it's not accurate for beer wort. The reason conversion is needed for OG is that refractometers are calibrated for a single simple sugar (sucrose), but beer wort contains several types of sugars/dextrins, with different refractive indices.

You'll also need to enter your final refractometer reading in the same calculator (along with the original reading) in order to get a good FG and ABV value. The calculator is even more important for FG, because the presence of alcohol skews the reading.

 

Probably, but not because you added water. It will be because fermentation has progressed to that stage, i.e. beyond the lag phase. There's a pretty wide range of "normal" lag times that you'll see, dependent upon many factors. There's no reason to expect this batch to act exactly like the previous one, unless everything (recipe, process, yeast condition) was exactly the same.

 

Here's the best (IMO) standalone refractometer calculator, by Sean Terrill...
http://seanterrill.com/2012/01/06/refractometer-calculator/

That same calculator (with a slight enhancement) is incorporated into the BrewCipher spreadsheet, if you want an integrated brewing software tool. Most people eventually do, and I'll recommend this one because it's mine...
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/brewcipher-4-0.294104/

 

Distilled water has no effect on yeast, thus, by adding Water all you are doing is diluting the wort to add more volume and lower the gravity. Now you'll have more beer at a lower ABV as opposed to less beer at a higher ABV.

 

No.

 

I know it's nerve racking but don't worry about it until @48 hrs. If there is no activity after 48 days then look into ways to "fix it". Also, just because there is no air lock activity doesn't mean it's not fermenting.

I may have missed it but what temp are you fermenting at?

 

In general it's better to start cold and then allow the temp to rise. During the first 48 hours is when the yeast grow and where most of the "off" Flavors come from. Yeast are more active in warmer temps. Thus, as the yeast become more dormant the increase in temp in the later stages the increase in temp helps keep them active to clean up after themselves.

68 is around the warmest I would go with S-05 if you maintain that temp and I mean the temp of the wort not the air. If the ambient temp is 68 the center of the wort will be warmer and when fermentation begins the temp can rise to 5 - 7 degrees do to yeast activity.