Time for a quick rant!

Ok, so I keep getting told that I shouldn't (ideally) be starting a ferment if I get a gravity reading of above 1090/1.090 (which theoretically, equates to 12% ABV).

It's got something to do with the yeast getting "shocked" and either not starting to ferment or weakening it so that it causes a "stuck" ferment.

The process suggested, seems to be one called "Chaptalization". This involves letting the ferment get down to a certain gravity reading (for example, 1020/1.020) and then adding more sugar/honey to push it back up to, (again for example) 1040/1.040

I mean, I understand the principal of doing that, it means (to me) that I'd be adding more sugar/honey for the yeast to "get it's teeth into".

The practicality of doing this is confusing as hell. Sure, I can work out that for the ferment to have dropped from 1090/1.090 to 1020/1.020 is a drop of 70, and then when the ferment has had more honey/sugar added for it to go back up to say 1040/1.040 I could then just let it finish, at say (for easy numbers) 1000/1.000. That would be a drop of another 40, and totalling 110 points of gravity.

So, how much % ABV would that equate to ? Or more importantly, how would it convert into a total amount of honey, so I know how much to buy.

Some of the excellent websites, such as Wines at home, or Gotmead, have calculators for such issues. But it does seem that both locations have forgotten to give instruction on how these facilities are fucking well used. Come on both, I'm still saving the money for a fucking crystal ball!

This is really pissing me off. I'm sure I've received good advice, but I'm fucked if I know how to interpret it!

OK, I'm off to do my fucking head in again, trying to understand how I'd be doing this in practice, because right now, I haven't got a fucking clue!