Seeking a hoppy American Amber Recipe

[Edds5p0]

Hey all,
I'm gearing up for my next brew and I would like to do an extract with steeped grains brew. This is only my 3rd brew so I'm not confident I can just cobble something together and make it turn out the way I would like. I would like to make an American Red that is a bit big, like an Imperial American Red. I am hoping to get in the neighborhood of 8% ABV. Any suggestions or recipes?

[straight cash homey]

look for jamils west coast blaster, sounds like what your looking for.

[Otter]

I just brewed Tasty McDole's American Amber Ale kit from MoreBeer. It's a great beer, and pretty hoppy. Although, it's not 8%. I will definitely brew it again. I used the all-grain kit, but i'm sure they have an extract version too.

[Edds5p0]

Hey all,
So I've scoured the web and I haven't really found what I'm looking for, so I downloaded BeerSmith and thought I'd give designing my own imperial red a shot. I'm pretty stoked about trying out the imperial blend yeast from Wyeast to bring this one together. I used Imperial IPA guidlines to design this brew. I feel that this will give me the 2x American Amber styling. I have to be careful with my hops usage since the wife isn't a huge hop head and I really like them, so this will hopefully strike a balance. I have also learned that only having a 3 gallon brew pot sucks, since I would have to use almost half this many hops to get the same effect with a 5 gallon boil. BTW, this is for a 5 gallon batch.

Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 44.25 %
3.30 lb Amber Liquid Extract (12.5 SRM) Extract 29.20 %
1.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 13.27 %
2.00 oz Nugget [13.20 %] (90 min) Hops 35.5 IBU
1.00 oz Nugget [13.20 %] (60 min) Hops 16.6 IBU
2.00 oz Nugget [13.20 %] (20 min) Hops 20.1 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (0 min) Hops -
1.50 lb Brown Sugar, Light (8.0 SRM) Sugar 13.27 %
1 Pkgs Imperial (Wyeast #9093-PC) Yeast-Ale

Est Original Gravity: 1.083 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.083 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.019 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.019 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 8.28 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 8.38 %
Bitterness: 72.1 IBU Calories: 382 cal/pint
Est Color: 13.8 SRM

[Sent From My iPhone]

Are you doing a starter? If not you may need several packs of yeast for a beer that big.

[Edds5p0]

I suppose I could, but I've been told the Activator Pack should do the trick since this yeast is supposedly more robust.

[straight cash homey]

i would not do this beer without a starter. did you look for the west coast blaster from brewing classic styles? it might not be 8% but it's still 6.8% and you know that recipe has good balance. good luck either way.

[jeffbones]

I would get rid of the Amber LME and bump up the Extra Light DME. Use some other steeping grains to get your color, maybe some crystal 80 or a pinch of chocolate.
Make a starter.
Good Luck