High Gravity Extract Recepies Please

Hey all I have done 6 recipie batches and I want to try something with a bit more kick. We tried to do our own recipie last batch but we added 9lbs of amber extract, 6LME, 3DME, , it was really cloudy and only got an initial gravity of 1.06, no bueno. And after primary fermentation we were only down to 1.03. it was the first time I used a wyeast smack pack (smaked it, let it sit for 12 hrs and then pitched) and I think that may be the culprit. Any advice?
At any rate anyone have any really good recipies for say 7-8%abv beer?

With your listed extract, beersmith only predicts an OG of 1.069, so it sounds like you weren't that far off. As far as your FG being 1.030, I can't imagine that your fermentation was complete. I don't know what can cause a stuck fermentation, but I think repitching yeast would have been in order if it had truly stopped. You should have been able to get below 1.020 at least, which would have given you 5.5-6%. If you liked the overall flavor of your recipe, maybe you could just scale up the ingredients proportionally. 8#LME and 4#DME would give you an OG of 1.092, and an est. FG of 1.023, for around 9%ABV. I don't know how to scale up the hops, I doubt it's linear, but if you want to punch up the alcohol, only way I can think of to do so is get more sugars in there

Did you oxygenate your wort thoroughly before pitching the yeast? Lack of oxygen is one possible reason for lack of full expected attenuation.

How long did you let it ferment before taking the FG reading? Perhaps primary fermentation wasn't really done yet. It continues for a time after visible signs of fermentation are gone. You should use a hydrometer to test for completion of fermentation. When there's no change in gravity over a three day period, it's done.

You might want to form your recipes around flavor before ABV, perhaps?

I just made an 7-8% beer pretty easily. Go to www.austinhomebrew.com (referred to as AHS here) and get AHS American IPA II, add the 1% alchohol increase when you order and you shall have a strong beer. I know its strong because I just got f'ing ripped on it last night during the EAGLES game!

Russian Imperial Stout

6.6 lbs Dark Malt LME
2 lbs Dark DME
1 lb Crushed Roasted Barley
1 lb Crushed Crystal Malt 60L
8 oz Crushed Roasted Barley
8 oz Crushed Black Patent ?
1 lb Crushed Crystal Malt 60L
1 oz Yakima Magnum Hops (bittering)

I brewed the above from a Brewer's Best kit. I also added 1/3 lb of Lactose and 3/4 lb of corn sugar. The ABV is 7-8% before the addition of the corn sugar. I accidently screwed up my OG reading so I don't know where my ABV currently sits.

This batch has been bottled for just over a month now and it is aging wonderfully. There is a huge difference now as opposed to two weeks ago. In another month it will be superb.