Adjusting an Amber Ale recipe, need advice

[rockout]

Hi all... we're trying to get rid of extra ingredients lying around, and it happens that for some reason we have 6 lbs of Amber DME. I found a sort of basic Amber Ale recipe online:

1/2 lb crystal malt
6lbs amber DME
1oz Northern Brewers pellets 7.4 aa (boiling)
1.5 oz Cascade plugs 6.5 aa (finish and dry hop)

and with some hop substitutions I've got everything I need. However, the recipe is for 4.5 gallons of beer, and I figure, why make 4.5 when I have the equipment for making 5 gallons? Of course, I don't want to water down the beer, so I have to make use of my other DME's I have. How much extra-light DME would you add to make this a 5-gallon recipe? Or should I steep extra crystal malt, which I also have? Or both? I don't mind a beer with a little extra body and/or alcohol. Final gravity of that recipe was 1.048. I have BeerSmith so I can figure out what my final will be depending what I add.

I also enjoy my hops, so if I have more hops available (I have Cascade, Challenger, Crystal, Galena, Hallertau, and UK Phoenix) would you add any of these for aroma/bittering to an amber? I'm already using the Challenger as a sub for the Northern Brewer in the recipe.

Thanks in advance, all opinions are welcome, since I'm basically making a mystery brew!

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

06B. American Pale Ales, American Amber Ale
Color

6.00 Amber Dry Malt Extract
0.50 American Crystal 40L

Stats
OG 1.057
FG 1.014
IBU 24
ABV 5.5 %
SRM 11

Specifics
Boil Volume 5 gallons
Batch Size 5 gallons
Yeast 75% AA

(Used the tastybrew.com calculator)

 

[rockout]

I should have specified, I have Crystal 10L and 20L, but no 40L lying around. Which one would you use, and how much? I have to admit I don't really know why I would use one over the other in one recipe to the next - I've just been following recipes pretty much to the letter for my entire 1 1/2 year brewing career.

 

[rockout]

Also, I meant to mention, I'm shooting for a nice red color on this one. Haven't really brewed anything red yet.

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

Well, that color is from 40L, so I would probably go with the 20L. A half pound should be enough for the color.

 

[rockout]

Thanks. I was actually thinking of adding a pound of 20L to get the gravity up a little higher; that wouldn't ruin anything would it?

That said, got any advice on adding more hops?