First IPA a Success!

So I made my first homebrew IPA and it was a huge success. I'm looking to start my second, but I'm curious on any advice to help me pack a bigger punch in the alcohol content. This last IPA was around 5.8% ABV. I'd like to get around 8%.
Thanks! - BDC

Are you brewing with extract or grains? Either way you need to increase the fermentables in the recipe. Check out the recipes section on this forum for good ipa recipes for a start.

Extract. I've read adding dextrose would help. I'll take a look at the recipes. At what point do I add in these sugars?

BenGVSU said:

Extract. I've read adding dextrose would help. I'll take a look at the recipes. At what point do I add in these sugars?

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You can add the sugar at the end. Turn the heat off, and stir the sugar in to dissolve it.

I just drank an aged IIPA (which kind of turned into barleywine I guess) that had a pound of good honey in it. I liked it so much I'm going to do it again today. I add it a few days into fermentation to help retain some honey flavor and make it more worth the money in my opinion. That's another option, otherwise cheaper table sugar will work but don't do any more than a pound.

I'm not a fan of sweet tasting beers, they really bother me. I'm looking for ways to make some with high hop aroma and high ABV.

This one is a little pricey but well worth it in my opinion.

Adding sugar to a recipe will increase the alcohol content and dry out the beer. The advice previously given to you by inhousebrew is solid. Don't add more than 1 pound. The sugar is very fermentable and if you add too much your brew will get "hot" or "boozey" and take a while to age out. The sugar is also very easy for the yeast to eat. If you feed them too much sugar they will choose to consume that and have a hard time consuming all of the harder to digest sugars from your extract. You can add it near the end of the boil or wait until a couple of days into fermentation. If you choose to wait, boil it in just enough water to dissolve the sugar, cool it to the same temperature as your batch, and pitch it in.