Drinking my First!!!

so its been bottled for about 18 days and I cracked open this bad boy (I had a few tastes at 7 and 10 days) and what a difference it makes to wait. English Amber, and absolutely fantastic to drink. It was actually a prehopped LME that I did a full boil with, the bitter mellowed out and has a deeply satisfying smokey malty finish. How effing sweet, and I bottled my batch of irish red tonite also, happy saturday! and heres an awesome picture of my nice head. lul

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Impressive head, did you bottle with sugar or what? Was it just prehopped LME or did you add anything else to the recipe?

Congrats on enjoying your first beer, and welcome to the hobby.

Good job.

And the Irish Ale has become a favorite of mine. I'm partial to a Smitwick's clone I drug up from somewhere. Jamil, maybe.

Yea its sugar carbed, 5 oz. It was actually prehopped LME (which I didnt pay attn to so I treated it as a full boil) + DME + an early hop addidtion (cascade if I remember correctly, I have the recipe filed away now), and Reds are amongst my favorite beers too man, the taste green before I bottled it was already super complex I cant wait.

As far as getting that head, just about every beer I pour gets a solid head, THIS beer on the other hand REALLY wants to give alot of head (trollolol). Getting a good head and lacing is truly in the art of pouring.

Some tips on the pour: American styled pouring says glass at a 45* angle and the bottle at a 45* angle with the neck touching the glass with a slower steady pour. DONT DO THAT!

start at 30*, dont touch the bottle to the glass at 1st, and start with a more aggressive pour (the 1st 1 or 2 drops into the glass should actually "glug" out of the bottle a little) then go to a less aggressive pour much more slowly bringing the glass to 90* It takes some practice and sometimes I get more head than I really want so it becomes a 2 minute waiting game lol, but well worth it, the flavor profiles in the drink really come out and become much more complex, PRACTICE!!!!