Okay, so I checked my gravity from my 'Belma's Galaxy IPA".
1.067 to 1.010, it's pretty much done. Drinking my gravity sample, I got these notes:
I decided to use Belma in all different areas, as well as using leaf and pellet.
I used leaf to FWH it as my bittering hop.
This is a great bittering hop, it lingers thoughout the sip. Smooth bittering note upfront, and has that oily lingering bitterness on the back end. I actually REALLY like that in my IPA's and this one does it well!
Aroma: I used pellets in the boil, and added them for flavor and aroma, along with some Galaxy, and a smidge of Cascade at 7 minutes to round the profile and link the two. I also used leaf at flameout.
The aroma is great, and I haven't dry hopped it yet. Smooth ripe melon, like cantaloupe, maybe a tart strawberry, overripe pineapple with lemon, orange, and a earthy, almost dry twang to it. Like eating a spring/summer fruit cup pretty much.
Taste pretty much mirrors the aroma of it, I get a dry finish on the beer, despite a 152* mash temp, and the 1.010 gravity. It's a very great balanced IPA.. One of my better hop balances that I've done. I'm really liking Belma as the bittering hop here. I can't really say the "flavor" of using it as the bittering hop helps, but I get an ultra smoother bitterness early, then it moves away for the flavor. At the finish, it dries up, and gives a really nice smooth, yet firm bitterness. I really, really like that. Lingers on my tounge for quite a while actually. You know you just drank a bitter IPA.
I'm impressed so far. I plan to dry hop with Belma leaf, and probably the last half ounce or ounce of Galaxy I have. So far, the two hops really mingle well!
7.5% ABV leaves enough residual sweetness there to really round the package out. I might enter this in a local HB comp. Used BRY-97 yeast, which is suppose to knock out hop flavor/aroma due to it's heavy flocc ability, but this didn't put a dent in the beer!