Belma Hops

dbrewski said:

Sure, I saw the hops schedule but not the grain schedule. I also like to make my IPA's a bit lower ABV than average...my night is pretty short when I'm drinking 7-8% beers. Let's see it.

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I forget the exact amount of 2-row offhand but I think for a 5 gallon batch it would have been:

8 lbs 2-row
1 lb Munich 10L
.5 lbs White Wheat
.5 lbs Crystal 40

As you can see it is nothing special, but serves as a good grain base for building different hop combos.

HawksBrewer said:

As you can see it is nothing special, but serves as a good grain base for building different hop combos.

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Idk, 10% Munich is about double what I would say is necessary to adequately highlight hop character especially because you're also using 5% toasty Crystal 40. Essentially more of a hoppy & malty APA with that lower abv.

Hops Direct may be the best company in the country! I placed a hop order yesterday and didn't see this great deal. I just called them and they were very happy to pull my order and add a pound of Belma! Saved me a heap on shipping! THANK YOU HOPS DIRECT!

HBT'ers who have Belma in hand - when did you place your order? I ordered on Nov 10 but haven't gotten a shipping confirmation or anything. I assume it's on the way and I'll get it in the next day or two, but I'm dying to try it out NOW!

mragin said:

HBT'ers who have Belma in hand - when did you place your order? I ordered on Nov 10 but haven't gotten a shipping confirmation or anything. I assume it's on the way and I'll get it in the next day or two, but I'm dying to try it out NOW!

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I just got mine today. Didn't get a shipping notification, but I didn't sign on to check either. I've never gotten an email from them before. I'd expect most orders place last Friday to arrive today, tomorrow, or Friday. I live very close to them.

After my last round of hop buying from FHB I told myself I was done for the majority of the year, but curiosity got the best of me and I ordered 2lbs of Belma. Only problem now is freezer space!

Jukas said:

After my last round of hop buying from FHB I told myself I was done for the majority of the year, but curiosity got the best of me and I ordered 2lbs of Belma. Only problem now is freezer space!

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Black Friday coming up, good time to get a new freezer and starting a yeast farm and more hop storage.

mragin said:

HBT'ers who have Belma in hand - when did you place your order? I ordered on Nov 10 but haven't gotten a shipping confirmation or anything. I assume it's on the way and I'll get it in the next day or two, but I'm dying to try it out NOW!

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I ordered Monday 11/5 and received Saturday 11/10. Broke down all 4 lbs into vac-bags that day.

I just broke down a pound of the pellets (got them yesterday), and I don't know, I get a big onion/garlic/shallot aroma from them. I'm a little worried, to be honest. Am I the only one who smells that?

I like my Belma APA more now that it has had about 10 days in the keg. The flavor is quite good, the aroma is decent(dry hopped 1 oz in 2.5 gal batch), but the most remarkable aspect to this beer is the very firm bitterness(not harsh, just solid) I got from a modest hop schedule(1.053/35 IBU). I am thinking this could be a fine dual purpose hop. Glad I made the purchase.

FarmerTed said:

I just broke down a pound of the pellets (got them yesterday), and I don't know, I get a big onion/garlic/shallot aroma from them. I'm a little worried, to be honest. Am I the only one who smells that?

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I got none of that, but have never been confident in my sense of smell

I ordered last wednesday, received my 2# today. Planning on making a single hop IPA with 8oz of it to see how it does.

Wow. I've just been moderated. See how that happened?

I was going to include this in my order, but I missed the citra and amarillo, now it's hard to justify 12.50 shipping for a 5.25 order. Maybe I'll bite the bullet in a couple weeks. Wish they would offer usps flat rate.

whitehause said:

I was going to include this in my order, but I missed the citra and amarillo, now it's hard to justify 12.50 shipping for a 5.25 order. Maybe I'll bite the bullet in a couple weeks. Wish they would offer usps flat rate.

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So add another lb, or throw in some other hops? Ground service has a minimal charge. I was able to get 4lbs total of two different kind of hops for $11.87 shipping.

bobbrews said:

Idk, 10% Munich is about double what I would say is necessary to adequately highlight hop character especially because you're also using 5% toasty Crystal 40. Essentially more of a hoppy & malty APA with that lower abv.

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Dude, you don't need to pick apart his recipe; It is just not called for. We get it, you think you know more about recipe formulation than him.

Firestone walker uses 15% Munich in their low gravity pale ale, and it doesn't come across as too malty. Last time I checked, they make a pretty good pale ale. There are plenty of ways to skin a cat.

Brew up a batch and let us know your findings. Otherwise I'm just finidng your passive-aggressive conjecture annoying at best.

Cmon guys, let's stop with the negative vibes and stay on topic

scottland said:

Dude, you don't need to pick apart his recipe; It is just not called for. We get it, you think you know more about recipe formulation than him.

Firestone walker uses 15% Munich in their low gravity pale ale, and it doesn't come across as too malty. Last time I checked, they make a pretty good pale ale. There are plenty of ways to skin a cat.

Brew up a batch and let us know your findings. Otherwise I'm just finidng your passive-aggressive conjecture annoying at best.

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Never had Pale 31. But I find Union Jack to be quite malty and syrupy in comparison to say Kern or Russian River's comparable selections. And I was only dishing back the equally shared sentiment in a snarky, but playful way.

This is the internet. No need to get your panties in a bunch or promote a gang mentality. Formulate whatever you want and try not to cry when someone disagrees with you. I personally find that supremely annoying.

I just brewed 7.5 gallons of Warrior, Citra, Belma IIPA. Not ready yet.

Jukas said:

So add another lb, or throw in some other hops? Ground service has a minimal charge. I was able to get 4lbs total of two different kind of hops for $11.87 shipping.

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I would, but I have Citra ordered from 3 other suppliers due to the 1Lb limits, so I got the other hops I needed with those orders. Belma seems interesting hop, so like I said, I might have to give it a try if there is another hop I decide to get.

bobbrews said:

This is the internet. No need to get your panties in a bunch or promote a gang mentality. Formulate whatever you want and try not to cry when someone disagrees with you. I personally find that supremely annoying.

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Pot meet kettle. A lot of posts I see from you are directly insulting people or their recipes. I know you call it "playful," but a lot of others find it "supremely annoying."

FarmerTed said:

I just broke down a pound of the pellets (got them yesterday), and I don't know, I get a big onion/garlic/shallot aroma from them. I'm a little worried, to be honest. Am I the only one who smells that?

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That's exactly what I got from them too! I thought I was going crazy.

BrewThruYou said:

Pot meet kettle. A lot of posts I see from you are directly insulting people or their recipes. I know you call it "playful," but a lot of others find it "supremely annoying."

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Oh, you mean like this?...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/whats-up-citra-shortage-365962/index16.html#post4588618

BrewThruYou said:

I'm playing my tiny violin for you. I keep hearing this argument over and over in the past month...."but my house [insert beer style] uses [insert tough-to-procure hop]!!! Wahhhh!" If your only good beer is only made good by a certain hop, then I don't want to hear it. Adapt.

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whitehause said:

He never said it's his only good beer. If you don't want to hear it, don't listen. No need to be a D-Bag about it.

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Please don't be a hypocrite and contribute to the gang mentality. I was simply trying to help new brewers avoid any confusion by labeling a particular result as a cause of ONE VARIABLE while discounting the others... (I see a lot of that going on here) and then all of a sudden it turned into a hurt-feelings seminar.

bobbrews said:

Essentially more of a hoppy & malty APA with that lower abv.

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It IS an APA. PKU.

Bobbrews and brewtheuyou


Yawn



Take it elsewhere

Anyway, I didn't get any onion or garlic when I rubbed them. I bought pellets though. There's a little bit of oily resin in there, possibly you guys are smelling that? Or to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. A. We all smells things a little differently, and B. It is an agricultural product, and they do vary.

scottland said:

Anyway, I didn't get any onion or garlic when I rubbed them. I bought pellets though. There's a little bit of oily resin in there, possibly you guys are smelling that? Or to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. A. We all smells things a little differently, and B. It is an agricultural product, and they do vary.

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I got pellets and whole leaf. I didn't open the leaf yet but I'll give them a sniff in a little bit. Maybe I just had it in my head what they were going to smell like and the onion smell took me by surprise.

FarmerTed said:

I just broke down a pound of the pellets (got them yesterday), and I don't know, I get a big onion/garlic/shallot aroma from them. I'm a little worried, to be honest. Am I the only one who smells that?

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cadillacandy said:

That's exactly what I got from them too! I thought I was going crazy.

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i remember opening several HD pounds last year and not being impressed with the smell. i think it has something to do with how they flush their bags - maybe it's the gas they use. it will dissipate, and will not effect the hop flavor and aroma once they're in your brew. i wrote about it here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/crazy-hopsdirect-sale-today-320880/index30.html#post4127184

it's kinda disappointing tho, nothing better than opening a bag of hops, sticking your head inside it and hyperventilating for about 15 seconds. HD bags just aren't conducive to that, based on my one purchasing experience last spring (although i bought 4 pounds).

anyone else have this experience? or have your HD pounds smelled normal?

sweetcell said:

i remember opening several HD pounds last year and not being impressed with the smell. i think it has something to do with how they flush their bags - maybe it's the gas they use. it will dissipate, and will not effect the hop flavor and aroma once they're in your brew.

it's kinda disappointing tho, nothing better than opening a bag of hops, sticking your head inside it and hyperventilating for about 15 seconds. HD bags just aren't conducive to that, based on my one purchasing experience last spring (although i bought 4 pounds).

anyone else have this experience? or have your HD pounds smelled normal?

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That's what I thought at first too. Or maybe they processed the Belma after another hop variety that has the onion/garlic.

The leaf hops don't have that smell at all. Lots of resin. Had to wash my hands 3 times to get it all off.

The Belma had a ton of resin to it, I agree.. But like someone said, they also could have picked it up elsewhere.. I had my hands covered in the pollen and lupulin from Comet hops, and man those made my whole kitchen smell up. Smelled like weed with a lemon wedge in it.

Anyways- Belma smelled good. I might try some in my new APA I've got for next week...See how it dances with Cascade, Amarillo and a little Citra.

I don't remember any funky smell from HD pounds during the fathers day sale. I ordered a bunch of Nugget, Columbus, Willamette and US Goldings but when I opened each pound pack it was to break it down into 4oz smaller packs.

I will say though each pound was consistently 2-4oz heavy (direct hop weight on gram scale) which made the already sub $1/oz price even better.

mine just came in. super stoked.

Well, I feel a little better about the oniony smell I got. I'm by no means a super-smeller/taster (decades in a chemistry lab have killed my nose), but before I re-packaged the Belma hops, I'd done the same with a pack of Northdown (an older bag I opened a few weeks before from hopunion). Anyways, those smelled normal to me. The oniony smell of the Belma just kind of kicked me in the face. It wasn't at all like citra, or something citrusy and spicy. I will say that I think the powdery residue at the bottom of the bag smelled pretty normal.

Were these oniony hops pellet or leaf?

kaconga said:

Were these oniony hops pellet or leaf?

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I have both leaf and pellets. Leaf smelled normal. Pellets smelled like onion and garlic to me.

I normally use pellets. Glad I picked up leaf this time if that's the case with the pellet onion notes. Could be a rare occurance though like with Summit.

My pellets were fine. I'm not discrediting you folks that said that, just throwing it out there to prevent mass-hysteria.

Hopefully I did not get onion pellets.:cross:

Oh, my leaf smelled good, haven't checked my pellets. Didn't want to open the sealed packs, but noticed mine aren't vacuum sealed very well. Anyone else have loose bags? I mean, they're seal, but there's not a tight vacuum. Hate to lose the mylar and go to freezer backs.

theveganbrewer said:

Oh, my leaf smelled good, haven't checked my pellets. Didn't want to open the sealed packs, but noticed mine aren't vacuum sealed very well. Anyone else have loose bags? I mean, they're seal, but there's not a tight vacuum. Hate to lose the mylar and go to freezer backs.

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Now that they purge the bags with nitrogen, they no longer vacuum seal the bags. The hops stay fresher that way. I'd say most of the hop industry is going towards nitrogen flushed bags. At least the bigger suppliers.

I am actually kind of sad about the change, but for a very silly reason - I liked to re-use the nice mylar bags during divvying up and resealing my hops - and these new nitrogen-flushed bags seem like they're too "slick" for my FoodSaver to find the air in the bag. It fails to vacuum pretty much every time. Just means I have to use more FoodSaver bags than I have in the past, that's all. Oh well.