Belma Hops

TimBrewz said:

I had my all Belma Pale Ale(along with IPA and IRA) on tap for Sunday NFL/Homebrewers tasting afternoon. Nearly everyone who tried it said it was "different" or "odd" and tasted like strawberries and/or melon. No one disliked it, but not many refills on that one. The brewers who are into Belgians, thought it would work well in fruity, estery Belgian brews.

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I was really picking up on a red berry aroma, but I thought it might have been because I was expecting it from the description. I'm kinda surprised everyone has been using Belma for pale ales - I brewed a low alcohol saison and I'm pretty stoked on your description.

I have it in with cascade, dryhopped 1:1, and I get a light berry flavor. It's pleasant, and could really be good in some select styles.

TNGabe said:

I was really picking up on a red berry aroma, but I thought it might have been because I was expecting it from the description. I'm kinda surprised everyone has been using Belma for pale ales - I brewed a low alcohol saison and I'm pretty stoked on your description.

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Saison seems a good place for this hop.

TimBrewz said:

Saison seems a good place for this hop.

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That's good to hear, cuz my next brew is going to be a saison, and I was planning to use some of my Belma.

FarmerTed said:

That's good to hear, cuz my next brew is going to be a saison, and I was planning to use some of my Belma.

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I think Nelson could pair very nicely with Belma in a saison.

TNGabe said:

I think Nelson could pair very nicely with Belma in a saison.

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I just finished brewing a Nelson/Belma Rye Pale ale. Hopefully it works well with rye also.

TNGabe said:

I think Nelson could pair very nicely with Belma in a saison.

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I just got some amarillo, so I think I might put it in with the Belma.

I think Amarillo, Simcoe, and Centennial would all pair nicely with Belma. Not really opposites in flavor/aroma, but complimentary.

Belma is nice on its own, but doesn't have any one stand out characteristic. Couple it with one of the above and you turn a great hoppy beer into a great well-rounded hoppy beer.

If I manage to not be lazy tomorrow, I might brew a nice pale..

Those that have used Belma.. shoot me in the direction of what might sound good to use with it. I have leaf and pellet Belma. I FWH as well, thinking about using Belma for that too.

I have Cascade, Amarillo, Citra, Chinook, Comet, Centennial, Magnum on hand right now.

FATC1TY said:

If I manage to not be lazy tomorrow, I might brew a nice pale..

Those that have used Belma.. shoot me in the direction of what might sound good to use with it. I have leaf and pellet Belma. I FWH as well, thinking about using Belma for that too.

I have Cascade, Amarillo, Citra, Chinook, Comet, Centennial, Magnum on hand right now.

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I did magnum at 60, cascade at 30, 5 and flameout, and dry hopped Belma in an IPA and it turned out great. Maybe do magnum at 60 or 45, cascade at 15 and Belma at flameout and a single dry hop.

I'm about to dry hop a belgian IPA I used Belma, Citra, Amarillo and Cascade for the late addition hops. I'll post how it turns out. My Belma pellets do not smell like onions, they smell fruity.

I finally got around to brewing. I did a pale ale with Centennial (FWH), Cascade (Bittering), Belma (Aroma) and CTZ (Finishing). I thought the Belma and Centennial smelt pretty similar.

I used some combined with Centennial in a big American stout I brewed Wednesday, and I'm going to do a farmhouse/saison soon with Belma and Citra.

To be continued...

I ended up brewing 5 gal of 1.067 OG IPA with 2 oz Warrior for bittering, 1.5 oz Belma and .75 oz Simcoe at both 15 min and 1 min. I transferred to secondary after a week and took a gravity and a taste. 1.010 FG and a nice piney resinous flavor with medium bitterness. Maybe a hint of fruitiness and a bit musty. I like it a lot. I decided to dry hop with 3 oz Belma, 1.5 oz Simcoe and 1.5 oz Centennial for a little more fruit. I'm expecting this to be a nice one! Pleasantly surprised at the Belma.

Brewitt said:

I ended up brewing 5 gal of 1.067 OG IPA with 2 oz Warrior for bittering, 1.5 oz Belma and .75 oz Simcoe at both 15 min and 1 min. I transferred to secondary after a week and took a gravity and a taste. 1.010 FG and a nice piney resinous flavor with medium bitterness. Maybe a hint of fruitiness and a bit musty. I like it a lot. I decided to dry hop with 3 oz Belma, 1.5 oz Simcoe and 1.5 oz Centennial for a little more fruit. I'm expecting this to be a nice one! Pleasantly surprised at the Belma.

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I think finding the right blend with Belma is key - I'm pretty dissapointed in the single hop grav sample I had yesterday, but I think it would help shape a fuller fruit profile with some of the more tropical hops. I also pulled a sample of nelson citra saison to see how much longer to let it sit on dry hops and after I got my d$*k out of the glass, I was a little out of sorts and maybe Belma is better than I think alone.

Just ordered me a lb each belma and centennial looking forward to the combination.

turvis said:

Just ordered me a lb each belma and centennial looking forward to the combination.

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I think they would pair well. I get a slight Centennial flavor from Belma. It's berry/melon/sweet dominant for sure. The sharpness of Centwnnial should make the fruitiness of Belma sparkle; sorta like a mimosa. Sure would like to hear your feedback if you brew it (assuming you make a hoppy APA/IPA).

I was thinking of doing a sasion and an APA about 1.055-1.060 range 30 to 35 IBU mostly late additions. Will let y'all know how it comes out.

I like the suggestions.

I think I'm gonna go with a nice Pale and do it with some Centennial, Belma and perhaps some Amarillo. Maybe do Centennial FWH, hit it with Belma, finish with Amarillo and Belma at flame out.

Dry hop it with Centennial/Cascade and Belma.

Then do a nice light blonde with Belma and Citra for the folks who like their beer "light".

A saison is in the future, but I think once I brew those two and get a handle on how it works with other hops, I'll hit a Saison I've been waiting to do.

i also did 2lbs i will do a hoppy pale 53 ibu's and1.058 og

and will use my gold medal winner that took 3 1st place awards ncluding brewer's choice which was brewed by wolf hills in abingdon va 9lb 2 row 1lb crisp c-15 and 1/2lb carahell. hop at 1st wort 60 min 10 and 5min with bulk of additions at 10 and 5min additions.

Just read through the entire thread. Lots of good information here. Nothing constructive for me to add, but wanted to be sure it pops up on My Replies.

I brewed a simple all Belma IPA ten days ago using Denny's 50. The krausen hasn't fallen and it's still chugging along. I'll give it to the end of the week before checking. Very anxious about seeing what develops, so this thread has helped soothe my impatience. I'll add my experience soon.

Thanks for all the insight.






edit to say:
Next up ABC Ale
Amarillo, Belma and either Cascade or Centennial (can't decide which?)
25% of A / 50% of B / 25% of C
Still not sure if I want a session ale or something big?

Pulled one off the keg of an orange blossom Belgian ale I added about 3oz of Belma at flameout

It's got good strawberry and a little tropical but a little earthy as well can't really put my finger on it plus with the coriander addition and orange honey it's tough - I'm happy with the beer though.

I've got a cascade/Belma that I'm about to keg - split the batch with London iii and chouffe yeast that will be a better idea of what this hop is.

shoreman said:

It's got good strawberry and a little tropical but a little earthy as well can't really put my finger on it.

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I think this is a good description. I'd add that it is a pretty "soft" hop, not aggressive at all.

reading through this has me convinced that it might be worthwhile to buy a pound of Belma!

Brewing a wheat wine now, very loosely inspired by Boulevard Harvest Dancer. Bittered with brewer's gold, belma/nelson @ 10, and more of all 3 at flameout. Smell's like a good combo. Not sure if I'm getting pineapple in the aroma, but lots of fruit.

My order finally got to me (hooray for shipping to Canada over an American holiday), and I must say, I'm pretty excited. Amusingly, I've already got plans for at least 3 different beers using Belma despite never having used the hop before, tasted it in a beer, or even opened up the bag to smell them yet. That probably isn't the safest way to go about recipe formulation, but meh. Playing it safe is for squares and all that jazz.

Anyone try Belma with some Galaxy?

My LHBS had Galaxy for like .90 cents an ounce.. Picked up 2 ounces to try out. Passionfruit and Citrus. I'm in!

As Galaxy is about my favourite hop of all time I'm inclined to say you're probably going to get something fantastic out of it in this situation. That said, I find Galaxy is just such a big hop it tends to overshadow most other hop flavours in any given beer. It's kinda like using Chinook (my second favourite hop of all time) in late additions; a little bit goes a long way in giving you a ton of flavour and aroma. If you're going to blend it with a hop like Belma that everyone is reporting is pretty mild I would recommend going 2:1 Belma to Galaxy at the bare minimum, probably even closer to 7:3.

Lemme know how it works out if/when you do it.

Just tried a sample of my all Belma hop burst APA. Very mild hop. I get strawberry and melon/honey dew in both flavor and aroma. Not much spiciness or earthiness. Smooth bitterness from all late additions.

Brewed on 11/15/2012
3 gallon batch
46% 2 row
46% Vienna
3% crystal
5% flaked oats

150F-148F mash for 60 mins
SG 1.84 / FG 1.007
US-05
5.4% ABV

1.75oz Belma leaf @ 5mins (30ibus)
1oz Belma leaf @ flame out
1oz Belma leaf dry hop for 5 days

Overall it's a fairly nice hop. I have another batch that I mixed with some late additions of Cascade.

I'm thinking it would probably go nice with Amarillo or Citra. It would probably need a 2:1 ratio at least to not be overpowered since it seems so light.

The 1.011 FG sample from my Belma/Citra IIPA (slightly more heavy on the Belma) had grassy & spicy undertones and fruity overtones. A good deal of hops were used in the boil yet the flavor is soft, not harsh. It is still innately bitter at 85 IBUs (35 IBUs Warrior for bittering). The addition of late boil Belma seemed to tame some of the heavy tropical lychee/mango notes we normally get from Citra. Perhaps Citra will dominate in the dryhop later on.

So in summation... little to no pineapple or strawberry detected in the sample, however I did smell some of that from the Belma hops directly from the bag. Only the Grassy-Spicy-Funky Fruit traits remained after fermentation.

I would still recommend adding more to the party via a dank/resiny and citrusy hop like Apollo/Columbus/Summit, and some Cascade for some bright floral citrus. However, I only have Belma & Citra on hand at the moment. I'll report back with updated notes after the dryhop with both.

cadillacandy said:

Just tried a sample of my all Belma hop burst APA. Very mild hop. I get strawberry and melon/honey dew in both flavor and aroma. Not much spiciness or earthiness. Smooth bitterness from all late additions.

Brewed on 11/15/2012
3 gallon batch
46% 2 row
46% Vienna
3% crystal
5% flaked oats

150F-148F mash for 60 mins
SG 1.84 / FG 1.007
US-05
5.4% ABV

1.75oz Belma leaf @ 5mins (30ibus)
1oz Belma leaf @ flame out
1oz Belma leaf dry hop for 5 days

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I suspect your SG should be 1.048 but this is similar to what I plan to try.

5 gallon batch
74% 2 row
18% Vienna
8% Date sugar


152F mash for 60 mins
SG 1.63 / FG 1.016
WY Belgian Ardennes
6.1% ABV

.6oz Belma pellet @ 20mins (43 total IBU's)
.6oz Belma pellet @ 15mins
.6oz Belma pellet @ 10mins
.6oz Belma pellet @ 5mins
.6oz Belma pellet @ flame out
2oz Belma pellet dry hop for 7 days

Blows my mind that 5oz of hops, after shipping, is just $2.13!!!
What an awesome deal!

Really digging on the nelson/belma aroma combo coming off the fermenter. Might try that in 1/2 the petite saison dry hop. I could be hooked on Nelson though.

It's hard to imagine them being that mellow. They smell pretty intense compared to something like cascade for instance. I'll try some samples in about a week when I check FG's. Since I have 3 buckets going, I think I'll dry hop one with belma, one centennial and one CTZ.

**I'm drinking an warm beer at 1 week bottled to form this opinion, been curious about these since they first were mentioned here, and it took a couple weeks for me to brew after receiving my shipment.**

I'm finding them pretty mellow like others have mentioned, definite berry to me but not so much strawberry as just generally fruity/berry flavored...little bit earthy. My brew was 90% vienna, 10% carapils, 1.044 -> 1.010, ~23 IBU, S05. Aiming for the strawberry shortcake thing in beer form. From the descriptions I read during fermentation I was hoping for a bit more spice with this. In the vienna/spalt and vienna/perle SMaSHs I've brewed the hops complimented the vienna character a bit better. I want to pair these with EKG in an ESB.

So the overall perception on these is "good"? I also picked these up (1 lb of pellets @ 12.1%) and that description of strawberry, melon and orange sold me... along with the $5.25 per pound price. I also planned an APA of sorts with pale malt, maybe a bit of light crystal or CaraMunich, something clean to bitter like Magnum and then a bunch of Belma late in the boil. I want to use them late and showcase them so they swim up your ass and light a campfire. 1056 to ferment so nothing else gets in the way. I also noticed a garlic-onion smell when I opened some HopUnion Galaxy pellets so I wonder if this is just something that is used in the packaging because the beer I made with the Galaxy had none of that. Cheers Beerheads.

kenlenard said:

......and then a bunch of Belma late in the boil. I want to use them late and showcase them so they swim up your ass and light a campfire.

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Are we talking about hops or jalepenos?

kenlenard said:

I also noticed a garlic-onion smell when I opened some HopUnion Galaxy pellets so I wonder if this is just something that is used in the packaging because the beer I made with the Galaxy had none of that. Cheers Beerheads.

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i've experienced some really weird smells from hopsdirect bags. i've come to the conclusion that it's the gas they use to flush the bags. luckily the smell (or flavor) doesn't carry over to the hops once they are used in a boil or dry-hop.

sweetcell said:

i've experienced some really weird smells from hopsdirect bags. i've come to the conclusion that it's the gas they use to flush the bags. luckily the smell (or flavor) doesn't carry over to the hops once they are used in a boil or dry-hop.

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Yeah, I'm going with that because the beer never comes out tasting or smelling like the hops do when you open the bag. I made an all-Galaxy pale ale and I just so happened to have someone over who wants to get into brewing and had never brewed before. When I opened one of these bags of Galaxy from HopUnion, I took a big whiff and thought, "Oh, wow... onions!" and I let the other guy take a whiff and he looked at me like I was outta my mind. We drank some of that beer on Thanksgiving and you couldn't detect that at all.

I'm hoping these Belma hops are good... I want to get started making some beers with them but I wanted a little feedback first. Glad I checked here. Cheers Gang.

BBL_Brewer said:

Are we talking about hops or jalepenos?

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Hey, great idea! Belma-Jalapeno Blonde Ale!