Belma substitute for Homework Series #5

[sd_brewbie]

I had a bottle of Homework Series #5 (Hoppy Belgian-Style Pale Ale) from Ballast Point and they post the recipe http://www.ballastpoint.com/beer-recipes/... Sweet. They actually had the recipe on a tag around the bottle of the neck as well. Beer was great and I am planning it for my brew this weekend.

I went to Ballast Point's home brew mart and they did not carry belma hops . One of the guys in the shop said he had subbed Mandarina Bavaria for Belma in another recipe and it came out great. I picked up 4oz of Mandarina Bavaria and plan to use it in my brew. As it is a little lighter on the AAs I plan to toss in a quarter ounce of mosaic I have lying around at the 30min addition to match the original IBUs.

I have never used Belma or Mandarina Bavaria so I have no idea if this is a good plan. Thoughts?

 

[Hopper5000]

I know that hops direct sells Belma and I believe that it is patented by them. Belma is good as a bittering and some flavoring but doesn't really have great aroma. It has a very distinctive strawberry flavor. I am not framiliar with the other hop you have mentioned I just wanted to give you my take on Belma. Goodluck!

 

[m00ps]

Mandarina Bavaria is not similar to Belma. Belma has a mellow strawberry/apricot/melon flavor. Mandarina is straight up tangerine. The closest thing I could think of would be Pacific Gem or Huell Melon. I use Huell Melon along with Belma in my favorite IPA recipe ive been tooling around. Pacific Gem is much higher aa% but all of theser hops are not too assertive so it should work fine

I buy my belma and huell melo through farmhouse brewing supply usually

 

[sd_brewbie]

Thanks for the input. As I have the Mandarina Bavaria already how do you think it will play in this recipe? I am OK if it is a different beer, I can always make it again with the original hops

Or should I try to pick up some other hops and save the Mandarina Bavaria for something else?

 

[m00ps]

Mandarina is a good hop, it just wont be whatever the recipe intended. I'd just sub oz for oz. That yeast should make the typical belgian apple/pear esters with a bit of spice. I can see the tangerine working well with it

 

[sd_brewbie]

I picked up 2oz of Pacific Gem and 2oz of HBC342. Plan to split the hop additions evenly between the two hops. I think this might be closer to the original recipe. I will use the Mandarina in another beer.

Thanks!