naiek
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Send me a bottle of the original and I will
Belma Hops
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Send me a bottle of the original and I will
doublehaul
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ahhh - i was assuming you had brewed the original. I have once and it was excellent! and I have a pound of belma, so i'm interested in how yours turns out
naiek
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It smells great, I will be kegging this weekend and will post results
TimBrewz
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Update on Belma APA. Decent. Not amazing IMHO. Nice subtle aroma and flavor. Compared to other single hop APAs I have done, it is very mellow. As mentioned earlier, I think it will be a good blending hop.
I just packagedy Belma pale ale.
Dry hopped on 2oz for 10 days, then racked into onto 2.5oz for 9 days. So a total of 4.50oz dry hops.
Sample tastes pretty good. I like the hop and find it mostly floral and slightly spicy. It does have a tropical sweetness to it as well. I would not compare it to Citra.
We'll see how it is in 2 weeks when it is finally carbed.
Dry hopped on 2oz for 10 days, then racked into onto 2.5oz for 9 days. So a total of 4.50oz dry hops.
Sample tastes pretty good. I like the hop and find it mostly floral and slightly spicy. It does have a tropical sweetness to it as well. I would not compare it to Citra.
We'll see how it is in 2 weeks when it is finally carbed.
Spicy how? Like Willamette, Chinook, and Ahtanum had a baby with some added tropical fruity notes?
Does it have Noble traits or would you call it a distinctly American Pacific Northwest hop in terms of character?
I haven't even opened my bag yet. Brewing Sunday.
Does it have Noble traits or would you call it a distinctly American Pacific Northwest hop in terms of character?
I haven't even opened my bag yet. Brewing Sunday.
Wish I knew those hops better so I could help.
I am open to a bottle swap though if you want to try it first hand.
HawksBrewer
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For those who really think 26oz for 10 gallons of APA is too much, you're crazy. 4oz was mash hops so no bitterness imparted. Did a one week dry hop w/ citra and sterling pellets and just racked onto 2oz of belma for a secondary dry hop of a week. Taste sample was PHENOMENAL. I agree with the other statements that Belma is a more subdued hop, but in a good way. Man does it play well w/ the citra and cascade!!!! The aroma from the sterling was a nice counter to the otherwise citrusy hop profile. Looks like I may have a new favorite hop combo.
Gameface
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I just got a pound of this delivered today. I was ordering centennial and tossed in a pound of Belma to help justify the $10 shipping charge. I'm making a two-hearted clone with the centennial but plan to make a similar recipe with amarillo, cascade and belma to compare.
HawksBrewer
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That looks like a winning combination to me.
Crustovsky
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After getting sucked in by how hops direct marketed their "Calypso" hops about this time last year (damn that was a really weak hop) I'm a bit skeptical of their new hop varieties, or at least their marketing pitches. Bit disappointed from everyone's descriptions, as I was hoping these would be a bit stronger, although I'll probably still grab a pound of them soon. I want to try them in a really super aggressively hopped American Red blended with equal parts Ahatnum and either Amarillo, Columbus, or Summit (pending I can find Summit that haven't been visited by the onion fairy).
OP
OP
BBL_Brewer
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If nothing else, even if the character is too weak for your tates, they are high alpha. I'm sure you could put them to good use.
FATC1TY
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I'm thinking of a simple pale... Comet to FWH, Chinook, Cascade and Belma... Call it, "Report Card Pale Ale".. 3 C's and a B. 
I think the fruity notes from Comet, and Cascade will play well with the spicy Chinook, and the Belma has traits of them all, but "supposedly" more fruit notes.
8 # 2 Row
1# Munich
.5# Victory
.5# C20
.5# C40
FWH the Comet at around 1oz.
Fire in the Chinook @ 15, Cascade @ 10, Belma @ 5, and then Belma and Cascade at flameout.
Dry hop with whichever ones make you want, an ounce of each, 2 oz total.
I think the fruity notes from Comet, and Cascade will play well with the spicy Chinook, and the Belma has traits of them all, but "supposedly" more fruit notes.
8 # 2 Row
1# Munich
.5# Victory
.5# C20
.5# C40
FWH the Comet at around 1oz.
Fire in the Chinook @ 15, Cascade @ 10, Belma @ 5, and then Belma and Cascade at flameout.
Dry hop with whichever ones make you want, an ounce of each, 2 oz total.
scottland
Well-Known Member
I got 2lbs in the mail today. It's a very nice hop. Tropical and a little funky/grungy. I get a little citrus, but mostly like over ripe pineapple with some 'funk' to it. And I mean that in a good way.
It's not quite as oily as Citra, but sh**, few hops are. Definitely looking forward to using it.
It's not quite as oily as Citra, but sh**, few hops are. Definitely looking forward to using it.
jheld00
Well-Known Member
I have two pounds of pellets coming my way. I think I'll order a pound of whole tomorrow with my Citra/Amarillo order. I plan on doing an all Belma Pale Ale and turning filter into a "Randall" with some Belma leaf.
You are right. The price per alpha is really good on this hop. Worth trying for flavor/aroma, and if you don't like it, you can just use it as a bittering hop.
I bought some Bravo hops from Hops Direct many years ago (first place I ever heard of it). I really wanted it to be the next Simcoe or Citra, but, it did just fine for bittering at 17+%.
Let's be honest. If this was the next Simcoe or Citra, Putterbaugh would not be the only ones with it and they would not be selling it for $5/lb.
FATC1TY
Well-Known Member
I packaged my #1 of leaf last night into smaller vac sealed packages.. I rubbed some and smelled it. I get a bit of earthy citrus in there, a little melon notes, very soft smelling. Didn't really get the strawberry, but it's all in what you imagine I think.
Smelled good though, and will look to use it in my next pale perhaps.. Planned to be most cascade and citra, but might say to hell with it and toss in some belma.
I got some pellets coming with my other orders since it was so cheap and worth trying, atleast for the high AA to bitter. Might end up being a nice hop to layer with,
Smelled good though, and will look to use it in my next pale perhaps.. Planned to be most cascade and citra, but might say to hell with it and toss in some belma.
I got some pellets coming with my other orders since it was so cheap and worth trying, atleast for the high AA to bitter. Might end up being a nice hop to layer with,
I can see what they meant by tropical strawberry and spice. Belma smells like strawberry-pineapple bubblegum with a hint of funky spice complexity, whereas Citra is similar but wayyyyyyyy more tropical, oily, and fruity. If you wanted to balance things out, I'd go with a dank hop like Apollo/Columbus, and/or Cascade for added floral citrus.
othellomcbane
Well-Known Member
Pretty spot-on description. Just tasted my first hydrometer sample from my Belma Single Hop IPA, and it's got a very nice(but mellow) fruit character, pineapple, citrus, and some kind of funky guava thing, I think. I'm pretty sure I get subtle strawberry and tropical, too. It's promising.
Crustovsky
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This. Probably going to hop-burst a wheat ale with these to see what they can do. The high AA is going to be a bit of a pain to work around though.
Perhaps a wheat wine then :cross:
TimBrewz
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My all Belma APA has a faint Belgian character, and I used American Ale yeast at 63f, so I am assuming that comes from the Belma. I think it would make a good farmhouse/saison.
HawksBrewer
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Just bottled my APA last night and the taste samples were out of this freaking world. Almost had a "heady topper" hop juiciness. This will be a mainstay hop and the citra/cascade/belma combo is ridiculous. Couldn't be happier. Only problem is it won't last long once it carbs.
Yeah! that's what I'm taking about. I'll have to give this a go and update you guys once it's completed.
Anything with Citra smells like juicy hop tropical goodness. I wouldn't credit Belma with those traits just yet until I use them exclusively in the dryhop. Citra isn't in Heady Topper though... at least I don't think.
HawksBrewer
Well-Known Member
I've made apa/ipas w/ citra only, citra/amarillo, citra/amarillo/simcoe and citra/cascade and none of them smelled half as good as this one did. It truly has a wonderfully juicy hop aroma and flavor.
It wasn't that it tasted like heady topper (although if it did I would open a brewery tomorrow), it just had that hop "juiciness" that I've only ever experienced from heady. Eh, who knows.
I've got 10 gallons fermenting of a West Coast Blaster spin-off using 4oz Magnum to bitter and 8 oz each Belma/Cascade at late boil. Will be dry hopping with the Belma/Cascade combo as well. 2 separate carboys, one pitched with Wyeast 1968 London ESB and the other with Wyeast 3522 Belgian Ardennes... (there is something about totally disregarding BJCP style guidelines that makes me giddy)
Wort samples after cooling were amazing. Crisp citrus, resinous, a bit tropical and a strong nose of that classic cascade hop aroma. I will report back in 2 weeks how the first early bottles taste.
Wort samples after cooling were amazing. Crisp citrus, resinous, a bit tropical and a strong nose of that classic cascade hop aroma. I will report back in 2 weeks how the first early bottles taste.
Could be the amounts and locations of the hops, as well as other factors, i.e. the grist makeup, yeast used, ferm. temp, end FG, that you're a better brewer now and have a better understanding of IPAs... could be plenty of other factors. That said, my strongest aroma ever was from Citra & Amarillo late and in the dryhop, Columbus for bittering. Tasted like fruity hop juice too. I'm fermenting a Citra/Belma focused IIPA now with Warrior for bittering, so we shall see how that turns out.
theveganbrewer
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I found the Cascade/Belma mix is very nice but needs 2 weeks of aging to blend perfectly. First week it was OK, 2nd week was perfect.
Excuse you, but I was actually saying that many other "specific" factors can come into play when determining overall flavor/aroma rather than deciding what hop combo to use. And then I went on to list a few... hardly being vague.
And he said that he brewed many APAs/IPAs but never said anything about repeatedly brewing the same beer with the exact same amount of different hops to determine the differences.
HawksBrewer
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I'm pretty sure I posted the hop schedule in this thread, but if you're interested in the full recipe just let me know. Since we did a 10 gallon batch and split it for fermentation, it was interesting to see the differences between 1056 and 1272 w/ regards to the hop character. The 1272 had a fuller, more rounded hop flavor while the 1056 had a nice, crisp hop flavor that finished cleaner.
dbrewski
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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.
Crustovsky
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Dear USPS: Please deliver to Canada faster. I want my hops to experiment with.
I'm looking forward to blending these with Chinook in the near future. I've heard people suggest 70/30 Chinook/Citra can give a pretty decent Simcoe substitute, and that got me to thinking. I figure 50/50 Chinook/Belma might be interesting in mixing the big piney/grapefruit flavours in Chinook with the lighter citrus/tropical fruit/spicy flavours from Belma I'm hearing about (although I doubt it will function as a Simcoe substitute, as really what does). We'll see how that turns out when I get the chance to try it.
I'm looking forward to blending these with Chinook in the near future. I've heard people suggest 70/30 Chinook/Citra can give a pretty decent Simcoe substitute, and that got me to thinking. I figure 50/50 Chinook/Belma might be interesting in mixing the big piney/grapefruit flavours in Chinook with the lighter citrus/tropical fruit/spicy flavours from Belma I'm hearing about (although I doubt it will function as a Simcoe substitute, as really what does). We'll see how that turns out when I get the chance to try it.
berebrando
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I'm about 1.5 weeks in to the fermentation on 10 gallons of extra pale ale... Don't have the complete recipe on hand, but from memory, it was:
about 7.5% abv,
simple 75% 2-row, 25% pils grist
...and, drumroll, please
3 oz at 60
3 oz at 15
6 oz at 5
8 oz at 0. All Belma.
Fermenting with a "Nottingham" strain from a local yeast laboratory that is said to kick off some serious pineapple flavors. Should be a great complement.
Subscribed!
about 7.5% abv,
simple 75% 2-row, 25% pils grist
...and, drumroll, please
3 oz at 60
3 oz at 15
6 oz at 5
8 oz at 0. All Belma.
Fermenting with a "Nottingham" strain from a local yeast laboratory that is said to kick off some serious pineapple flavors. Should be a great complement.
Subscribed!
