Belma Hops

[jimkaren99]

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.

 

[AnOldUR]

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?

 

[shoreman]

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.

 

[jammin]

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

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

 

[BrewingChemist]

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

 

[TNGabe]

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.

 

[SixStringBeer]

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.

 

[FATC1TY]

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!

 

[SixStringBeer]

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.

 

[CadillacAndy]

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.

 

[bobbrews]

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.

 

[bleme]

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

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!

 

[TNGabe]

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.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

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.

 

[fnord]

**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.

 

[kenlenard]

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.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

......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.

Are we talking about hops or jalepenos?

 

[sweetcell]

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.

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.

 

[kenlenard]

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.

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.

 

[kenlenard]

Are we talking about hops or jalepenos?

Hey, great idea! Belma-Jalapeno Blonde Ale!

 

[CadillacAndy]

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

You sir are correct. A little lsydexic apparently. Thanks for the correction!

 

[kpr121]

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.

This is good news. Just popped open my bag of belma to throw a palm full of cones into my glass of DIPA (a drunken tradition), and I was definitely getting some oniony cheesy notes.

 

[daksin]

Just got my hops today- Northern Brewer, Bravo, Belma, and Centennial. Can't wait to make a nice APA with these, and probably a hoppy saison too. What are you guys liking for grist to compliment the Belma? I was going to go malty and on the darker side for the APA.

 

[AnOldUR]

What are you guys liking for grist to compliment the Belma?

My first one is still in the primary and I haven't taken a sample yet. For that one I went with an IPA and all Belma hops. I used a very basic grain bill, neutral yeast and a relatively low mash temperature. It's great reading everyone’s descriptions of this hop, but I brewed this to get a firsthand idea of what this hop has to offer, either as a standalone or if it might need other hops to compliment it.

I know that I should wait for the results from the first batch, but I might get to brew tomorrow and am thinking about a Red Rye with Belma. I’m only guessing that the softer character of Belma discribed here will go well with rye and not overpower it or just not balance correctly the way some other hops do when combined with rye.

Has anyone done the Belma / Rye combination? Results?

 

[shoreman]

Pale malt,crystal 60,wheat

 

[CurtHagenlocher]

Has anyone done the Belma / Rye combination? Results?

I've dryhopped 5 gallons of a rye pale ale (~25% rye) with 3 oz of Belma and thought it really brought out the peppery nature of the rye. Any other added flavors were subtle enough that I didn't notice them. The hops used at boil were Perle @ 60 for bittering and Cascade @ 5 for flavor.

(I also just put a Roggenbier into secondary that I had bittered with 0.5 ounce of Belma. The sample tasted great, but there wasn't really any hop flavor to it -- which is, of course, what I wanted.)

 

[FATC1TY]

I brewed one up late last night, a APA if you will.

2 row, with a bit of munich, vienna, and dash of C40.

I dubbed it Belma's Galaxy APA.

FWH Belma leaf

Then didn't add anything until 10 minutes;

Galaxy, Belma pellets @ 10
Cascade leaf @ 7
Belma pellet @ 5
Galaxy pellet @ 1
Belma pellet @ Flameout

Belma pellet @ whirlpool/cooling

I plan to dry hop it with 1oz Belma leaf, and 1 oz Galaxy pellet.

1.065 OG, bittered to 52 IBU. A bit high for a APA, but I used the BRY-97 weast coast yeast that floccs so hard it mutes the hops a bit, from what I found in a DIPA I did.

Smelled great, figured I'd be able to see how Belma bitters, flavors, and mingles with other hops..

Had a earthy berry nose while boiling. Slight tart melon notes.

 

[AnOldUR]

1.065 OG, bittered to 52 IBU. A bit high for a APA . . .

Yeah, I'd call that a solid IPA.

Just don't tell your friends it's a session APA or you'll be driving them home.

Sounds delicious! Look forward to hearing how it turns out.

 

[FATC1TY]

Yeah, I'd call that a solid IPA.

Just don't tell your friends it's a session APA or you'll be driving them home.

Sounds delicious! Look forward to hearing how it turns out.

My IPA's are normally 65-90 IBU's. So to me, this one will be a nice APA. I bumped the calculated IBU's up, mainly because of my yeast choice, and what I've read and seen in using it myself. Should end up knocking roughly 5-7% of the calculated IBU's down, so I'll settle in the mid, high 40's.

I overshot my OG though, was looking for 1.060, but it's whatever!

 

[jtejedor]

I thought about doing a red rye IPA with belma simcoe and Amarillo. I know the others might overpower the belma but hearing others describe this hop sounds like it might be best combined with other hops.