IPA help w/ Belma

[scallopking]

Got a pound of Belma in and really want to try this hop out. But not sure about my bittering and what else goes good with Belma. I want to try and cut the flavor/aroma with something else if possible. What do you guys think about this recipe? Is it good to apply all the bitterness to belma or am I on the right track you think with the warrior? If I put the warrior too soon the IBUs are too high. Also trying a small portion of acid malt this time to help PH. never measured PH before so want to see what 4 ounces does. Does this sound right...should I go lower initially?

IBU 69.4
Color 5.1
ABV 6.0

12 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 88.9 %
12.0 oz Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 2 5.6 %
8.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.7 %
4.0 oz Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) Grain 4 1.9 %

0.60 oz Warrior [15.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 11.9 IBUs
4.40 oz Belma [9.80 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 60.0 min Hop 6 57.5 IBUs

4.00 oz Belma [9.80 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days Hop 7 0.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days Hop 8 0.0 IBUs

 

[m00ps]

Belma goes well with any other fruity hops. I use it in my favorite IPA recipe as the primary hop I try to stress. Its pretty tame in terms of its bittering properties and will easily get outshined by something like citra oz for oz. I think that looks good. I have had really nice results combining Belma with:
- Nelson Sauvin
- Hallertau blanc
- huell melon
- pacific gem
- enigma
- meridian

 

[scallopking]

Belma goes well with any other fruity hops. I use it in my favorite IPA recipe as the primary hop I try to stress. Its pretty tame in terms of its bittering properties and will easily get outshined by something like citra oz for oz. I think that looks good. I have had really nice results combining Belma with:
- Nelson Sauvin
- Hallertau blanc
- huell melon
- pacific gem
- enigma
- meridian

thanks, interesting on the Nelson...that sounds like an awesome combo. I've been using Nelson too much lately I think though. I also have huell melon on had but last time I used it I didn't get much from it aroma or flavor. probably didn't use enough then.

how much strawberry do you get from it? I'm worried about being too much of a fruit bomb.

so I checked the actual AA and the recipe was off. dropped to 67.4 IBUs now. I think that's good amount of bitterness for this.

 

[m00ps]

Belma is like pure strawberry to me in flavor and aroma. I can get a bit or orange and spice but strawberry is definitely the dominating flavor. It doesnt make anything sweet tasting or anything though. I try to make my IPAs as fruit bomby as possible but they still finish super dry

 

[scallopking]

Belma is like pure strawberry to me in flavor and aroma. I can get a bit or orange and spice but strawberry is definitely the dominating flavor. It doesnt make anything sweet tasting or anything though. I try to make my IPAs as fruit bomby as possible but they still finish super dry

thanks, think I'll stick to all belma to get a taste of it without other hops except the citra on dry hop.

to get this on the drier side I planned to mash at 148. I haven't used sugar yet but understand that will also dry out and increase ABV?

thanks m00ps for your help!

 

[m00ps]

thanks, think I'll stick to all belma to get a taste of it without other hops except the citra on dry hop.

to get this on the drier side I planned to mash at 148. I haven't used sugar yet but understand that will also dry out and increase ABV?

thanks m00ps for your help!

yeah, I always have 5-10% sugar in my IPAs to ensure the final product isnt too sweet on the finish. I havent ran into any issues with a lack of body at these amounts, but I also like to use wheat in my IPAs. If I remember right, 1lb fo cane sugar will add +0.008OG/+0.001FG to your predicted valuesfor a 5gal batch

 

[scallopking]

yeah, I always have 5-10% sugar in my IPAs to ensure the final product isnt too sweet on the finish. I havent ran into any issues with a lack of body at these amounts, but I also like to use wheat in my IPAs. If I remember right, 1lb fo cane sugar will add +0.008OG/+0.001FG to your predicted valuesfor a 5gal batch

thanks!

what type of wheat do you use? So far I've tried torrified and I have fermenting an IPA with wheat flakes. I bought a bunch of oat flakes so I thought I would use that this time.

Why the cane sugar?

again, thanks for your help.

 

[m00ps]

ive used regular wheat, both domestic and european, flaked wheat, torrified wheat, spelt, basically anything. Its all good, slight differences between each. Ive used oats in a few IPAs, does well to provide body.

The sugar will add to the abv while seemingly detracting from the sweet malty flavor of the beer. You generally want this for an IPA because it helps showcase the hops

 

[emcfarden]

I've had an IPA single hopped with Belma, it was really good. Yours should turn out nice!

 

[Ruckusz28]

I did an ipa with belma last month. It does not play well with Citra. The taste is very similar to an under-ripe fruit.

 

[atom]

I did an ipa with belma last month. It does not play well with Citra. The taste is very similar to an under-ripe fruit.

hmmm...I just brewed a belgian pale ale that was mostly citra and belma. plan to do a gravity sample tonight. This was my first time using Belma, I hope i didn't make a mistake with that combo.

 

[AK7007]

This was the most melon-forward beer I've ever had the pleasure of drinking, and I think the Belma contributed a fair amount to that:

 

[scallopking]

ive used regular wheat, both domestic and european, flaked wheat, torrified wheat, spelt, basically anything. Its all good, slight differences between each. Ive used oats in a few IPAs, does well to provide body.

The sugar will add to the abv while seemingly detracting from the sweet malty flavor of the beer. You generally want this for an IPA because it helps showcase the hops

maybe that's what I'm missing then or too much grain to begin with. I've been thinking lately that the malt is too forward sometimes and actually scaled this back from what i normally do around 14-15.5 lbs. I can't wait to see how this comes out. thanks m00ps! once I use up all this oat I'll try wheat some more and try to stick with that. since I've been using oats and wheat once or twice I'm not using the carapils/dextrapils. I hope that's right.

 

[scallopking]

I've had an IPA single hopped with Belma, it was really good. Yours should turn out nice!

awesome thanks! I cant wait to try this one.

 

[scallopking]

I did an ipa with belma last month. It does not play well with Citra. The taste is very similar to an under-ripe fruit.

thanks. I only plan to dry-hop with it. where did you use it?

 

[scallopking]

I'm also hoping my wife likes it, she seems to be interested in the strawberry flavor so now I'm thinking straight belma dry-hop and skip the citra. hmmm.

 

[scallopking]

btw, when do you add the cane sugar to the boil?

 

[atom]

btw, when do you add the cane sugar to the boil?

usually late boil, last 5-10 min

 

[scallopking]

thanks! first time using acid malt, I measured 5.3 ph at room temp

is that good? that was 4oz of acid.

 

[sd_brewbie]

Ballast point homework series 5 uses belma which I wanted to brew, but could not find belma locally. http://www.ballastpoint.com/beer-recipes/

 

[scallopking]

while brewing this today I noticed that I had the hopstand @ 60 min not 30, so I adjusted and the bitterness was too low for what I wanted, so threw in another .60 oz of belma to round out 5 oz on the hopstand. it was too late to adjust for anything else. I hope this turns out good. I did overshoot post boil gravity from 1.059 to 1.062. I think I dial back to 60 min boils now. a 75/60 might be the trick.

 

[scallopking]

and I got scared and only added a half pound organic cane sugar. almost forgot about it at about 8 min to go.

 

[Ruckusz28]

thanks. I only plan to dry-hop with it. where did you use it?

2.5 gallon BIAB

FERMENTABLES:
3.4 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (62.7%)
12.8 oz - Flaked Oats (14.8%)
12.8 oz - American - White Wheat (14.8%)
3.2 oz - German - Acidulated Malt (3.7%)
2 oz - American - Caramel / Crystal 60L (2.3%)
1.5 oz - Canadian - Honey Malt (1.7%)

HOPS:
0.25 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Aroma for 15 min, IBU: 12.37
0.25 oz - Belma, Type: Pellet, AA: 9.4, Use: Aroma for 5 min, IBU: 4.25
2 oz - Belma, Type: Pellet, AA: 9.4, Use: Whirlpool for 26 min at 140 °F, IBU: 28.16
1 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Whirlpool for30 min at 140 °F, IBU: 16.48
0.75 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Whirlpool for 0 min at 140 °F (added as i cranked the chiller)
1.5 oz - Belma, Type: Pellet, AA: 9.4, Use: Dry Hop for 4 days
1.5 oz - Citra, Type: Pellet, AA: 11, Use: Dry Hop for 4 days

As pointed out to me, the 140*F hopstand may have been too low and my perceived bitterness could have been a vegetal off flavor. I'll try again, but I'll single hop with belma. I purchased a pound and still have about 9 oz left. I'll repurpose the recipe to the same grain bill, 1oz belma at flameout, 2oz belma hopstand at 180, and a split dry hop with the rest of the pellets in primary and keg.

 

[TheHairyHop]

how did this come out?

 

[scallopking]

came out great - only two bottles left, here's the final recipe I made. I will use less oats next time as it was super cloudy and had a very silky (almost too much) mouth-feel - like it wasn't there. ended up calling it strawberry milkshake on how thick it was. I want to make it again already.

Batch size - 6g
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.2 %
Bitterness: 62.6 IBUs
Est Color: 5.1 SRM

12 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 88.9 %
12.0 oz Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 2 5.6 %
8.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.7 %
4.0 oz Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) Grain 4 1.9 %

0.60 oz Warrior [15.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 12.0 IBUs
5.00 oz Belma [9.80 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30.0 min Hop 6 50.6 IBUs

1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 ml] Yeast 7 -

4.00 oz Belma [9.80 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days Hop 9 0.0 IBUs

 

[TheHairyHop]

hmm, sounds good. I'm interested in getting that strawberry flavor from Belma, but it seems that some people get it and others are underwhelmed

 

[scallopking]

i could taste it but it's not like super strawberry anything, subtle.

I'll also have to sub more Acid malt for MO on the next recipe to hit 5.3 PH.

 

[Ruckusz28]

I just gave belma its third and final try. This time blended with Mosaic and Columbus. We'll see how it goes.

 

[TheHairyHop]

I'll be trying an IPA with Belma, Hallertau Blanc and Citra in the coming month. Will report on it in this or another thread

 

[Ruckusz28]

I want this hop to be great.. I really do. The aroma that came off of the kettle was amazing.

 

[TheHairyHop]

I want this hop to be great.. I really do. The aroma that came off of the kettle was amazing.

my IPA with the above mentioned combo came out pretty good. much more herbal notes than I was expecting. I can't tell if Belma did anything.

did yours come out well?

 

[scallopking]

Here is my last recipe update to this - this is even better. Cheers!

11 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 84.3 %
1 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 2 7.7 %
8.8 oz Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.2 %
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 30L (30.0 SRM) Grain 4 1.9 %
4.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 5 1.9 %

0.60 oz Warrior [15.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 6 11.6 IBUs
3.00 oz Belma [9.40 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30.0 min Hop 7 28.1 IBUs
1.90 oz El Dorado [11.40 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30.0 min Hop 8 21.6 IBUs

1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 ml] Yeast 9 -

4.00 oz Belma [9.40 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
3.00 oz El Dorado [11.40 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs

 

[TheHairyHop]

I had a NEIPA made with El Dorado and Mandarina Bavaria. It was fantastic. I'll have to try that hop

 

[scallopking]

That sounds good too, thanks for the idea.

 

[Ruckusz28]

my IPA with the above mentioned combo came out pretty good. much more herbal notes than I was expecting. I can't tell if Belma did anything.

did yours come out well?

It came out very well. I bittered with columbus, had a 5 minute addition of belma, and a 1:1.5 ratio of belma to mosaic in the whirlpool. In my opinion, it partnered better with mosaic than it did with citra. The herbal notes played well with the flowery nature of mosaic.