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Belma Hops

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Anybody try Belma hops yet? Got them from Hopsdirect, they are a dual purpose hop. They sound like they would be pretty tasty. I brewed a 12 gallon Belma Pale ale last weekend. Belma additions are 1.5 oz @60, 1oz @ 30, and 2oz @5min. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thanks MCB
 
Well, I have been drinking this beer for about a week now. It turned out pretty good, but I don't get a lot of the fruity notes described from their website. Maybe strawberry, not sure it'd hard to say at this point. there is some fruitiness there. I think I will try dry hopping it with Belma next time.
 
I also brewed an American Pale Ale - recipe at http://www.davehennessey.com/brewery/tasting.html with Belma.

At first, it had a pronounced (and I thought delicious) what I'd call melon-like taste.  Now that I'm getting down towards the end of the 10-gal batch (kegs), I find that most of the flavor has now disappeared.  And this has only been about three weeks since I tapped it.

I read some other reviews, and they called the flavor "understated".  I agree.  I think this is a bittering hop, not dual-purpose.  I now plan to use it in conjunction with Columbus and/or Chinook for bittering my standard APA's and AIPA's - which are my favorite styles.

At the beginning, I thought the taste resembled Stone IPA.  OK, my memory might be defective, since I don't buy store-bought very often.  But that was my first impression.

I'd be interested in other folks findings on Belma.

Dave

 
Al  (Mr. Capone Sir),

8 oz in a 5 gallon batch!  At that rate, you'll go through those couple pounds real quick.  And you will definitely get a Belma Burst!!!

Drink it slow, and see if the flavor fades like mine did.  I must admit I was pretty conservative on the late additions & dry hops, but still, I was surprised.

Dave


 
hennesse said:
Al  (Mr. Capone Sir),

8 oz in a 5 gallon batch!  At that rate, you'll go through those couple pounds real quick.  And you will definitely get a Belma Burst!!!

Drink it slow, and see if the flavor fades like mine did.  I must admit I was pretty conservative on the late additions & dry hops, but still, I was surprised.

Will do!  I will probably be using mostly 12oz bottles for that batch, so it'll lend itself well to testing how they fade over time.  I'll just have to sequester a few bottles early so they don't all get drank.

Yeah, I know it was a lot of hops, but it was only about $2.75 worth!  I actually have two more pounds behind, so I didn't mind trying something really hoppy on this batch!  I placed a 7 lb order from hopsdirect a couple months ago.  So far I'm using up the fuggles leaf on several batches, and just broke into the belma for this IPA, then it's off to bravo, cascade, and cluster land.  ;D ;D
 
I also bought a pound of their Belma Hops. Looking forward to what you guys have to say...We'll probably do a rye pale ale and give it a go. Simie
 
It's been a couple weeks now, and the late addition seems unnoticeable. The bitterness is decent and it's a pretty clean hop, but mine turned out to be more malty than expected. I used a half lb of 120L in it, so the roasted notes are really dominate. I think I will wait to see how Al's (gangster) IPA turns out, before I use them again.


Thanks for the feed back
MCB
 
I've decided to use Belma as a cheap bittering hop (60 minutes or more). I think the flavor and aroma are lacking, so why waste the beer the hop sucks up in the boil (or fermenter)?
 
Maplecitybrewer said:
It's been a couple weeks now, and the late addition seems unnoticeable. The bitterness is decent and it's a pretty clean hop, but mine turned out to be more malty than expected. I used a half lb of 120L in it, so the roasted notes are really dominate. I think I will wait to see how Al's (gangster) IPA turns out, before I use them again.


Thanks for the feed back
MCB

It's bottled and conditioning now.  It should be ready to try within about a week.
 
Popped a test bottle today to see if it's carbing.  Yes, it is, nicely.  Probably needs another week, but it's tasty anyway.

Tasting notes: Aroma is very fruity and is quite good.  Flavor is a bit muddy* and pretty bitter, although still quite fruity and nicely hoppy.  I think this one will come out pretty good, but I am thinking that Belma might be better for bittering or dry-hopping, rather than late hopping/hop bursting.  It might combine well with other fruity hops, or even with citric hops.  I'm thinking it might go well with Cascade in a Pale Ale or IPA, with Belma for bittering, Cascade for flavor, and Belma for dry hops.

I will report further when it matures a bit more.  Cheers!  -al

*could be because it still needs to condition a little longer
 
Al
When you did your hop-burst, what was your addition schedule and amonts?  I'd like to try this technique with my next IPA.  Is it all late addtions?
 
factory said:
Al
When you did your hop-burst, what was your addition schedule and amonts?  I'd like to try this technique with my next IPA.  Is it all late addtions?

Full recipe and procedure here:

https://alcaponejunior.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/belma-ipa/

cliff's notes:


    10 g at 30 minutes
    1 oz 15 minutes
    1 oz 10 minutes
    1 oz 5 minutes
    1 oz 1 minute
    1 oz flameout
    3 oz dry hop


I plan to try another bottle of it next week, after it conditions another week.  I think it may get better as there was probably still a little priming sugar unfermented, thus carbonation will go up and residual sweetness will go down.  This should allow me to better assess the full impact of the hops.

Aroma wise, it's pretty spot on already.  Could be better maybe, but it's pretty damn good.

Flavor wise we need another test.  It's plenty good mind you, but is it worthy of repeating the recipe?  We shall see.
 
Thanks Al Jr.  I would like to remake my IPA recipe using this technique and compare the two side by side.
 
factory said:
Thanks Al Jr.  I would like to remake my IPA recipe using this technique and compare the two side by side.

More on Belma hops.  I just popped the second bottle.

http://alcaponejunior.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/belma-ipa/#comment-1204

OK. It’s been a week, and I’m trying the second bottle of this one.

It’s better conditioned now, although will probably still do well with another week or so of conditioning.

Appearance is pretty murky, light brown or dark tan, with a great, lasting head and awesome lacing. Appearance could improve.

The bitterness is about right for what I had in mind. It’s not overly bitter, but is sufficiently so. I didn’t intend it to be heavily bitter.

Flavor is a bit less that what I’d find optimal for an IPA. I think it needs something besides just belma… cascade might be nice. Late hopping with belma probably isn’t the way to go.

Aroma is pretty good, but if you compare it to something like Ruination, this beer falls short.

Now I know I’m not an expert like Mitch at Stone, but I think this beer was done properly enough to draw reasonable conclusions from this tasting.

I am going to say that belma is a good bittering hop, good for milder beers that don’t require that sharp, pungent, in-your-face hop forwardness like AIPAs or DIPAs. It would probably be better suited to English styles, mildly hopped American styles, or as a general bittering hop.

I do like the aroma that the dry hops lent to this beer, but it’s again not really IPA worthy. Again, good for styles that are less hoppy than IPAs.

I am still quite pleased with my Belma hops, I just won’t use them for super cheep IPA hops. They won’t go to waste, however. I will use them as a general bittering hop, or a hop for milder beer styles. Short of doing a side-by-side with magnum or warrior, I can’t say whether they’d really be a replacement. I don’t intend to do such a comparison, BTW! These will be fine for bittering.

In the end, I’ll drink every one of my somewhat milder than expected Belma IPA. It was a good experiment, and the beer is pretty good anyway.
 
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