Cool. Thanks for following up. Good luck.
Got a reply back from the professor - they did not measure cohumulone when they were working with the Belma, unfortunately. I’m brewing on Friday and plan to do a second-runnings simple ale with Belma only (FWH, bittering, and a huge flameout addition) and I’ll post first impressions.
It’s nice that he responded at least. Don’t always get that.
Looking forward to your thoughts. Unfortunately it’s going to be a while before I can squeeze in a single-hop Belma brew with the other things I have planned.
[quote=“kcbeersnob”]Unfortunately it’s going to be a while before I can squeeze in a single-hop Belma brew with the other things I have planned.[/quote]That’s the beauty of the second-runnings beer - just passing some hot water through the spent grain and boiling it on the side, no need to plan anything! 
Opened one bag of Belma for today’s brewing and was underwhelmed by the aroma - a little earthy, no citrus, a bit of peppery spice. Ended up with 4.5 gallons of 1.040 wort, was running short on time so switched to a 30-min boil and lots of late hops, with 1oz Belma @ 10 minutes, 2oz @ 5, and 3oz @ FO. Tasted the wort prior to pitching and as you would expect the ~40 IBUs were mild and smooth, but almost completely without character, would never pick it out as an “American” hop and there was none of the promised fruit. I’ll dryhop it heavily, and see if something magical happens.
So, how did that Belma brew turn out?
I’m planning on dry-hopping tonight or just going ahead and crashing and then dryhopping in the keg, will decide when I get home.
did my standard pale ale recipe with belma hops, added 10% to each addition since they were leaf hops, tasting before dry hop was a good bitter really clean flavor very slight fruit notes not much to be excited about. dryhopped for 10 days with 1.5oz really made the flavor alot more noticable still not the pungant hoppy ness you would want but def slight tropical notes. my advice is to use almost double waht you would think in late additions, but there was a very good clean bitter from the hops.
im thinking this is a gonna be a very good back up hop to support the more Bold flavor hops IE simcoe, amarillo, cascade etc
Just picked up 2 lbs. of these, along with a lb. of Centennial from Hops Direct and a lb. of Amarillo from Wholesale Hops.com. Based on some of the feedback, I might do up an IPA using these. Maybe bitter with Columbus or something.
Maybe something like this? (feel free to comment)
12 lbs 2-row
.5 lbs Crystal 20
1 oz Columbus @ 60
1 oz Centennial @ 15
1 oz Amarillo @15
1.5 oz. Belma @ 15
1 tsp. Irish Moss @ 15
1 oz each of Amarillo and Centennial @10 through 0, hop burst style
2 oz of Belma @10 through 0
Dry hop with 3 ounces Belma
Probably use US-05 or something clean like that.
id double the amount of belma at 15 and 10
Picked a pound Friday. For $5, why not?
I was one of the lucky ones who got Citra & Amarillo in the first 10 minutes. 
jezmez68, I’ll try and slide some your way. Belma that is!
Good Luck
Got an all belma brew fermenting right now :cheers:
I ended up kegging the Belma ale and dryhopping with another three oz in the keg (would have used four but there wasn’t enough room). It’s going on the gas in a couple of days.
I placed a 5# order with Hopsdirect when the Centennial and Cascades came out. Shipping was $15. I passed on the Belma. Yesterday I saw some other new varieties so I picked up 5 more pounds. I decided to give Belma a try. Shipping is just like before $15.
I’d like to hear how the single hopped Belma beers came out. I won’t be making mine until after the first of the year. I have 21 full kegs of other beers.
[quote=“MullerBrau”] I have 21 full kegs of other beers.[/quote] I now have keg envy!
Well, I caved and bought a pound of pellets today since I was already ordering some Chinook pellets. I probably won’t get to try them out until the spring, but I’m looking forward to it.
Tapped the Belma keg last night. It’s was a partigyle wort, 2:1 Vienna:2-row with ~5% 15L, 1.040 OG, 40 IBUs, SRM 5.5, US-05. Belma only, 1 oz @ 10, 2 @ 5, 3 @ FO, with a 3-oz keghop.
First impressions, right off the tap at 40F - a light, balanced beer, with no standout hop aroma or flavor, very easy drinking with subdued bitterness (as you would expect from an all late-addition beer).
Warmed to ~50F, the hops come out more, but still nothing really stands out. There’s some peppery notes, earthiness, a tiny bit of citrus sharpness. Basically a noble hop profile.
At 75F, after sitting for maybe 30 minutes, there’s still no real hop punch, although the beer is very drinkable with a “fresh” note to it (probably from all the hops packed in the keg) that sent me back to the tap for a couple more pints before bed.
Based on this one beer, I’d say Belma doesn’t live up to the hopsdirect hype on aroma and flavor and wouldn’t use it as a single-hop again. Never got the cohumulone info, and haven’t tried it as a bittering hop, but I think it might do well, seems mild enough.
I put four oz at 10 minutes in a 12-gal batch of Belgian IPA that’s fermenting now, combined with Columbus and Centennial to add some Saaz-like character. Maybe it will shine here.
Thanks for the update. After reading the description on the website I ended up picking up a couple pnds at that 5 dollar price. At worst maybe I can replace the Magnum in my IPA recipes I guess.
Thanks for the update Shadetree. I think I am going to make an all Belma Pale Ale before the end of the year. If it sucks after a few weeks in the kegs, I wll dry hop the kegs with Cascade.
