[Chas]

Hey folks!

I bought some El Dorado recently without a plan on how to use them. I have used E.D hops before, a few years back from a  single hopped IPA kit from midwest brewing. My town got a homebrew shop so I have been designing my beers the past few years, but haven't used E.D. before in a designed beer. I am curious how it might play with citra and or  amarillo?

I am also curious about the grain bill. I was thinking something super light, 90 % pilsner, 7 % white wheat and 3 % crystal 20

A far as yeast, I love 1968 and have adopted it as my go to house yeast for IPAs, but im not sure how it would play with this hop.

Am I way off?

Many thanks in advance for wisdom on this!

[HoosierBrew]

Well, the fruity esters from 1968 paired with fruity hops would definitely give you a fruity IPA for sure. Fruity IPAs are all the rage nowadays obviously. As for the hops themselves, El Dorado is fruity and strong like Citra - a 1:1 ratio would work there. Amarillo is a lot less strong than those two so you'd need to use twice as much Amarillo not to lose it in the mix. Obviously a little Simcoe or Chinook would help balance out these hops, if desired.

As for the grist, it looks fine. I don't use wheat in IPAs but no major harm there. Pils can be nice in IPAs. Done it several times. Good luck.

[couchsending]

One of the best hoppy beers I've made to date (and there have been a lot) was a combo for
El Dorado, Vic Secret, Galaxy.  El Dorado on it's own is kinda odd.  It can taste literally like
candy at time, Jolly Ranchers in particular. 

[Chas]

Thank you very much guys!
Embarrassing, but 9 years of brewing, I have never designed a beer. Just did kits for 7 years and the last two I have dialed in clones. So thanks for your help. Here is my rough draft of the design. If anyone sees stuff I should reconsider, I am not offended. I would rather have a beer I love!

26 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) UK (1.0 SRM) Grain 1 89.7 %
2 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 2 6.9 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.4 %
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 19.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo [9.20 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 5 8.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 6 11.6 IBUs
4.00 oz Amarillo [9.20 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30.0 min Hop 8 20.9 IBUs
2.00 oz El Dorado [15.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30.0 min Hop 10 17.1 IBUs
2.0 pkg Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) [35.49 ml] Yeast 11 -
5.00 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
5.00 oz El Dorado [15.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days

[trapae]

My house IPA is equal parts el dorado and centennial, and a little less of columbus.  Grain bill is close to dry pliney.   I love the hop combo.

[bigmunchez]

One of our local breweries here in Western Australia makes a wildly popular IPA using Eldorado, Azacca and galaxy.  I've pretty much cloned it using a dry hop of 3g/L of each. (you'll have to do the maths to convert that to your units of choice!).  But those hops work really well together.