Centennial and El Dorado or Centennial and Citra?

[vance]

I bought ingredients for my first homebrew batch today. I'm planning a simple single malt pale ale - have the 6.5 pounds of 2-row ready to go (slightly smaller 3 pound batch).

I didn't have a hop schedule picked out, so I bought 3 oz each of Centennial, El Dorado, and Citra, since I've liked all three in beers. I'm definitely planning to use Centennial as my bittering hop, and probably just one of the other two as my aroma and dry hop additions. Has anyone tried these combinations? Which did you like better?

 

[crusader1612]

Why not all 3?

I'd bitter with El-Dorado either way.

you could go with 1/2oz centennial @10
1/2 oz each of Eldorado and citra @0
then dry hops with 1/2oz each of all three.
single malt base, mash higher around 68-69 for some body.

 

[vance]

I could do all 3, I guess my thinking was I don't have a perfect idea of what qualities these hops give and how they mix, so I wanted to stick to fewer hops for my first beer. My impression was that El Dorado is more of a flavor/aroma hop, but I guess with an AA of 14-16% that might not be the case.

You mean 68-69 *C?

 

[crusader1612]

I could do all 3, I guess my thinking was I don't have a perfect idea of what qualities these hops give and how they mix, so I wanted to stick to fewer hops for my first beer. My impression was that El Dorado is more of a flavor/aroma hop, but I guess with an AA of 14-16% that might not be the case.

You mean 68-69 *C?

Haha! Yeah Sorry, I work in Metric.

Up to you, but either way with the higher AA of el-Dorado they work well as bittering.

 

[mi6op]

I've used el dorado in late boil, whirlpool, and dry hopping and the aroma and flavor it gives of juicy fruit and musky tropical goodness is amazing

 

[vance]

I've used el dorado in late boil, whirlpool, and dry hopping and the aroma and flavor it gives of juicy fruit and musky tropical goodness is amazing

I've heard lots of good things which is why I picked some up, I just can't decide where to use it... I might do the boil with centennial and do a flameout and dry hop with el dorado, since it has such a high aa% and I don't want a super bitter beer.

 

[tagz]

Here's my experience:

Centennial - bright, floral, citrus
Citra - typically musty tropical citrus, this year diesel and onion citrus
El Dorado - pear, melon, light grass

 

[tagz]

Oh also note that Citra is quite strong, so I would go a bit lighter on that if you don't want it to be the dominant character.

 

[vance]

That's why I eventually settled on just using Centennial and El Dorado, and saving the citra for a later brew (it's in sealed bags in my freezer so I'm not worried.

I'm thinking this (keep in mind 3 gallon batch):

@30 - .5 oz Centennial
@5 - .5 oz Centennial
FO - 1 oz El Dorado
DH - 1 oz El Dorado

Not totally set on the exact numbers but I think that's the schedule I'm going with. I was reading an article earlier on how moving up the bittering additions is becoming more and more common, and I'm kinda looking for a lighter beer with this (shooting for around 5% abv).

 

[shellsbells]

If it were me, I'd go El Dorado & Citra. I've made a couple beers using them together and they were awesome! Curious to hear how it goes with the El Dorado & Centennial, as I haven't had them together before. Keep us posted

 

[vance]

If it were me, I'd go El Dorado & Citra. I've made a couple beers using them together and they were awesome! Curious to hear how it goes with the El Dorado & Centennial, as I haven't had them together before. Keep us posted

I'm honestly a little burnt out on Citra, it's a great hop but it feels like it's in every beer nowadays - it'll probably go in my next brew, which I'm sure won't be long after this one.