Disappointing El Dorado hops experiment

[OnanSalad]

As soon as I saw El Dorado hops associated with the flavor of "watermelon jolly ranchers," I decided to experiment with this hop in a low-IBU American wheat.

For the experiment, I set a target IBU of 20, and with the 14.9aa pellets calculated two 0.5 oz additions with 20 and 5 mins left in the boil. To eliminate yeast as a flavor contributor, I selected a clean german lager yeast (like Abita used in their discontinued Wheat) and lagered.

I've just tasted off the secondary and found no detectable fruit flavor at all.

Now I'm wondering if the fruit flavor profile of El Dorado is only detectable in high concentrations like american IPA, or if it's only present in whole hops instead of pellets.

Has anyone brewed this in a low IBU recipe and still gotten the fruit flavor profile? Did the flavor become more pronounced after long boil times? Or with certain malts, adjuncts, or yeast strains?

Since the flavor seems unique to el dorado, I don't think the source is alpha acids but one of the many other compounds present. So how do I harvest this mystery compound without bringing all the bitterness along with it?

 

[The_Bishop]

Flameout/whirlpool/steep additons, dry hopping. Being as it's so high alpha, there's difficulty in doing low IBU beers with it unless you get creative.

 

[PGEduardo]

Try to dryhop it now - I'd expect delicate flavors to be lost if added during the boil...

 

[slym2none]

Yeah, If going for the full flavour, I'd use a neutral bittering hop at 45 or 60 minutes, then all flameout & dry-hops from there on out. You don't have to dump 5 ounces in just for the dry-hops, but 1.5-2 ounces on each flameout and dry-hops (so 3 or 4 ounces El Dorado total) is all you'd likely need.

 

[dmtaylor]

I made an El Dorado IPA last year and I didn't pick up the famed watermelon Jolly Rancher thing at all. I found it to be very mild and plain-Jane for an IPA hop. I wouldn't use it again. I came to the conclusion that this hop must be very different in character depending on where it's grown, or the particular seasonal conditions, or whatever. Must be, as it was so highly touted in the past. Not mine. Stupid El Dorado. I won't try it again.

 

[OnanSalad]

Thanks for the quick response, guys. I think I will dry-hop this experiment in secondary with 2oz of el dorado pellets to see if I can tease out this stubborn flavor. I guess it's also possible that the elusive compound responsible for the flavor is partially or completely destroyed during pelleting. Maybe I'll try whole flowers if I can find them.

 

[dmtaylor]

You might be onto something with the whole vs. pellet. I don't think so, but anything's possible. I think it's more a seasonal thing than anything else, i.e., different from year to year. For instance, some years I love Citra, other years it's too much for my personal taste. El Dorado might be like that, but since it's only been available for a couple of years, who the hell really knows except maybe people like you and I.

 

[crash568]

I have brewed a lot with El Dorado and I work at a brewery where the brewer uses it A LOT and he has told me that El Dorado is not a stand alone hop. It is really something that needs to be accompanied by other hops to really get all you can out of it.

 

[joshesmusica]

But, I mean, yeah. A 20-min addition and a 5-min addition, plus using a lager yeast, plus using a secondary. You're basically asking for no leftover aroma, and little leftover flavor. At this point, you most definitely need to dry hop to get the aroma. After 5-7 days of that, package the thing, set it near a heater, and drink it in a couple of weeks.

In the future, I would suggest using nothing earlier than 10 minutes left in the boil. If you do a 10-minute add9ition, then do a 5-min, and a hopstand, and a dry hop addition. Then make sure you're drinking it fairly fresh. Like 2-3 weeks primary fermentation, completely skipping any secondary vessel, and 2-3 weeks bottle conditioning. If you're kegging, obviously much sooner than that.