diff --git a/qa/integration/fixtures/dlq_spec.yml b/qa/integration/fixtures/dlq_spec.yml
index 8ca9e6d08bd..6bf2953acd5 100644
--- a/qa/integration/fixtures/dlq_spec.yml
+++ b/qa/integration/fixtures/dlq_spec.yml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ services:
 config:
   input {
     generator{
-      message => '{"test":"one"}'
+      message => '{"ip":1}'
       codec => "json"
       count => 1000
     }
@@ -17,22 +17,16 @@ config:
   }
 
   filter {
-    if ([geoip]) {
+    if ([ip]) {
         mutate {
-            remove_field => ["geoip"]
+            remove_field => ["ip"]
             add_field => {
               "mutated" => "true"
             }
         }
-    }else{
-      mutate {
-        add_field => {
-          "geoip" => "somewhere"
-        }
-      }
     }
   }
   output {
-    elasticsearch {}
+    elasticsearch { index => "test-index" }
   }
 teardown_script:
diff --git a/qa/integration/services/elasticsearch_setup.sh b/qa/integration/services/elasticsearch_setup.sh
index 0af88f0d9f1..c6693d28ebd 100755
--- a/qa/integration/services/elasticsearch_setup.sh
+++ b/qa/integration/services/elasticsearch_setup.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ ES_HOME="$current_dir/../../../build/elasticsearch"
 
 start_es() {
   es_args=$@
-  JAVA_HOME= $ES_HOME/bin/elasticsearch -Epath.data=/tmp/ls_integration/es-data -Epath.logs=/tmp/ls_integration/es-logs $es_args -p $ES_HOME/elasticsearch.pid > /tmp/elasticsearch.log 2>/dev/null &
+  JAVA_HOME= $ES_HOME/bin/elasticsearch -Epath.data=/tmp/ls_integration/es-data -Ediscovery.type=single-node -Epath.logs=/tmp/ls_integration/es-logs $es_args -p $ES_HOME/elasticsearch.pid > /tmp/elasticsearch.log 2>/dev/null &
   count=120
   echo "Waiting for elasticsearch to respond..."
   while ! curl --silent localhost:9200 && [[ $count -ne 0 ]]; do
diff --git a/qa/integration/specs/dlq_spec.rb b/qa/integration/specs/dlq_spec.rb
index da2b521566f..74088f5d125 100644
--- a/qa/integration/specs/dlq_spec.rb
+++ b/qa/integration/specs/dlq_spec.rb
@@ -23,16 +23,13 @@
 
 require "logstash/devutils/rspec/spec_helper"
 
-def generate_message(number)
-  message = {}
-  number.times do |i|
-    message["field#{i}"] = "value#{i}"
-  end
-  message.to_json
-end
-
 describe "Test Dead Letter Queue" do
 
+  # template with an ip field
+  let(:template) { { "index_patterns": ["te*"], "mappings": { "properties": { "ip": { "type": "ip" }}}} }
+  # a message that is incompatible with the template
+  let(:message) { {"message": "hello", "ip": 1}.to_json }
+
   before(:all) {
     @fixture = Fixture.new(__FILE__)
     es_allow_wildcard_deletes(@fixture.get_service("elasticsearch").get_client)
@@ -45,7 +42,9 @@ def generate_message(number)
 
   before(:each) {
     IO.write(config_yaml_file, config_yaml)
-    clean_es(@fixture.get_service("elasticsearch").get_client)
+    es_client = @fixture.get_service("elasticsearch").get_client
+    clean_es(es_client)
+    es_client.perform_request("PUT", "_template/ip-template", {}, template)
   }
 
 
@@ -76,15 +75,18 @@ def generate_message(number)
       logstash_service.wait_for_logstash
       try(60) do
         begin
-          result = es_client.search(index: 'logstash-*', size: 0, q: '*')
+          result = es_client.search(index: 'test-index', size: 0, q: '*')
         rescue Elasticsearch::Transport::Transport::Errors::ServiceUnavailable => e
           puts "Elasticsearch unavailable #{e.inspect}"
           hits = 0
+        rescue Elasticsearch::Transport::Transport::Errors::NotFound => e
+          puts "Index not found"
+          hits = 0
         end
         expect(result).to have_hits(1000)
       end
 
-      result = es_client.search(index: 'logstash-*', size: 1, q: '*')
+      result = es_client.search(index: 'test-index', size: 1, q: '*')
       s = result["hits"]["hits"][0]["_source"]
       expect(s["mutated"]).to eq("true")
     end
@@ -100,21 +102,20 @@ def generate_message(number)
     end
 
     context 'with multiple pipelines' do
-      let(:message) { generate_message(100)}
       let(:pipelines) {[
           {
               "pipeline.id" => "test",
               "pipeline.workers" => 1,
               "dead_letter_queue.enable" => true,
-              "pipeline.batch.size" => 1,
-              "config.string" => "input { generator { message => '#{message}' codec => \"json\" count => 1000 } } filter { mutate { add_field => { \"geoip\" => \"somewhere\" } } } output { elasticsearch {} }"
+              "pipeline.batch.size" => 100,
+              "config.string" => "input { generator { message => '#{message}' codec => \"json\" count => 1000 } } output { elasticsearch { index => \"test-index\" } }"
           },
           {
               "pipeline.id" => "test2",
               "pipeline.workers" => 1,
               "dead_letter_queue.enable" => false,
-              "pipeline.batch.size" => 1,
-              "config.string" => "input { dead_letter_queue { pipeline_id => 'test' path => \"#{dlq_dir}\" commit_offsets => true } } filter { mutate { remove_field => [\"geoip\"] add_field => {\"mutated\" => \"true\" } } } output { elasticsearch {} }"
+              "pipeline.batch.size" => 100,
+              "config.string" => "input { dead_letter_queue { pipeline_id => 'test' path => \"#{dlq_dir}\" commit_offsets => true } } filter { mutate { remove_field => [\"ip\"] add_field => {\"mutated\" => \"true\" } } } output { elasticsearch { index => \"test-index\" } }"
           }
       ]}
 
@@ -122,22 +123,20 @@ def generate_message(number)
     end
 
     context 'with a single pipeline' do
-      let(:message) { generate_message(100)}
       let(:pipelines) {[
         {
             "pipeline.id" => "main",
             "pipeline.workers" => 1,
             "dead_letter_queue.enable" => true,
-            "pipeline.batch.size" => 1,
+            "pipeline.batch.size" => 100,
             "config.string" => "
                 input { generator{ message => '#{message}' codec => \"json\" count => 1000 }
                         dead_letter_queue { path => \"#{dlq_dir}\" commit_offsets => true }
                 }
                 filter {
-                  if ([geoip]) { mutate { remove_field => [\"geoip\"] add_field => { \"mutated\" => \"true\" } } }
-                  else{ mutate { add_field => { \"geoip\" => \"somewhere\" } } }
+                  if ([ip]) { mutate { remove_field => [\"ip\"] add_field => { \"mutated\" => \"true\" } } }
                 }
-                output { elasticsearch {} }"
+                output { elasticsearch { index => \"test-index\" } }"
         }
       ]}