Eggnog Cream Ale

This is a recipe I came up with tonight. Wanted to start with a moderately sweet taste so I looked to Cheesefood's Vanilla Caramel Cream Ale recipe for a base then adjusted for what I think it needs to support the eggnog spices including changing the hop profile. I think Danstar's Nottingham is going to be the perfect yeast since it's flavor profile is very low.

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 3.00 gal
Boil Size: 4.40 gal
Boil Time: 60 min

Grain

4 lbs 11.2 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) 56.6 %
2 lbs 4.8 oz Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) 27.7 %
1 lbs 1.6 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) 13.3 %

Hops

0.60 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 15.6 IBUs

Adjuncts & Spices

4.8 oz Milk Sugar (Lactose) (Boil 5 mins) Adjunct
0.60 tsp Cinnamon (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice
0.60 Items Vanilla Bean (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice
0.30 tsp Cloves (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice
0.30 tsp Nutmeg (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.068
Est Final Gravity: 1.017
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.9 %
Bitterness: 15.6 IBUs
Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 13.2 SRM

Mash Profile

Mash at 155.0 F

Fermentation

1.5 pkg Nottingham (Danstar)
Set chamber at 60.0 F

Needs eggs.

Ok, sorry. All joking aside, when I think of eggnog, it's thick and creamy. How about adding a bunch of flaked oats? I mean a serious amount-- maybe 3 pounds. Can't say exactly how well it will work, and it will add haze, but I bet that along with the added lactose will keep it sweet and give it a nice creamy mouth-feel.

Vanilla beans add a subtle flavor. Be sure to split your beans and scrape out the inner seeds, then add everything to your brew pot. Nottingham should be fine to use in your beer but it may attenuate a little higher than you'd like. Shouldn't be an issue since you're using the lactose, but if you find it isn't sweet enough, try using a yeast that will leave some residual malt sugars, too. Windsor yeast comes to mind, which is what I use in my Scotch ale. The only drawback to the windsor is that you DEFINITELY need to cold crash it to cause the yeast to floc out.

jeburgdo said:

Ok, sorry. All joking aside, when I think of eggnog, it's thick and creamy. How about adding a bunch of flaked oats? I mean a serious amount-- maybe 3 pounds. Can't say exactly how well it will work, and it will add haze, but I bet that along with the added lactose will keep it sweet and give it a nice creamy mouth-feel.

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I was laying in bed last night thinking the exact same thing. Probably go for about 3/4 lb - 1 lb.

aiptasia said:

Vanilla beans add a subtle flavor. Be sure to split your beans and scrape out the inner seeds, then add everything to your brew pot. Nottingham should be fine to use in your beer but it may attenuate a little higher than you'd like. Shouldn't be an issue since you're using the lactose, but if you find it isn't sweet enough, try using a yeast that will leave some residual malt sugars, too. Windsor yeast comes to mind, which is what I use in my Scotch ale. The only drawback to the windsor is that you DEFINITELY need to cold crash it to cause the yeast to floc out.

Click to expand...

I want this to be a high alcohol low ester beer. That's what made me shoot for Nottingham. The Danstar site describes a "yeasty" ester with Windsor. What kind of flavors do you get from it?

I don't know if this will take on an 'eggnog' flavor. It seems more like a sweet pumpkin-like flavor from the spices and malts used. I love the idea, but I feel like unless you can get that creamy/egg-like thickness, it is going to be pumpkin spiced.

That being said, in not sure how to get the recipe to the right 'texture'. Only thing I'm coming up with is

Flaked barley or a nitrogen pour. (sorry for split post. Phone app not behaving). I think I'd use more nutmeg and less clove/cinnamon to match the eggnog flavor > pumpkin

In any case good luck!

This is a great idea for a recipe. I too think flaked oats will add some "thickness". I have a stout faucet that my wife says it needs to be put to more use....okay

I like this idea,keep us informed how it turns out.

DocScott said:

I don't know if this will take on an 'eggnog' flavor. It seems more like a sweet pumpkin-like flavor from the spices

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I looked at several eggnog and pumpkin pie recipes to find the constants and differences. As far as I can tell the only difference is that eggnog doesn't have ginger or allspice. It also seems that the spices go in order of amount starting larger and going smaller as follows: Vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves. I'll probably go with 1/2 tsp nutmeg. Something like 1/4 at 5 minutes and 1/4 at bottling.