how to reduce Hefe flavor in Saison?

[beerbeer95648]

Looking for others experience or success in limiting the Hefeweizen like esters in a Saison. Have brewed two back to back batches of Saison that while both very nice and style appropriate, they had too much of the bubblegum profile for my personal taste. The brew was:

12 gallon Batch

68% Pils
14% Wheat
4.5% C40
13.5% Local wild honey (added mid fermentation)

*Starting gravity estimated with pasteurization water of 1.058

*Yeast = WLP565 (Belgian Saison) followed by Belle dry Saison yeast after 1 week.

*Procedure: Mash at 150, end of boil acidification to pH 5.0, cooled in at 68 F, and fermented at this temp for 48 hrs before ramping to 85 over the rest of the week.

*Honey was split into 3 1lb additions, pasteurized on the stove top in a double boiler, and added every other day once fermentation was slowing.

*Gravity was checked once airlock stopped, and had hit the dreaded stall (1.030). Needed this faster so I hydrated 2 packs of Belle yeast then added to a 1 liter non-aerated starter. After 12 hours I warmed it up to 85 degrees and added it to the fermenter. Beer then took another 4 days to reach terminal gravity of 1.004. Final pH of 4.0, and a very nice beer (even with hefe quality).

So, any experience? On the first batch, I cooled the main fermentation back to 68 before adding the Belle, but second batch I did not.

Any other strains that are more pepper and spice, with less bubblegum?

 

[RayZab]

I think you are ramping up the temperature too fast. My last saison using WLP565 turned out fantastic. I fermented at 68F for a week, then ramped to 72F to finish. Even at this temperature the flavor profile is great. Of course it helps if you don't get the fermentation stall, I've never had one even at lower ferm temps, every batch I've done has used a piece of sanitized foil in place of the airlock to minimize pressure.