Fermenting Wyeast 1214 cooler

Anybody have any experience fermenting Wyeast 1214 on the cooler side? The starter's a bit too banana for my tastes and I had a beer brewed by a friend recently that used the yeast and it was also too banana like for me.

Anybody tried this beer at 64 or below? Results? Thoughts?

I've already read Brew Like A Monk and have seen what they *say* Chimay does, but find this hard to believe as their beers don't have that banana note in my experience. And I drink a lot of their beers.

Jamil talks about starting his belgians at 64 and ending at 82 by then end of day 10 of primary fermentation. I theorize that this helps with some of those flavors. Pitching enough yeast goes without saying. My chimay clone takes at least 4 to 6 months before drinking them to start to really tastes right. I find that 1214 when aged reduces those flavors out a great deal. Also getting the beer dry enough (low enough final gravity) is key. Anyone else want to chime in? a good clean yeast for belgians is wyeast 1388 belgian strong ale

Thanks for the reply.

I've used 1388 at least a dozen times, including doing a stepped fermentation (65-77 for me). I wanted to give 1214 another try though as I haven't used it in ten or so years. The idea at this point is to do the same thing, pitch at 65, then raise the temp slowly over a week or so.

I read some reviews of White Labs' equivalent yeast (WLP500) that said the same thing about it aging out. I'll be giving this one some age for sure.

I pitched 1214 at 64f, using Jamil's lefty blond recipe. The temperature stayed at 66f for the bulk of fermentation, and the weather kicked it up to about 67 towards the end. It was easily the best beer I've ever made.

I've used 1214 three times using Jamil's method, and I haven't experienced much banana.

The last time I used it in Jamil's Golden Strong recipe, starting at 62 and ramping up to 68. It's on tap now at 6 months, and the esters are more restrained, and still quite tasty. I still got 89% AA, so it can attenuate well at lower temps.

Thanks guys. But, for the record, that's not Jamil's technique. He didn't originate it. That's the technique used by many Belgian breweries.