Watermelon Saison Cider: lessons learned and seeking input

[TechFanMD]

I brewed a watermelon saison cider to try to mimic one my wife bought and liked. It had the 'pepperiness' that saisons often have, and just a hint of watermelon and a bit of sweetness.

I used grocery store apple juice (which I have a lot of experience making ciders out of). The yeast was Belle Saison (dry) and I fermented it at ~70*

This was aged about 5 months (just because it is just now hot enough to enjoy watermelon cider). I then juiced a large watermelon and got 1.5 gallons of juice and slight pulp after straining through my Wilserbrewer bag. This was added to the 5 gallons of cider, mixed well, then filtered and stabilized (I have heard watermelon juice can turn quickly, so I wanted to stabilize like a wine to prevent this).

The result is delicious, with just the right amount of sweetness and watermelon flavor. Filtering completely stripped the color, so it is champagne colored.

The input I seek: There is no 'saison essence' or 'pepperiness' to it. It wasn't there 3 months ago when I tasted it, and certainly isn't there with the watermelon added. How did the commercial brewer get the essence of saison in the cider?

I should note: I am not a huge fan of saison yeast, and have a very low taste threshold for the flavors they impart....it just isn't there.

 

[AzOr]

I only tried saison yeast twice. Both times I fermented in low 70's and got no saison flavors as well. The cider was good but no yeast character. It was the dry Belle Saison yeast and the reason for using was because my Ferm chamber was lagering beer. I figured since I had no temp control I might as well try a saison cider. Well the garage temps turned out cooler than expected.

I do want to try fermenting at a much higher temp. Maybe mid 80's or 90's.

Maybe someone else can chime in who has tried fermenting high.