How bad did i screw up?

Boy am I glad that I generally don't care for yeast-forward beer styles. They sound like a royal pain in the arse to nail down.

 

If you truly knew your count of healthy cells was where you hoped, then kudos to your diligence and your willingness to learn through experimentation. But if you did not make a starter, you threw the dice, because you had no assurance of the health of your yeast. When you don't make a starter, you miss an opportunity to assess qualitatively the vitality of your yeast prior to pitching.

Regardless, you probably shouldn't generalize this to all Belgian yeast, unless you have done more than this one experiment. There is a well known saison strain that is notorious for stalling, and I would not recommend underpitching it.

 

My most recent brew using Wyeast 3724 was a smack pack that was less than a month old I bought at my LHBS and I made a 2 liter starter (intermittent shaking) and that batch took over 7 weeks for the primary fermentation to complete (OG = 1.058 and FG = 1.003). That batch stalled for about 3 weeks even though the fermentation was in the low 90's for most of the fermentation (first week was 68 degrees at pitching to 86 degrees at day 7). Even with a starter that yeast is not guaranteed to complete fermentation in a timely manner.

Cheers!

 

You made a starter for a 1.058 wort, in contravention of the pablum printed on the package. Kudos.

 

Wy1469 - West Yorkshire. Huge difference between an under pitched / zero oxygen fermentation and a "proper" fermentation regimen with plenty of yeast and oxygen. Both result in good tasting beers that taste like they were made with different yeasts.

Stressed Yorkshire fermented in the low 60s makes some interesting aromas that are difficult to describe. Not fruity or spicy. Sort of funky in a brett kind of way, but not horsey or leathery. The aroma is enticing.

Un-stressed Yorkshire is less interesting and more conventional, but still pleasant with light fruit esters and a soft bready yeast note.

I like them both. The same can be said for most of the yeasts that I've experimented with various pitch rates, oxygen and temperature. I guess my point is "doing it wrong" can be "doing it right" in terms of yeast pitching protocol depending on your senses.

 

Leave it alone it will be fine. A smack pack is good for a 5 gallon batch. I have been lazy and never made starters, but always done direct pitches, everything is fine. It's better to have active fermentation with a starter, but for small batches it is not necessary, but is always recommend.

Sometimes less is more and with homebrew often times the simplest recipes produce the most drinkable beer. Relax have a home brew.