How bad did i screw up?

Where you goofed was in not making a starter, IMO.

Is your beer ruined? Doubtful. The yeast will probably will do OK.

 

Your lhbs dude is not the only one who believes this. Probably worthy of some sort of brulosopher type of experiment. In your case, it is a moderate gravity beer, where some would dispense with the starter. For me, it is just peace of mind knowing that I have healthy yeast. If I am not getting the flavors out of yeast that I am looking for, I first turn to fermentation temp to try to coax them out of the yeast. But pitch rate and oxygenation are other variables you could play with.

 

There are times when under pitching is a good strategy, depending on your goals. But I wouldn't do it, or anything, based on what some guy at the LHBS says about a broad category of yeast strains.

It will make beer. I'd be more concerned about trying to make a Saison with 3522. It's not a saison strain. I have used it in a Belgian Pale ale, and it did not taste anything like a saison. Makes a tasty BPA though.

That's dumbed down yeast manufacturer advice. If you believe that pitch rate (cells per volume per gravity unit) is important, then you can't believe this advice is good. It doesn't target any particular pitch rate.

Good on ya. But in the meantime you can also make starters without a stir plate.

 

I have purposely under pitched 3522 by 30-40% and provided zero oxygen except for whatever gets absorbed when the wort drains into the bucket. The beer finished at 1.006 after 10 days. The esters and phenols produced were exaggerated compared to a higher pitch rate with oxygen. That's exactly what I wanted. The beer was pleasant to drink and it could have passed for a saison.

So, I think you will be fine @ghostinthemachine. The easiest way to bust the nutrient pack is to trap it in a bottom corner of the yeast pack, lay it flat and squash it with your free hand.

 

@ghostinthemachine, please report back on how your resulting beer tastes (does it taste like a Saison to you?).

Cheers!

 

This is another reason to make a starter. You can skip the smack and use a pair of scissors

 

Kudos on generating some empirical evidence. This is the sort of the by that you have to just try and see if it gets you where you want to go.

 

One thing I did differently than the OP is I did a small starter and still under pitched. I always do a starter regardless of pitch rate. Most of the Belgian yeasts can produce drastically different results when you experiment with different pitch rates, oxygen and fermentation temperatures. Sometimes the combination is too estery. Sometimes it can get sorta funky in a good non brett way. Sometimes it's too clean. Eventually, you will find the ideal combination.

Generally for Belgians, I tend to prefer a lower pitch rate and oxygenation than conventional wisdom recommends. It's also the only style I make that gets an acid rest to increase phenols for some yeasts. 3522 doesn't get an acid rest. It produces enough phenol without it for me.

 

Stupid cell phone autocorrect.

 

If you've never used the strain before, or hell, if it's the first go at this recipe, leave the adjunct's out and find out exactly what you've got. Toss stuff in the secondary on the second go 'round.

Then again, this is advice coming from a guy who can't even get his apostrophes right.

 

I approve of that plan

 

I strongly disagree with you on this point. Belgian yeast in general do "better" when they are underpitched. See below.

I did a side by side with 3787 once. Pitched at 750K/ml/plato and 400K ml plato. Both finished at the same FG. I think the 450 had more phenols. So pitching at less than half of the accepted rate made no difference in FG but did effect the profile. So my I agree with what you are saying.

I pitched a dubble on a whole cake of 3787. Most bland beer ever. Until I added Orval dregs.

 

I think that depends on your goals. I also think it's too general a statement. There are a lot of Belgian Strains and lot of Belgian styles. I think the oft repeated idea that Belgian Yeast should be underpitched can be traced to this old BYO article...

http://byo.com/grains/item/1717-yeast-pitching-rates-advance-homebrewing

"Ale styles that are noted for their yeast character, like English ales and Belgian sour ales, should be pitched to the low end of the window, 0.375–0.5 billion cells per liter with fresh yeast."

Interestingly, it says Belgian "sour" ales, not all Belgians. Of course, the article goes on to say "Of course, some yeast strains have a very assertive character all on their own, and therefore the pitching rates for these yeasts tend to be on the upper end in order to prevent the fermentation going hog-wild and funky. Examples include weissbier, saison and witbier."

Uh oh. Saison and Witbier. Which country do they come from?

My point isn't that this old article has any particular credibility regarding pitch rates for specific styles, but that generalizing about pitch rates for a whole country's disparate styles, and without considering the brewer's other process factors (@Brew_Betty mentioned oxygen and fermentation temps, for example) and the brewer's goals isn't necessarily meaningful in all contexts.