June 26, 2019 - 4:45pm
Starter explosion
Okay well my old starter that I loved, or at least understood lol, decided to kick the bucket cause I left it an old outdoor fridge that overheated and I failed to notice.
Well yesterday I decided to start a new one using 1:1:1 whole rye, whole wheat, and white flour with 80% hydration.
The thing that's really confusing me is it has more than doubled in 24 hours. So I feed it with all white flour and it more than doubles again in about four hours.
Is it possible to achieve this much activity in one day? Did I just capture a super strain of yeast or just a bunch of bacteria. Just never seen or heard of such a thing happening. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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What you are seeing so early is some bacteria that like the new environment, and will pass as the pH lowers and new ones (LAB) take over eventually activating the yeasts. I recommend you a read Debra Winks blog on this site for in-depth explanations.
Cheers,
Gavin.
Okay great news, so do you think I should just keep feeding with the white flour or go back to the wheat/white blend to attempt to capture more wild yeast strains? I started my previous starter with 50/50 white/wheat flour and eventually converted to all white to reduce sour flavor and for cost efficiency.
JW, you can continue using whole grain. The bad bacteria will be overcome by the good LAB in a few days. Your choice of flour has no affect on the bad bacteria.