established starter smells like acetone
My starter smells like acetone. I did a couple searches about starters that smell like acetone, but all the information I found was on starters within a few weeks of being started, usually starters that hadn't ever been used to make bread yet.
I recieved my starter from my Grandma in December, and have made bread with it many times since then. In the last couple weeks it has started smelling strongly of acetone. I keep it in the fridge and feed it twice weekly, a 1:1:1 ratio by weight. After it started smelling funny I tried making bread with it and the bread actually turned out fine--it didn't smell funny and tasted about like it normally does, but I just really don't like the smell of the starter--I miss its fruity yeasty smell.
Should I be worried?
I did make flakes back in February, but haven't made any since then--I just haven't thought about it. Could those flakes still be good if I end up not being able to revive the starter I have?
It is hungry. I would do a few feedings out of the refrigerator. The dried flakes you made will last a very very long time and can be used if you really had to. But the acetone smell means it isn't being refreshed enough. 1:1:1 is not very much for an active starter.
Mine smells like acetone and becomes runny/liquid when I don't feed it for about 16h.
On the contrary, when for some reason I have to feed it twice in a shorter than 12h span, it becomes thick and spongy and smells good.
That's the progression my starter's nose follows over ~3 days. I never refrigerate it (except when I travel) and maintain it at 80% hydration on a high-fiber Gerard Rubaud ration (see Farine for details).
So yes, as above: not to worry. Feed it.
But 1:1:1 is a higher inoculum for a back-slopped (serially refreshed) starter than necessary. If you go to 0.2:1:1 or similar, it won't run out of food quite so fast.
Tom
By 0.2 - 1 - 1 do you mean
eg.
20g starter - 100g flour - 100g flour?
or multiples of etc.
This is an old thread, but I would write 0.2:1:1 as 1:5:5. So yes, 20g:100g:100g is in that range. I am not sure why they chose to write it that way, but I am guessing the poster was trying to emphasize that you can use less starter. Since this is the same as 10g:50g:50g, I don't really see the reason to use the 0.2 for the ratio as that just makes it harder to understand. I guess if you use ounces instead of grams then it might make sense, but even then . . .
How often are you feeding your starter and how much are you feeding? How do you decide when to feed it? Is it on the counter or in the refrigerator? Acetone/nail polish remover smell is a sure sign of needing to feed more. You can feed a higher ratio or more often.
Thanks for your confirmation in this.
My starter has grown big lol due to me not discarding any. Because it's cost me time, effort and hard earned money lol I found it hard to simply throw it away. But hey lesson learnt (the hard way as usual :)
Today I took out 40g and added 40g water and 40g flour and left it on the counter top at room temp, now it looks happy, bubbling away and smelling nice again. Tomorrow I will do the same and use the discarded to bake a loaf with. The big one is in the fridge (still smelling of acetone lol) so I need to weigh it and fix that. Once its fixed I will try dry it out and save the flakes for future use, or to give a way to friends.
I usually fed it once a day in the mornings but then I wasn't baking as often and decided to pop it in the fridge to retard its growth and that's when the trouble started. I think I have around 400g of starter in there and it was eating a lot and getting out of hand a quite the expensive beast to keep.
Anyway all things considered, I've learnt something from this experience and thank god for this group!
"You live n learn" is the saying that springs to mind...
Never a bad thing to bump a bit of life into an old thread neither eh ; >
Stig
Hey Stig, I have the exactly same feelings about discarding starter. So here is my maintenance methods:
I usually keeps a little more than I actually need for building a levain, just in case that I need it for something else, such as pizza dough or burger buns.
I also do not discard old starter into the garbage bin. Instead I put them in another glass, covered with plastic wrap, and it stay in the fridge. And yes I put all my discard in one glass. I don't mind mixing them, as long as they all get used within every 2-3 weeks.
Old starters do tend to get sour and some hooch on top. However they are still good in other baked goods that do not rely on the starter to leaven. I usually use the discarded starter to make cookies, banana breads and brownies.
If the starter develop hooch on the top, just carefully scoop out the hooch and the surface layer, and use the rest. They make DELICIOUS cookies I'm telling ya!
And if you are curious about why this method works better than just feed the original without discarding, here's why.
Say you have 100g of starter in the fridge. You only use 20g to make a levain for bread, that leaves you 80g. If you feed the 80g 1:1:1, then you would need to use 80g of flour and 80g of water. And you now have 240g of starter in the fridge. Another cycle makes it 660g, and after your their bread, the starter jar has 1.92kg in it. They are growing very rapidly.
However if you take the discard into another jar, you still start from 100g, taken out 20g for levain, left with 80g unfed, and that goes into the discard jar. You keep 40g leftover from the levain and they become the new mother starter, which can be kept in the fridge. Another cycle makes the discard jar 100g, and every other cycle adds another 20g of discard, while the mother starter jar remains 40g. After your third bread, you have 120g of discard, and 40g of starter.
You can use up 120g of starter in one batch of cookies, but it's almost impossible to bake with 1.92kg of starter. So always discard before feeding.
This is my math approach to solve the too much starter problem LOL.
Ford provided me with a link to Mike Avery's site and I was reading it just now I immediately remembered your post.
http://www.sourdoughhome.com/index.php?content=revivingastarter
The part he mentions the acetone smell is almost at the end. Might apply to you and your so thought I would post it.