Red tint at top of jar of my sour dough starter
I made my first sour dough starter in March with whole wheat flour and it has been working wonderfully. Made lots of sour dough loaves. I keep the starter in the fridge with a paper towel on the top, held by a rubberband so it can get some oxygen. Im very clean about handling it to avoid contamination.
I started adding brown sugar to the starter and ive noticed a red tint forming at the inside top part of the jar.
It smells normal and the alcohol is still forming normally on top of the starter. Is the red tint most likely a harmful bacteria or mold or is it most likely just a residue from the brown sugar?? I made one bread from it and ate it and nothing bad happened. But i dont want to roll the dice again if this is not normal. I saw some other posts on this but no one mentioned that the red tint formed after adding brown sugar. Thank you!
Lisa, why not take some of your starter and make a new one from it. But this time leave the sugar out of the mix. The great majority of SD starters consist of flour and water only.
Also, it is not necessary to leave the top of your starter container open (paper towel). You can leave the cap slightly loose if you think the gasses may blow the top off, though. Your starter derives its yeast and LAB from the flour, not so much the air.
Dan
I would start a new starter. Pink mold is not good.
Keep a loose cover on the starter to keep out insects, keep in moisture, and clean the cage once in a while switching out with a second clean jar or container. I like a plastic bag held in place with a rubber band.
Anything that's not your normal SD starter color, you'd better start a new one. If I were you, I'd pour off most of the starter, save about a 2 teaspoons, move to a new jar and begin feeding. Or just start anew. If you're keeping your starter in the fridge, I use a mason jar with the lid on about 2 finger tight, relatively loose so that weird refrigerator stuff can't get in, but moisture stays. I found that with a paper towel too much moisture and gaseous exchange is happening. Good luck and Happy Baking!
Thank you to everyone who has responded!