Starter Refrigeration

At various times, I think I’ve done most of the above... and the starter doesn’t really seem to mind. The only thing to bear in mind is that if you let it use up all its food before you put it in the fridge, it’s going to get hungry quicker than if you put it in there just after you’ve fed it.

Personally I tend to do a ‘complete refreshment’ routine, where I keep just enough starter to make the levain required for a loaf plus the amount I need to keep for the next cycle (that way, I have no discard). So I just take my ‘old starter’ out of the fridge the night before I bake, feed it it’s own weight in flour and water, and then in the morning I take out the amount I need for the levain and put the rest back in the fridge for up to two weeks. If it’s been in there a bit longer I’ll sometimes take it out a day early and give it a mini feed to wake it up before I bake the following day tho.

I've definitely done a little bit of everything myself. I see best results (i.e. longevity, revivability) when I put into fridge within an hour of peak. I like to see some activity going before it goes into hibernation. If I wait too long before it goes into fridge (say 10-12 hours, or more depending on the schedule), I will definitely give 2 feedings before I use in a levain when I come out of the fridge.

There are several here who subscribe to the NMNF starter methodology. Personally, it's easier for me to simply maintain in the fridge, let it warm up a bit before I discard and feed. After one feeding I'm usually ready to build a levain and bake again. 

I like to rejuvenate once a week. I can rarely go more than 8-10 days in the fridge before I begin to see signs of white film on the top of my starter. I simply discard that portion, feed, and keep moving.

Dan,

I maintain mine in the fridge mostly unfed.  It's a lazy method, but works well enough.  I always do 2-4 mini feed/discards a day or two before I plan to bake.  This ensures that the starter for the levain is very active.  The drawback of maintaining  a cold starter is that, at least in my experience, the bread is no longer sour as when I first built the starter.  I've found this can be remedied by using some rye flour in the starter builds and the recipe itself.

Phil

depends on the feeding and hydration of the starter.  And the fridge temp.  But basically feeding and chilling right away works only for 1:1:1 ratios and those with less flour.  Bill was doing studies with starters and temps a long time ago.  

l like a lower hydration for a longer stay in the fridge and I like the starter to have one or two 45-60 min. growth periods before chilling,  it also gets a good growth feeding of 1:4 flour or 1:5.   The starter temp will drop and bacteria will get a little more acid, good defensive tactic.  The yeast will putter on slowly.  So I want to see a little rise before chilling but leas than half the way to peak.  Then I don't use it for about 4 days as the yeast is still a low count. By 4 days it is strong enough to inoculate levains.

larger feeds around 1:10 up to 1:20 should have an acid dropping phase after the starter peaks before being reduced and fed again if it is a maintenance starter.  A large feeding boosts yeast but would also have more counter time so again....chilled just before half way to peak rise.

A thin peaked 100% starter can simply be thickened up with flour to make it stiff and then chilled, holds well and doesn't need feeding for a week or two depending on the thickness of the starter. No need to wait as it contains prefermented flour at least half of it or more to offer protection from invasion.  

A peaked starter, chilled will stay good for 24 hours chilled, no more feeds needed before it goes into the dough.  

Dan..

I'm almost abusive to my starter. He sits unfed for weeks at a time. In fact he's gone months at a time without a feeding. There's a post on the site were someone had kept a portion of their starter (called fred I think - so you could search using that name) unfed for a year in the fridge and it happily came back to life after a few small feedings without much effort. That's been my experience too - but I've never gone a year without feeding. 

I've also experimented with hydration and gone 1:5:3 - charlie:flour:water and waited about two hours and then put it in the fridge. I've also done 1:1:1 and 1:2:1, etc.. The lower hydration obviously helps to keep it better fed for longer while in the fridge. But ultimately, if left long enough you'll still get "hooch" on top and it will seem almost dead. But it's not! Regardless of the ratios so long as you feed a healthy starter and place it in the fridge an hour or two later it'll be fine almost indefinitely. When it's time to use, do as filomatic (I think) said above and just do some mini-feedings and get you'll be back to baking in a day or two. I'm actually amazed how how strongly my starter bounces back within a day after so much neglect. I think you will be too.

Also, as to any left over starter I don't need for a bake? I'll just throw it in the fridge with Charlie so as not to waste. I might add a bit of flour at that time, but I"m not too scientific about it. Invariably I always seem to have too much in the fridge and try to do a big bake when that happens.

So just throw it in the fridge and see what happens. It's much easier than leaving it on the counter all the time.

Happy baking, frank!

Everyone posting above is right.

But it's worth mentioning that Raymond Calvel and Frank Sugihara both recommended not letting your starter go below about 8C (Calvel said 8C, Sugihara said 42F which is 5.55C).  Normal refrigerators are colder (at least, they should be colder for safety reasons).

That being said, going colder clearly does not break your starter.  Apparently it does however alter the flora.  That might be for the better or for the worse, who knows.  Your taste is your guide.  If you only care about the leavening aspect then it simply doesn't matter. Even if you want a nice sour flavor, it almost doesn't matter.

Also those guys did their research long ago, so maybe we've learned better since then.

Still, was worth mentioning I think.

where these natural yeasts are growing...in the fields, under the snow, (lots of snow) ice, dirt, in puddles, everything out there all year long and they still end up on the grain and in the flour we use.  We re-introduce a big variety of bacteria and yeast back to the starter with every feeding and the critters sort themselves out according to the conditions we give them.   I think one has to be a tiny bit more particular with feeding a specific laboratory  raised strain but for most wild yeasts, even with some loss of flora, they can sometimes be put back on track.  Other wild yeasts will grow and appear faster if a new starter is grown.  I have had some interesting come backs and I've had some beyond saving as well.  

Hooch is a sign of an underfed starter but it is also a sign that the starter has made a self defense shield using its own waste material.  It is very low pH.  It can darken and it can get gel like.  It doesn't mean the starter is dead, it just means that there is a dormant starter under it.   Waking up the starter should be done slowly without discards the first few days.  Getting the balance of pH and available food is important.  Too little flour and water, the pH stays low, some of the yeasts stay dormant.  Too much flour and you might as well start from day one of starting a starter.  Discarding too early is the same as overfeeding.  Much happens by happy accident.  It's the nature of the little beasts.   

If I want to freeze a starter, I lower the hydration to signal to the wee beasties that they should gear up for the long haul.  I tell them winter is approaching.  The dryer the better and they should thicken their mature starter skins and switch from "waiting for a feeding" mode to "survival mode."  Such low hydration starters hold over months and even years and survive freezing nicely.  I have samples of dried starters in the fridge, in the cupboard and in the freezer.  They are from all over and read more like my passport.  I still have a teaspoon of my first orange juice/oat starter.  They take up very little space as they are in tiny zipper bags stuffed into one jar.  They haven't had any newbies for quite some time. One in the freezer is 10 yrs old and if they had a brain, would think they were in Iowa waiting for the ice to melt.  :)

And really doesn't like being disturbed. My starter (Felicity) sits quite happily in the fridge for up to six to eight weeks, making regular donations of 5 to 8 grams to grow her children to be used in a variety of bakes. When she starts to run low or seems to be a little tired, it is time to refresh her.

I grow whatever levain I need for the current bake to be 15 grams or so more than required, then feed that 15 grams up to about 60 grams at 100% hydration and leave that to ferment until it shows real signs of growth, usually about 2 to 3 hours. Then I add enough flour (equal amounts of strong white and wholemeal) to make a fairly stiff dough, I would guess about 55 to 60% hydration, - I don't measure it.

That leaves Felicity well fed and happy to live on in the comfort of the fridge for another six weeks or so.

I should add that events and my shortening memory span have occasionally left Felicity without sustenance for up to three months but she is resilient and comes back to her old self in no time. She's no trouble at all.

Alan

There are many ways that work and maybe a bit fewer that trend towards being optimal. I've not put too much effort into maintaining my starter. If it's hurt because of this or perform less than it could I can't say, but it does work. My routine has been to use the starter 2-4 times a week and fridge it between uses. I typically take it out in the evening, let it warm up a little, give it a feeding before going to bed, use it in a dough next morning and put it back in the fridge unfed. It's just 5-10 grams at that point. Every other day this is repeated. It might be better to feed it a bit before the fridge, but it works without too. At least mine has. I have sometimes put it into the fridge 2-3 hour after feeding, when it's started rising, and from there it comes to a complete halt, at least visually. There may of course be activity going on that doesn't show.

I don't claim that this is optimal, just sharing some experience.

This might work because it's such a short time, but also maybe because there is still food left in the starter? If I take what I need from the starter after stirring and just leave it on the counter, it will start rising again. Even though the starter is past peak, there's still food left be eaten, evidenced by gas starting to accumulate again. Since everything slows down in the fridge, maybe it's enough to keep them occupied until next time.

I’ve only been at this for a couple of years. I have a couple of starters in my fridge and have left them for a couple of weeks. I keep mine at 100% hydration, simply because it’s easier for me. Mini, you said something very interesting. My last feed was a few days ago, and my starters had a very strong acidic smell. I discarded, and feed and discarded a couple of times. You said not to discard right away. I did not know that. However, in terms of when to put in the fridge, I give them a couple of hours to show activity and then pop them in the fridge. If I wait to long and they are active, I find they eat up everything and need feeding much more often. Does that make sense?