Sourdough discard becomes very active when removed from started but starter is not very active
So this is my first starter ever. I started it on 4/30. I’m doing 25g starter 50g whole wheat flour and 50g unbleached all purpose and 100g room temp water every 12h. My starter has never passed the float test and does not really rise that much.
A few days ago I removed the discard like I always do and put in a jar to use later and when I can back a few hours later it was full of bubbles and completely active! It even passed the float test. The discard I removed yesterday did the exact same thing. I am trying today to leave my starter 24h between feeding but it’s been 18h now and nothing has changed.
I took some of the very active discard once it had fallen and tried to make a new starter with it but i’m still waiting to see that will happen. I have no idea what this means or how to get my actual starter this active. If anyone has any advice I’d really appreciate it :)
Are the jars the same? I know that when I reused a clean jar formally used for pickles, the started wasn't happy.
They’re not the same. The one my starter is in is a new 32oz jar I bought and washed and the jar I put the discard into is a normal 16oz jar that I’ve had and normally store coffee in but I washed it very well before using and it didn’t have any smell to it. I thought maybe it was the jar also and the new starter I made with the discard I put in a smaller jar. I just checked it and it’s barely risen but there’s lots of bubbles and it passed the float test. Thanks for helping!
If I read your post correctly, you are feeding a ratio of 1:4:4. 1 part water, 4 parts water, and 4 parts flour. That is too big of a feeding for a starter that is not fully established yet, especially since you are feeding twice a day. It makes sense that if you were going to get activity at all when feeding this much, you would see it first in your discard jar, where the microbes have had more time to consume all the food you gave them, and (more importantly at this stage) increase the acidity to a pH that is more friendly to the yeasts we want.
You should be able to get a starter going from some of the discard that has gotten active. If the one you started already doesn't take off immediately, I'd try to just let it sit for a couple days. Just give it a stir a couple times a day and keep an eye on it, but don't feed it. In the meantime, if your discard bin is still showing activity, try starting a culture with a 1:1:1 feeding ratio and some of the active discard. I think you are more likely to have success with a lower feeding ratio.
Then, once you know you have a healthy and active culture, you can increase the feeding ratios again.
EDIT: I was called away from the computer while writing this and when I posted, I saw that you had posted in the meantime indicating you're having success with the starter you made from the discard! Hooray! So you don't really need this advice but I'll leave it for anyone else who may read this thread since I already typed it out.
Thanks so much for the help! I agree that I should be doing 1:1:1. Like you saw the new starter seems to be doing ok, it has lots of bubbles, floats, but hasn’t risen much. When I started it this morning I did 1:4:4 again before I researched more and realized my mistake. For the next feeding can I switch to a 1:1:1? I switched my original started to 1:1:1 already and i’m waiting to see how it does.
I've been told that a newbie is most likely to overfeed while trying to get their starter going. Then that reverses and a newbie is most likely to underfeed their newly active culture.
It will vary highly depending on a lot of factors such as room temperature and what kind of flour you are feeding. But to give you some idea, right now my starter (which is still young and I don't think completely stable yet) seems mostly happy on 2x feedings/day of 1:4:4 with AP flour.
By stirring it up you are providing the yeast new food to consume.