Beginner taking on wild yeast starter: am I on the right track?
Hello sourdough enthusisasts! I need your help!
For the first time, I'm attempting to cultivate wild yeast as a sourdough starter. However, it's been 8 days since its inception, and my starter is beginning to behave abnormally, at least from my perspective.
Using the "pineapple juice method" described by Debra Wink [1], I am now in the phase of feeding my starter AP flour (technically speaking, type 55 flour). However, in the past two days, a thin layer of clear liquid had appeared--hooch, I believe.
On the first day of the hooch's appearance, I fed my starter at the ratio of 1:1:1 (prior to that, 2:1:1). On the next day, the hooch appeared again, so yesterday night I increased the feeding ratio to 1:2:2.
I had checked my starter this morning and... it was less lively. No hooch, a few bubbles were atop and none when viewed from the side of my plastic jar, but it didn't increase in volume--it actually decreased in volume! I noticed, additionally, that the starter smelled slightly less fruity and tasted less tangy. Although, the sourness wasn't strong to begin with--very faint--but I still noticed that the tang was a tad weaker.
Unsure of what to do, I chose not to feed the starter that morning, stirred it up, and left it covered with a cloth.
Other relevant details:
Frequency of feeding: twice a day. (I cannot feed my starter more often than that as I work during the day and sometimes early evening.)
Temperature range: 28C to 30C (I cannot reduce this temperature without using an air conditioner. I live in Cambodia, a sometimes very hot and humid country.)
My question: Am I on the right track? And should I consider anything when raising my starter in very warm conditions?
Thank you in advance. Any help will be greatly appreciated.