how can I tell the starter is at its peak?
I've made my first starter as of two days ago. Right now it's sitting out at ca 68, and I feed it twice a day. It's nice and bubbly. After I fed it at 9am today, it doubled within 3-4 hours. I decided to watch what will develop, since I'm totally new to this. It's been sitting there, motionless, since 1pm. It's still motionless, at 5:22pm. If I understand this correctly, there will be a point when it peaks in vigor, and then slowly lose power; so one wants to catch that point in time when it's at its strongest. How exactly do I know this?? Clearly there are a good few hours wiggle room, but roughly? Does the smell change? Right now it smells to die for good, but not sour (I take it it will take a week or more to develop its fullest sour potential. I intend to keep it sitting out for now because it's so much fun to watch.
Any tips on when the time has come for the starter to lose its power?