New Rye Sourdough Starter
Day 4.
Had to dump my faithful old starter when I moved, and was afraid the new one wouldn't "take" because the only rye flour I had on hand was two years old (though still in unopened bag, no weevils) non organic, plus the pineapple juice had been left over from a really crappy can of the crushed. The house getting kinda chilly this time of year, I incubated the mess in a mason jar atop a shelf in the water heater closet, where the temperature probably stays around 70°, and hoped for the best.
Any way, morning of day four, the mixture already seems extremely active, not just with the tiny bubbles one generally sees early on from bacterial activity — this looks like a full fledged yeasty beastie to me. Smells pungent of ethyl alcohol, though there is no separate hooch.
Normally this would be the time to discard half the mixture and replenish with just flour and water rather than continuing with more pineapple juice, IIRC. Next day or so the mixture would most likely to appear dead, only to come back to life in another day or two. Am wondering though if it might be active enough right now to use, in which case after feeding I could take half and build a levain. Or at this early stage would I just be wasting time and flour? Thanks for any advice.