Starter looks like raw hamburger

I mixed up some NMNF starter on 6/25/16. I thought I'd share some at a friend's July 4th cookout so I pulled some of the NMNF out, added more rye to make a thick dough and kneaded it in. Rolled it up, and wrapped in plastic wrap, ready to share my science project. There were no takers. Silly rabbits.

These dough balls, about the size of jumbo marbles, have been sitting in the refrigerator ever since. Wrapped in plastic, placed in a plastic container, and stored in a zip-loc baggie. Today, I thought I'd take one out for a spin and start Ru007 and Dani3ll3's oat bread.

The dough ball was dark brown on the surface and kind of pink on the inside. Kind of reminded me of undercooked meatballs. I'm thinking I have some sort of anaerobic thing going on.

Using dabrownman's levain build chart, I mixed 7g of meatball starter with 14g of rye and 14g of water. I'll probably switch to whole wheat after this first build since that's really what the recipe calls for. I don't have a full 12-hour stretch to do a straight build so I'll be retarding some of the builds and picking up where I left off.

I'm baking this loaf for my kid brother's surprise 50th birthday party. I have six younger brothers and sisters. My mom will be there, too. Plus a bunch of strangers that I suppose have some sort of connection to my brother. I don't really keep up with them. I'm figuring the meatball starter won't do too much damage and even if it does, I wouldn't notice.

I'm going to have to sleep on this while the levain builds. I'm thinking that the refreshing and baking will kill Bad Things before they kill my younger siblings and given that I have so many of them, I'm willing to see how things turn out. But Mommy's there, too, and I only have one of her. Maybe I shouldn't retard some of the steps and just let the levain rise and fall until I get around to it?

If you were me, would you bake the loaf, let it cool, and test it on the dog first (knowing that you're bringing a pre-sliced and unimpressive-looking bread because you've cut into it) or would you just bring a cool-looking bread and hope they don't notice that "something" at the party just killed them?

Murph