It will go dormant, or having so little activity. I usually do this whenever I do multiple stages levain. I make a levain before sleep, put it in fridge right away, then the next day after work I pop it out of fridge, until doubled in size, then feed it again, then into fridge, and so on. Sometimes I freeze my levain for 40-60 minutes before moving it to fridge.
After feeding, I let mine stay at room temperature for an hour or so, then it goes into the fridge. Since mine is maintained as a moderately stiff dough consistency, it takes it about two weeks to go from just fed to peak to collapsed (fridge temperature is 35-36F). If I haven’t used it since the previous feeding, I’ll take it out for a discard and new feeding to restart the cycle.
I either build however much I need, plus extra, and once mature take off enough for the recipe and put the remainder in the fridge. Or if I feed it for storage then i'll at least allow it to double before refrigeration. Allowing your starter to build up yeast, bacteria and acidity before refrigeration helps to preserve it. If you don't then it might not be able to ward off mould and bad bacteria. If fed and refrigerated straight away then the microbes will go to sleep and won't build enough acidity.
So, seoneal90, the key questions you haven't answered are 1) what's your feeding ratio 2) how strong is your starter and 3) how long will you leave it in the fridge.
if you're feeding 1:1:1, everything will probably be fine. If you're feeding 1:10:10, it may require a few hours on the counter to get going before you put it in the fridge. In any event, it's probably a good idea to take a page from Paul's sensible process and give it at least an hour on the counter before refrigerating it.
if the starter is already strong, it will likely be fine. But if it's new, or still getting its sea legs, refrigerating it right away may bring forth some issues.
If you're leaving it overnight, then as Jay recounted, everything's fine and you can continue to do lots of things with it. A good starter tends to be very forgiving. But, as Paul noted regarding his stiff starter, it he leaves it in the fridge for longer than 2 weeks, he'll give it a new feed. In my experience, the longer starter remains in the fridge, the more acidic it gets. Often this produces great bread. But there's a tipping point after which it gets unpredictable -- leading to insanely fast fermentation times or skimpy rises or lackluster crusts or all 3.
Hello: If you don't mind, could you edit your subject line to a few words and put the question within your post? Thanks.
It will become active in the hours after you take it out. Do not refresh yet.
It will go dormant, or having so little activity. I usually do this whenever I do multiple stages levain. I make a levain before sleep, put it in fridge right away, then the next day after work I pop it out of fridge, until doubled in size, then feed it again, then into fridge, and so on. Sometimes I freeze my levain for 40-60 minutes before moving it to fridge.
Jay
After feeding, I let mine stay at room temperature for an hour or so, then it goes into the fridge. Since mine is maintained as a moderately stiff dough consistency, it takes it about two weeks to go from just fed to peak to collapsed (fridge temperature is 35-36F). If I haven’t used it since the previous feeding, I’ll take it out for a discard and new feeding to restart the cycle.
Paul
I either build however much I need, plus extra, and once mature take off enough for the recipe and put the remainder in the fridge. Or if I feed it for storage then i'll at least allow it to double before refrigeration. Allowing your starter to build up yeast, bacteria and acidity before refrigeration helps to preserve it. If you don't then it might not be able to ward off mould and bad bacteria. If fed and refrigerated straight away then the microbes will go to sleep and won't build enough acidity.
So, seoneal90, the key questions you haven't answered are 1) what's your feeding ratio 2) how strong is your starter and 3) how long will you leave it in the fridge.
If you're leaving it overnight, then as Jay recounted, everything's fine and you can continue to do lots of things with it. A good starter tends to be very forgiving. But, as Paul noted regarding his stiff starter, it he leaves it in the fridge for longer than 2 weeks, he'll give it a new feed. In my experience, the longer starter remains in the fridge, the more acidic it gets. Often this produces great bread. But there's a tipping point after which it gets unpredictable -- leading to insanely fast fermentation times or skimpy rises or lackluster crusts or all 3.
Keep having fun!
Rob
To answer the question - another refresh is not needed - it will just continue when it's warmed up. Enjoy!