Help... left starter for 2 days, now not rising?
Hi,
I've recently taken my once-healthy starter out of the fridge (neglected for 2 mths... oops) and for a week I fed it twice daily with 1:2:2 or more (1:4:4 a few times) and it was fine, doubling healthily in under 12 hours (temp was around 75-77F).
But then I had the flu and left it on the counter for maybe 36hours/2 days tops. It smelled really REALLY sour like vinegar, with a faintly gray layer. So I scooped some from the center and refreshed it with 1:3:3 or so twice a day for the past 2 days... no rise at all! Minimal bubbles, if at all, and a mild (if any) sour smell.
As you can tell, I've been a bad sourdough parent. Did I kill any and all yeasties in it so easily? Was the grayish stuff some bad germs that killed everything? Any advice? Should I start anew? Much appreciate the help.
I'm sure with a little TLC it will come back. What has happened is that your starter has become too acidic. That can be fixed. You said you scooped some out and fed it--how much did you scoop out and how much did you feed? There is more than one way of fixing the problem, but this is what I would do. Discard all but 2 oz. of the old starter, stir in 6 oz. of chlorine-free water and then dump out all but 2 oz. again. This 'washes' the acids out. Now feed the remaining 2 oz. equal weights of flour and water. Cover and put it in a warm place until it wakes up. This may take a day or two. Do not feed again until you see that it is active, but you can stir it up a few times a day. Once it wakes up you can resume your feedings as normal. This method has always worked for me. Good luck!
Thanks for the tip, SourdoLady. I never thought that could happen, but it makes perfect sense seeing as how it smelled like straight honest-to-goodness vinegar.
When I refreshed, I used about 5-8grams (about a quarter ounce, or what might fit in a coffee spoon, level because it's a 100% hydration and batter-like) starter and refreshed a few times between 1:2:2 and 1:3:3.
I have continued to refresh like this over the past 3-4 days. Do you think it's too late to do your "washing" trick? The last time I checked, it had been refreshed 8 hours ago and had a bit more bubbles but with hardly any rise and a mild acetone smell.
Once again, thank you :)
Okay, since you only used 5-8 grams of starter and have refreshed that many times I don't think you need to wash it now. I think you have now overwhelmed it with too much food, too fast. I wouldn't feed it again until tomorrow, giving the yeast some time to multiply. Also, a liquid starter will never rise as much as a thicker one. As long as you see lots of bubbles on top and throughout, it is fine. Wait until tomorrow morning and you might be surprised at how much better it looks.
I had a feeling the yeast might be drowning in all that refreshment. I'll wait for tmr and see.
On an interesting note, my 100% hydration always felt much thicker and would rise to double or more... I weigh carefully to make sure I'm equal weight water and flour but comes out thicker than I'd imagine 100% hydration to be (even when I started the starter way back when). And strager still, it makes very little difference whether I use Australian, Canadian or American flour (AP or bread).
The same didn't quite hold true whenever I go back to Canada during the holidays and make bread. Maybe it's the water? :-P
It's been about 2 week since my starter stopped rising. I've tried once a day feedings at 1:2:2 or 1:3:3... tried twice a day feedings at 1:2:2, 1:3:3 and even 1:1:1 to see what would happen. Each time I'm at 100% hydration.
Still not even a bit of rise. Interestingly, it smells quite sour like vinegar (with a strangely nutty undertone... never happened before) at 12hours after feeding, and even more so at the 24 hour mark when I tried once a day feedings.
Have I killed the poor thing? Am I essentially "starting from scratch" right now despite my efforts?
I am a novice at this starter business. This had happened to me; my active ww starter suddenly started smelling very sour and had stopped rising. It had 2-3 isolated bubbles. It was at 100% hydration then. Before giving up on it I decided to make it thicker and so made up a small quantity with 1:3:4 ratio which yielded a ball of dough. I found that it had starter rising within a day's time. The sour smell had reduced. After 2 more feeds it was back on track.
All the best,
Anjali
Sounds like it is starting over. Re-build like a new starter.
Been there-done that! I'm a better sourdough parent now!
Whatever direction you take at this point, you might want to start a new starter just in case. If you had done that 2 weeks ago, you'd have something working by now, so I'd start that asap. Take care to not cross-contaminate the old and new one. Always care for the new one first (feeding, stirring, whatever). Make sure it's sealed before you do anything with the old one.
As far as the old one, if you mentioned what type of starter it was, I missed it.. if it was a white starter, I'd try 50-50 AP and WW for a feeding. The WW might perk it back up, or at least make it do something to give you hope. Stir it as often as possible, seriously... every hour or two if possible or when possible. Vigorously. You want to keep the oxygen content as high as possible, so don't just stir, but try to 'whip' air into it.
Honestly, I'm not sure I'd even want to use it if it recovered, as I'm not convinced that would be the end of that story... it would take less work to start a new one.
- Keith