Hello,
I have been feeding my starter for around 2 weeks now. At around the 10 day mark, the starter began smelling like acetone/nail polish remover. I feed it everyday at the same time, and the smell goes away after feeding. The starter gets a lot of rise everyday, but I am afraid to use it. I successfully kept a starter going last summer as well for several months, and I never experienced this smell. I am doing nothing different. Saying this, I have two questions:
1. Is it safe to use this starter that has an acetone smell?
2. Is it possible to get rid of this smell? My thought is to start feeding it twice a day.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
-Jonny
Acetone small means it's hungry, so yes, feed more often and/or with a higher ratio.
Probably safe to use. When does the acetone small begin to be noticeable? I'm assuming that it is after the starter has peaked and likely fallen. If while the starter is still rising it smells like acetone that would be unexpected. The acetone smell is something that usually happens when the yeast/bacteria have used up the food source completely. You could try a higher ratio when you feed it again to extend the time and amount of food for the culture to eat like 1:10:10 which would let the starter have more food for a longer period of time.
Feed it out. Larger more frequent feeds (but still allowing it to bubble up before feeding again) till it loses that smell and then it's ok to use.
You said your thoughts are to start feeding it twice a day. Are we to understand you've been feeding it once a day even if it's bubbled up and fallen? Once your starter has peaked it should be fed again. Feed according to the rhythm of the starter otherwise it'll go hungry. When the acetone smell has gone either keep it happy with food or refrigerate. This acetone smell is quite common in young starters so don't worry.
1. It is completely safe to use
2.Once a day Is not enough feeding for a starter left on the counter. If it is healthy it should almost double in 4 hours and require feeding twice a day if not three times. Don’t let it fall too far from its peak before feeding it again.
I don’t use a clean jar as often as I should but I have noticed that acetone smell sometimes comes from the dried up residue left at the top of the jar