My Starter seems inactive?
Hi Bread People
So I made my first successful starter six days ago on the 3rd of Jan, here's how it went:
Day 1
150g water + 100g rye flour
was super bubble but more frothy bubbles. and smelled like sour vinegar.
Day 2 (24h later):
I discarded half the starter and fed it with 150g of water and 100g of rye flour
it doubled in size 3 hours after I fed it. I was scared it was going too fast so I put in the fridge for about 1-2 hours and then took it out again. it formed a thick layer of hooch. it also smelled very sour
Day 3 (24h later)
I threw off the hooch and discarded all but 75g, which was then fed with 75g of water and flour(a mix of AP and rye), a 1:1:1 feeding. There was very minimal activity. some bubbles on the surface (but literally like 5 or 6)
Day 4 (24h later)
the starter had formed a tiny amount of hooch so I just stirred it in. And again fed 1:1:1 with the same amounts as day 3. Again very minimal activity I could see small bubbles against the walls of the container but no size difference. the smell had greatly improved, it now smelled more sweet, almost like yoghurt.
Day 5 (two feedings 12 hours apart)
I fed my starter at 7 am 1:1:1 and again at 7 pm 1:1:1 to see if that would change things. but still had no other activity except for small bubbles inside. still smelling sweet and not pungent or sour.
Day 6 (12 hours after the 7 pm feeding)
I fed it 1:4:4 as per my recipe. I am still using a mix of rye and AP. The starter stands behind my fridge which is the warmest area in my house (my house is cold). it is now 4 hours later and still no size difference or excessive bubbling.
What should I do? Is this normal?
That initial burst of activity was most likely organisms you don't want in your starter. They get suppressed as acidity builds up later in the development of the starter. Just keep going. Don't refresh too much when it's not showing much sign of activity or you may overly dilute the concentration of desired organisms.
Thicken it up - wait - there's no more to do. Enjoy!
On the morning of day7 it smelled like acetone. then I decided to try feeding it with whole wheat since rye wasn't working. it has tons of bubbles inside and on top now. but it still smells of acetone a little bit. is this ok?
I don't think you can expect the aroma to change quickly. I made a new starter once putting a slice of apple in with the other ingredients. The starter, when it was ready to use a week later, smelled quite fruity. The bread made using it did not taste any different from any other bread I made with a different starter that didn't smell fruity. This starter was made using all white flour, BTW.
Over the next several months the fruity aroma faded away, but the bread always tasted the same to me.
I don't mean that you have to love or tolerate an acetone scent. Just that it will probably linger, getting weaker and weaker over time, and may not affect bread made with the starter.
If the starter seems as active as you say, you could explore that by refreshing with white flour. If it bubbles and rises well, the starter should be very usable, and the use of white flour will probably help purge out the odors. If it's not very active, several more refreshes with white flour should be enough to do the trick.
TomP
Thanks for your info!
there are many bubbles but the size of my starter hasn't doubled yet. but I think it should soon
C above. Enjoy!
in my experience, the acetone smell is normal & comes on most strongly when my starter is starving. No worries. Feed it.
also: all starters behave slightly differently due to their diff environments, water, temperature, flours, etc. Over time, you will find what keeps you & your starter happy. Enjoy the process together.
Rob