Acetone smell debate
Hi all,
So I have started a new sourdough starter, this time a stiff starter as my original died in the fridge as I was away from it for too long. So this one I feed once a day: 10g starter, 36 g water, 40 g white bread flour, 10 g whole wheat bread flour. It does not double in 12 hours, more like 20 but it maintains its height for several hours so by the time I feed it at the 24 hr mark it is still doubled in size and bubbly. It is in a plastic container with a lid. It has a strong acetone smell when I go to feed it, but the smell remains even after feeding as its growing. Searching the forum and elsewhere I see a lot of conflicting info on the acetone smell. People saying it means it's hungry so feed it, others saying to get rid of it entirely or just use a small amount to build a new starter, others saying it's fine and just the smell builds up in the container but it's not a big deal. So, I am unsure about this. I switched to a stiff starter because I read they do not have to be fed twice a day and grow more slowly which fits my schedule better. My starter grows well because of the whole wheat as for awhile I was only using the white bread flour but it was barely growing at all and I didn't want it to die. I don't have a thermostat to tell what my room temp is but it's definitely more on the colder side right now (Ireland) but very humid. I am considering transitioning this to the fridge after I bake with it, which I'm going to do today for the first time. I'm still not sure how my last starter died but I was unable to bake with it as any bread baked with it resulted in overfermented bread (even with a 1% inoculation). I contacted KAF about this, they suggested a stiff starter too. But the last starter was also extremely acetone-y and I don't know if that had anything to do with how or why it died.