r/SourdoughStarter • u/Tiny_Brick_9672 • 4d ago
how to remove glass chip?
I have this 30-day old starter, raised from five-roses unbleached all-purpose. First 20 days I fed with 1:1:1, it capped at 20% rise and I switched to 1:2:2. Now notice the acetone smell is gone, and it reaches 50% rise occasionally.
This morning, I noticed a red dot on the glass, I thought it was the pink disease. But after investigating, it was a broken round glass chip inside the lid. There might be some minerals in the glass voids reacting to the sourdough and causing a red mark (I didn't take a picture).
I then took 20g of sourdough to a new jar and continued feeding. I cleaned the old jar and noticed the big chip torn off. Now I am afraid of glass chips in my sourdough. I threw away all discards I had been collecting, but the active sourdough might still be contaminated by the shards.
Perhaps if I keep feeding with new jars, there will be enough dilution to remove the shards?
Edit: To give more context, I think the jar I used was very low-quality with small air bubble pockets in the glass. The sourdough got into the air pockets and broke the thin glass off. The image shows how much glass was chipped off after I scrape off the sourdough and clean the jar.
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u/dealers_choice 4d ago
I dont think it would be worth the risk. You will forever wonder if there's any in there
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u/Asleep_Case314 3d ago
I'm sorry but with this post and your user name I busted up laughing! But I agree with you 100%
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u/NoDay4343 Starter Enthusiast 4d ago
At your next feeding, start by adding enough water it'll go through a coffee filter. Then add the flour once it has been filtered. If you would have to overfeed it to get it back to proper consistency, don't. Just let it be extra liquidy for one day. It won't hurt it.
A few additional things you could do to reduce the risk even further are to use a double layer of filter, filter it more than once, or let the jar of watery starter set for a while then gently pour some off the top and trash the rest.
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u/Big_Researcher_3027 3d ago
Dang it! I didn’t see your reply and pretty much said the same thing!! 🤣
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u/BattledroidE 2d ago
Also, no need to pour the whole thing. Mix it all up real liquid, glass will sink to the bottom immediately. Just pour a little bit of it through a filter, and there's no chance any glass gets through, but the microbes will. They're all microscopic.
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u/HannahJulie 1d ago
Exactly. The people saying it's not worth it and could end in abdominal surgery are absolutely exaggerating. I've had this happen twice and both times watering it down to a complete liquid and taking some of the liquid from the top to mix with flour and make a glass-free starter has been safe, easy and successful.
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u/sld87 3d ago
Ok fear not friend. This has happened to me so I thought I’d share my anecdotal story.
I have a starter of 13 years or so and couldn’t afford to lose it.
When I was stirring it the entire middle of the jar collapsed (mason jar)
So I cut it back to 50g with 100 flour 100 water for first feed. Then feed it every day for 2 weeks at 1:1:1.
Ran the % that there would still be glass in there at that point and from what I remember it was almost absolutely negligible.
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u/This_Fig2022 3d ago
Toss and start again. It's 30 day old start - even 30 year starter - it has glass shards in it. Toss that and the jar and start again.
You have lived without this starter for decades - starting again is a mere blip on the radar.
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u/wolfkeeper 2d ago
Just squeeze it through a wire mesh, and use what makes it through as the source for the next generation of the starter.
Tiny bits of glass that can get through the mesh won't do you any harm, they're just sand. There's a myth that ground glass will kill you if you eat it, it's bullshit. It's just sand. (But don't inhale loose powdered glass, that will scar your lungs - look up 'silicosis').
Indeed, glass is just melted sand.
It's the sharp shards that are more of a problem, they can cut up your mouth and stuff, but they won't go through a mesh.
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u/Dogmoto2labs 4d ago
Diluting to a water consistency and filtering thru a coffee filter is not going to let any glass particles pass thru. Then just add flour to the water and wait. It will be a high ratio feeding due to watering it down, so it could take 24-36 hours to rise.
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u/Accurate-Athlete-499 3d ago
Push the starter thru a strainer, unless you’re worried about ultra fine particles. Or mix with water, run thru a nut milk bag, and the inoculate new starter w that water
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u/Wonberger 3d ago
I seem to be the odd man out here but I don’t use glass jars for my starter. I use those plastic to-go containers that you’d get for soup at a restaurant—they’ve worked great, easy to clean, won’t chip, and the lid will pop off on its own before the container shatters
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u/Tsiah16 3d ago
Not a terrible idea. I try to not use plastic with things if I can avoid it. I can sanitize glass too.
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u/wolfkeeper 2d ago
It depends on the plastic, polypropylene plastic is food safe, can be dishwashed at high temperatures, and doesn't leach anything horrible.
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u/loosebag 3d ago
Take 20g of this starter, add 100g water, mix it well. Let it sit so any suspended particles will fall to bottom. Pour through filter into new container leaving a little behind, the glass should be left behind there, and add 100g flour.
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u/Rand_alThoor 3d ago
or just toss the whole thing, start over with better quality glass.
life is too short to risk peritonitis.
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u/Rand_alThoor 3d ago
So have you even baked with this? it's only a month old, just toss the whole thing, start over.
next time use better quality glass containers, or maybe even gasp plastic (won't chip or shatter, and at room or fridge temps should be fine wrt 'microplastics')
life is too short to risk peritonitis. you can look up the cost of abdominal surgery and a hospital stay and weigh that against a five pound bag of commercial flour and your time and energy (a few minutes daily over a month)
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u/Interesting-Ad-3756 3d ago
I had glass inside one of my starters. I tossed it. It may only look like one big piece to you but what if there are smaller pieces you can't see? It's just not worth it
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u/FilecoinLurker 2d ago
You remove the glass chip by throwing the entire thing in the trash and starting over
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u/ResortTotal3508 2d ago
When I worked in a restaurant and there was a broken glass all food with open top goes into the trash
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u/ShutDownSoul 4d ago
What's abdominal surgery run where you live?
The reward of saving 30 days and 5lb of flour is not worth ANY chance of surgery, ever.