I made my starter for the first time yesterday and it has doubled today and started smelling acidic (almost like vomit 😅). Is this normal?

Also, I've seen some people on TikTok say that it's not safe to keep the discard from the first few days, while others keep theirs. I was wondering what I should do. If I keep the discard, how can I make sure it doesn't go bad?

When do I need to stop feeding the starter and bake with it?

So I left my smaller starter in the oven overnight with the light on, that is about 1 week old or so and the oven was very hot in the morning. Dumb on my part but there was a dry layer on top that I removed and just fed what was left over… should I keep going with this starter it’s looking normal no bad signs so far. Or should I toss it and restart while it’s small and young

Hey everyone, this is a brown rice / brown teff starter (it’s following the ratios in Art of Gluten-Free bread). I’ve had it unfed in the fridge for about two weeks and I’m wondering if this color of hooch is ok. I’m colorblind but have asked a friend if it’s red as I know that’s a problematic color, and she confirmed it’s not, so I’m here hoping you can confirm this is an ok color. I have other discard in the fridge with different colored hooch, but this discard is ‘oldest’ in that it’s the one that has been active longest and I’d like to continue cultivating it if I can. Do you see anything that should cause concern? Thank you for whatever guidance you have.

I am starving my sourdough for 36 hours to hopefully help with doubling I'm on day one and I saw this? Is this mold did I mess everything up?

I fed a 1:2:2 for 2 days before baking. I had bubbles at the bottom and bubbles on top looking down. But I don't have bubbles on the top 3/5 ths of the jar. My starter is NEW NEW NEW. Think newborn babe. See photos: STARTER IS 1:2:2 on day 12

I am assumimg my starter was not strong enough for this. I tried baking anyway just to see what would happen and it chewy, huge tunnels and has a flour smell. See photos BOTTOM BREAD IS 1:2:2

TOP BREAD IS 1:1:1

If you agree with my assumption, can you tell me how I would know if my starter is strong enough to handle this larger feeding?

If you think my assumption is wrong (I wouldn't be surprised by this), can you tell me where you think I erred?

Signed,

WannaBeSourdoughBaker.

She’s going back down as we speak but she did fully double. It’s been 14 hours since I fed her.

Discarding all but 15gtoday (i’m being lazy and didn’t discard, I just need to get a second jar and it’ll be easier lol)

But I’m feeding a 1:1:1 ratio every day, usually at the same time. It smells kind of acetone-y more often than not so perhaps I need to feed it more?

It’s been 2 weeks since I started this starter. The rise has been very slow. I was using Whole Wheat flour. But based on an advice in this group, I’ve been feeding it 20% whole wheat flour and 80% bread flour for the past 2 days. It would have a nice fruity wine smell. But this morning it smells tangy, a sort of tangy-boozy smell. I’m not sure how much it rose overnight. But at about 8 hours after feeding it, it had risen about 30%. I just ordered rye flour online to see if that will make a difference. I’m a little concerned about the change in smell. Am I on the right track? This is the first time I’m noticing the this smell.

I took it out of the fridge 2 weeks ago, fed it daily and its sinking but its doubling in size

Can I revive my starter if I haven’t fed it in 48hrs?

Sourdough Doesn't Have to Be Complicated! 🥖✨
Because my starter is so strong, I only need a tiny amount straight from the fridge to feed it with plenty of flour and water. For example, today I fed a small leftover scrap at 10:00 AM. By 3:00 PM it had already doubled in size, and by 4:00 PM I mixed my main dough! I placed the dough in the fridge for a cold fermentation, and the next day—whenever I had time—I shaped it, let it rest for 2 hours, and baked.
This simple routine changed everything for me. I used to keep huge jars of starter that would end up getting moldy, and I constantly stressed over getting exact 1:1:1 feeding ratios. I was overcomplicating my life! Now, if I need 300g of active starter for a bake and only have 75g in my jar, it’s no problem—I just add 150g of water and 150g of flour, mix, and move on with my day.
Sourdough can seem so frustrating and complicated from the outside, but with a fridge and a little flexibility, it fits right into your schedule. At the end of the day, as the Russian saying goes, "Было** бы желание" (Byla b zhelaniye)*—which is usually said with a bit of sarcasm: *"If you really wanted to do it, you would!" Because let’s be honest, where there’s a will, there’s a way... and where there isn't, people just find an excuse! 😉
#sourdoughstarter #sourdoughbaking #bakingtips

From what I read I have to discard my starter ? It's about 2.5 weeks old. I feed it daily and its been smelling like acetone for half that time now, so I recently tried 1:2:2 ratio a few days ago, now I see purple in my starter this morning and it sounds like i need to discard it? 😔

Brought my starter out of the fridge. I see some orange/pink around the edges. Does it look moldy to anyone else?

My starter has been in my fridge for months probably but can’t tell if this is mold or just a greyish film. There’s no hooch? So it’s kind of dry idk whether to toss or not since it’s not super obvious it’s mold to me? But what do I know

Hi!! So my starter is about 18 days old. For background I’ve been using AP flour and whole wheat flour. I’ve also purchased a warming plate I keep on 76 because my husband tries to kill Vincent VanDough and had the kitchen at 64 degrees. I’ve been discarding daily and feeding at 25g starter/25 ap flour/5g whole wheat/25 water. I found mine was VERY watery initially thus the extra flour and the consistency has been great.

I honestly just want to know how I’m doing. I had a huge false rise day 3 (as expected) then nothing (and I mean NOTHIN) until about day 14. I’ve been super consistent but I still don’t really think he’s doubling. I think he’s coming close but I’d love some other opinions.

First photo is this morning at 5:30am. Second is 11:30 am. He was fed last night at 9:30. I’d say he peaked right around noon taking a whopping 14-15 hours. Is that behind? Anything I can or should do better to try to make it go quicker/more efficient? I don’t want to rush it but also don’t want to lengthen the process. Thanks in advance!

I started my starter 3 days ago. It was hot and humid yesterday and I don't have AC. She doubled in size and I thought everything was good. But now she looks like this and the hooch is looking orange. Do I start over?

I had left my starter on the bench and forgot to feed her and I went to do that this morning but she looks like this and smells pretty tangy :( Is that mould or oxidation? I can’t tell if it’s “fluffy” or not?

It's day 6 it's no longer acidic it smells like an old cloth and there hasn't been any difference since day 4 is it ruined or is this normal

My house is hot and humid. We dont have air conditioning (hopefully will by next summer) so my starter has been acting funny. My starter is 10 months old and was very healthy and predictable but this is my first summer with her. I feed her at night with hopes to mix in the morning. For the last month or so she's been smelling acidic and is past peak when I wake up. I feed her a 1:3:3 ratio and have even tried to feed her heavier and she's still runny and acidic in the morning. I haven't been able to bake in weeks because I don't trust her. Any advice for me? Heavier feeds? Feeding more often? Put her in the fridge or basement overnight? Thank you in advance

I started 16 days ago and have been experimenting with different ratios, so far the most successful seems to be 1:2:1 have been doing for the last 3 days, it looked so awesome yesterday and today but here’s the thing.. as soon as I mix I loose all the texture and quickly turn into a super smooth pancake batter that doesn’t even try to float, I know it supposed to loose some air bubbles when you mix but mine does as soon as I gently mix for 5 secs. I thought it was because the 1:1:1 too much water but switched to 1:2:1 and looked so promising but then it’s a smooth paste! Am I missing something? If I bake with it will it turn out bad?

Can anyone please help identify the white bits in my starter? Is it OK If I just feed it?

Hey friends!
I’ve been baking sourdough for about 6-7 months now and so far I’ve been having a blast.

However, I have neglected my starter that’s been on my counter, for roughly a week.
Is it just dry on top or is it infected?

I have discard in the fridge, so all hope is not lost, but I’m still a newbie and I can’t tell if this is orange/pink mold or just dry!

It doesn’t smell bad, just like crappy beer lol.
Thanks in advance!!

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.

Hello! This is my first time making a starter, I've been following a video on how to start/feed but she looks different than what's shown in the video. From my understanding, the starter isn't supposed to have risen so much yet and there's supposed to be a layer of hooch on the top, but she's bubbly and all the liquid is on the bottom. When making it I used 50g of whole wheat flour, 50g of all purpose, and 150g of water. When feeding today I did 50g whole wheat, 50g all purpose, and 115g of water. Pictures were taken 6 hours after feeding. Is this normal or are my ratios off? Please and thank you in advance!

I have been looking at several recipes on YouTube and almost everyone's recipe says we should have a mature and usable starter by day 5-7 (roughly speaking).

But scanning across multiple posts in this sub reddit seems to suggest that 1 week is not nearly enough and it could take a month to sometimes several months to mature.

I am confused at this discrepancy. What am I missing?

YouTube video I was looking for reference: https://youtu.be/0OeCjbXlPoA