Sourdough Starter on the counter top in hot weather.....

In one of my older books on sourdough, the starter is supposed to be left at a temperature of 95F.  There is no way I can come close to that temp in my kitchen in Montreal, but I still managed to keep a starter alive and going strong for 5+ years.  The heat should help it.

If you're not pleased with the outcome of putting your starter in the fridge, you could try lowering the hydration of your starter to around 60-65%, kneading it into a ball, and surrounding the starter with some dry flour in the container before it goes in the fridge.. It doesn't have to be fancy flour.

When you want to bake, take the starter out a half day early and do a two stage build. That will produce a working starter. At least it does for me.

Keeping your starter on the counter for an extended period will require frequent refreshing because it's working at an increased rate. There may be an increase in the bacteria that produce acetic acid as well. I could be wrong there.

I've been maintaining a starter for almost four years using a lowered hydration sample (usually less than 60 grams) by leaving it in the fridge between uses.

Hi Jayde21,

Try using cold water and a smaller ratio of starter in your feeding schedule. You will probably have to feed it twice a day minimum in really hot conditions to keep it healthy. What is current feeding schedule?

Cheers,
Phil

When it started getting warmer around my house in the spring, I couldn't even tell the difference myself, but my starter did! Our house is air conditioned to keep cool and heated to keep warm. There are very few days a year that one or the other isn't running. But, as temps outside started to rise, and heating gave way to cooling inside, the starter was showing signs. I got to where I was taking all of the starter out at feeding, leaving only a residue on the walls of the container - maybe a gram or two at most - and feeding 60g each of flour and water twice a day. Not long of that, and my starter went into the fridge. Now, I keep it at 70% hydration and 2% salt, as a pâte fermentee, in the fridge for anywhere from a couple days to a week at a time, then take out, build for baking, return some to fridge, lather-rinse-repeat. I don't know if the lower hydration has any effect on keeping it in the fridge, it just became the most convenient way to keep it ready to use. I usually build it up by feeding it in a ratio of 1:1:1, letting it sit for about 12 hours, then add the amounts of flour, water, and salt for my baking needs, plus extra to go back in the fridge, and take out the extra before other ingredients are incorporated.

the reproducive rates of Labs and Yeast based on temperature based on Ganzle experiments.  Between 68 F and 75 F the Lab to yeast ratio is around 1 meaning they are reproducng at roughtly the  same rate but also twice as fast at 75 F than at 68 F meaning that things will happen twice as fast meainig twice the feedings and twice the waste. 

Since i too live in Phoenix, thsi is why i went to stiff 66% hydration starter that I stor in the fridge at arounf 80-100 g max.  It requires no feeding and with 20 g of it I can makeany bread in (3) 4 hour builds in the winter and 3 2 hour builds in teh summer.  No muss,no fuss and very sour as you can see that labs arr reproducing 3 time faster at low and high temps.  So long cold retards of starter levains and dough retards coupled with a every hot 85-86 F final proof makes a much more sour bread.

Be careful that your sourdough doesn't go bad if sourdough has a pink color throw out not good any long died 

good luck .