...there was Lacey. She's about a month old.
Lacey, the starter, isn't all that strong or robust at the moment. Shes not sick, but a few days ago there was more CO2 production and visible muscle-like tension as the wooden spoon would stir her around.
I used most of her to make a few loaves of bread, then fed her, which was 34 hours ago. I've stirred her every twelve hours since then. Still trying to grow back to potential.
She was captured with 1:1 AP and water, then fed whole wheat and bread flour. She has gone back to AP, then switched back to 50/50 WW&BF.
She's maintained as a poolish, liquid levain, at 1:1:1.
She has yet to make a decent loaf of bread.
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yeast, This is a liquid starter.... a very liquid one....too liquid. After a month, Lacey should be very vigorous, I'm thinking poor Lacey is starving and too wet . Feed her equal weights of flour and water - poor thing is too thin. Other than that she is alive and well - no worries.
Welcome and happy baking
is not a poolish. Huh. I thought poolish was a liquid starter and biga was drier. Commercial yeast. Thanks for the knowledge.
She has been on a consistent diet of equal weighed parts flour and water. The flour has been equal parts WW and BF. Thick at feeding, she thins after 24 hours, when I feed her again.
Twelve hours ago I set aside 100g and fed 15g WW without water, then mixed in another 15g WW just a few minutes ago. I'll check on her in the morning and hope her body has a bit more bubble.
Thanks for the diagnosis dabrownman. It is appreciated.
About ten hours after being fed 30g WW, thin Lacey (100g) has doubled in volume and is looking ready to make a loaf.
If you're maintaining your starter at 1:1:1, that might be the source of your problem. Constantly seeding with one third old starter can lead to an accumulation of acid over time. Too much acid. You might want to try switching to a 1:2:2 ratio instead, or even 1:3:3 and see if that helps.
On occasion when my starter has gotten too acidic, I go even further -- I'll just toss it all out, scrape off the sides, then whatever remains I use to create a new starter. I'm not measuring, but I'd guess it comes out to a 1:10:10 feed or greater. That removes the acid load and then I can get back to a more normal maintenance routine.
That can work with an established starter, but not so much with one in the beginning stages. But since your starter has been going about a month I'd say it should be fairly well settled. It just hasn't been able to get active because of the high acid accumulation. That's my guess anyway.
Cheers!
Trevor
She is probably starving at about the 12-14 hour mark if she is at room temp. When starters are that hydrated (thin) they can really burn thru the food-esp when some is WW. Think about what is happening in that cage....er jar (it is a living organism, after all).As the culture rises (at the 10 hour mark) you have increased the yeast population but then allowed it to starve off after it falls and then it bursts, exuding self-digestive enzymes and thins out. All kinds of by-products and acid is created.
Do a severe discard, feed it as suggested a few times to build it up and then either refrigerate it or continue to feed on a every 12 hour schedule-depending on how often you bake with it. I refrigerate mine between bakes but remove it 1 day ahead, discard/feed once or twice and then use it. I maintain my starter at a thick pancake dough consistency-just easier to stir. It just depends on how you use it.
By the way, the extra gluten in BF does not contribute to her feeding so save the expense and give her unbleached AP.
Thanks for the input TFL! Lacey was indeed too thin. She smelled pretty sweet, so I was sure she was well fed and not too acidic. Since bulking her up with some flour and holding off on the water, she's been able to leaven without issue. I went ahead and did a severe discard, just to be on the safe side. Now that she's on her feet, I'll be looking to store her in the fridge and decrease the feedings.