Keep old starter or start over?

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wrenhunter on 25 Sep 2016 at 08:19

Hi all

I have an old rye starter that I began from scratch about 2 years ago. For the first year, I kept it in the fridge and fed it (fairly) reliably. A few times a month passed, and I was able to bring it back to normal.

Now it has sat in the fridge unfed for (blush) almost a year. No bad colors or skins, but it has a strong fruity smell, kind of like old strawberries. Maybe a tad vinegary too. I put 2 Tbsp in a new container and fed it with rye flour and water, and it perked up overnight. No big rise, but it thickened up and shows a bit of structure. However, it still has that fruity smell.

I went through this once a few years ago, and never managed to get the starter back to 100% efficacy (or lose that smell!). Should I keep on with frequent feedings, or start over?

Thanks.

After a year. However if it takes longer than making one from scratch I see no point as you haven't gained anything. The fruity smell wouldn't bother me as I don't think it's a sign of anything bad. What I would do is give it a good feeding and not do anything else till it shows signs of life. In the meantime I'd start a new one. If the old one comes back to life sooner then no problem. If the new one does and the old one doesn't show any signs of life then no time wasted. If both of them take then you can amalgamate them. Introducing a new starter to an old will help keep it healthy. 

Just take 30 g of it and feed it 30 g of each flout and water and let it sit on the counter till it shows some sign of life.  If it does then there you go.  I keep my starter for nearly half a year in the fridge as a normal thing and it revives itself and doubles in 12 hours.  Your might take 3 times that long.  

My starter shows two signs of being healthy - doubling in size in about 12 hours and a pleasant, fruity smell. 

The Magic 8 Ball says, "Outlook good."

Yaaayyy! Keep it!!! :)

You'll be fine...

Murph

Thanks all! It's definitely showing signs of life, so I will stick with it. I may take Lechem's advice and start a new one anyhow. I'm trying to branch out from the Tartine method, so this might be a good time for a second brew.

If that starter is working, I'd stick with that one unless you really like having jars of stuff hanging around.

I'm still working through jars of experiments, discards, and mysteries. I even have a couple of jars of "working" 100% starters and even that's too many. They all work when built to the right amount of levain.

My goal is to bake them all over time and just keep a NMNF starter and a cup of yeast water and call it a day.

Murph

Fruity smells for a rye starter is a good thing. I would keep at it with that one. The acidity won't allow for the bad stuff to take hold and it should be better than starting over.

You can both start a new one and try to revive the old one. It's not like the cost of doing both would be prohibitive, and neither would it take much effort. They don't have to be the same either; for example, if the old one is wheat, the new on can be rye so that if all goes well, you end up with two active starters. 

There are so many different kinds and ways to make a starter and they are all retty easy and foolproof.  It is just fun to try to do them all. Corn and potao ones are my favorites to play with.   I also like to make PR's dark pumpernickel every so often since it requires a new rye starter made from scratch starting on Monday for a Friday bake.  The first and only discard after day 3 can be used to make a storage rye starter and the other half used for the bread on Friday.

I like to fold in other starters into my main one several times a year just to keep it on its toes, more multicultural and give it a more rounded flavor.  I probably have folded in 30 different starters into my stored NMNF one over the past few years. 

for the further comments. I have been feeding twice daily and it seems to be doing well. Smells a bit more like "the old days" when mature, too.