I just decided to try and make my own starter using a method I found on the internet. I started it last night, fed it this morning and when I came home from work and opened it, the smell almost knocked me out. It smells like rotten eggs. Is this normal for the first day. I understand that there are other micros living in there not just yeast. Will it start to smell better after a few days when the yeast take over and the bacteria die off??
What was the method?
Flour and water? Or were other things added?
Not knowing the method you are using, I couldn't speculate with any confidence on the exact reason for the smell but I think you're probably right and the odour comes from certain bacteria. These will die off as the lactobacillus and yeast take over.
If the smell persists after 4 or 5 days, you may want to try adding a little vinegar with the flour and water feeding to lower the pH (only a little - 1/4 tsp for 100g starter is plenty).
I've just started a couple of new whole grain cultures in the last 2 days. There's been an interesting range of aromas emanating from them (ranging from vanilla to cheese!) but one at least has started to take on more familiar sourdough fragrances.
Stick with it and let us know how it goes
FP
Someone here posted this link to some videos of Nancy Silverton making bread. One clip deals expressly with starters. She mentions that she was always discouraged by the mess the starter had become in a day or so, so she tossed them. Then she discovered they were SUPPOSED to do that! Check the link:
http://www.pbs.org/juliachild/meet/silverton.html#
ClimbHi
Flour and water are the ingredients but what was the method? How much of each, what kind of flour, what did they say to do with them? Covered tight or loose or with a towel? keep it warm (80ºF+) or room temp? How often to feed it and how?
--------
Paul
3/8c organic rye is a great start, lots of yeasties on it but 12 hours is actually rather too short for "real" action to be going on, you're probably seeing the other, unwanted bacteria activating - they like this sort of soup too.
Don't pitch it all away, it still needs time to develop. Let it go through it's process and it will hopefully grow the right combination of yeast and bacteria that support each other while making the place unfriendly to other bacteria. They're not at the level you need them right now so the other dudes are having a party while the good guys are building up.
And go with Mike's recipe as it's outlined, he's had plenty of people succed with it. Don't hesitate to email him directly if you need help too, he rather prefers that.
But bottom line on your previous trial: tossed it too soon! Don't give up so fast. Also, be prepared to let it do it's thing for maybe two, three weeks. Maybe not with the weather warming up but don't give up too fast.
--------
Paul
When I started mine, it was just flour and water, unbleached white in one and organic whole wheat in another, and neither smelled of anything for the first few days - except flour and water. At first, I covered them with damp cheesecloth, but it was too hard to keep the cheesecloth damp, so I covered them lightly with plastic wrap and they started expanding like mad. Eventually, they smelled as sourdough should, slightly alcoholic and yeasty. I think the bad smell you got was probably some nasty bacteria that was picked up in the air.
I think you were right in tossing it out. If you suspect in the least that something is not quite right the odds are it isn't. Starters do go through phases of off smells but they shouldn't drive you out of the kitchen. You need to sterilze the culture container especially if it's plastic. Just washing it with hot water and detergent may not be enough. I use 1 Quart plastic food grade containers that are dishwasher safe. My dishwasher has a sanitizing cycle which does a good job of controlling the unwanted. Sans that I'd poor boiling hot water over the container lessen the chance of contamination.
One other point is the limited amount of exposure I've had with Rye starters is they tend to be more oderiferous than wheat flour starters.
Wild-Yeast
Hi richawatt.
I have to agree with Wild-Yeast on sterilizing your starter container, I used glass for mine so that I can rinse it with boiling water that contained a few drops of white vinegar in it. I also would like to disagree on tossing your starter. Like you, I did my starter with the lid closed and the first three days the smell was very very strong. However,
from Day 4 and onward the smell transformed. When my starter was hungry it smelled like apple-sauce/apple cider. :) And once it was fed it smelled like a happy sour dough starter.
HTH, Rudy