Hi all,
Last week I tried to start my first ever sourdough starter, but am not sure if its rising enough. (I started with 40g of fresh rye/apw flour mixture with 40g of room temp water)... I have been feeding it everyday for the past 4 days and there have been a lot of bubbles, but it does not seem to be rising that much? (also smells like vinegar...) I want to make sure I am on the right track! Also it has really cooled down where I live (up in northern california and the temperature in my kitchen has been in the 60s). Would the lower temperature effect my starter all?
Please let me know if anyone can help!
The vinegar smell would tend to suggest it is using up the flour and needs to be re-fed. The lower temperature would tend to slow down this process, but in the beginning stages it is hard to know if that is allowing other organisms a chance to thrive or not. You are still in the early stages. If it were my starter I would feed a little more and see if that helps, also I would pour off and hooch if that is forming at this stage.
Thank you for the advice Edo Bread! I will feed it again and wait to see what happens... fingers crossed!
You've been feeding it for 4 days and it looks active. Often in day 3-4 a starter can go quiet. While there is activity carry on with your feeding schedule. If it goes quiet then take a break till it picks up again.
What is your feeding schedule? How much contour keep and feed?
I am feeding my starter everyday and discarding excess starter. I am adding 40g water and 40g of fresh rye/apw flour mix.
I am still very new to this and am a little confused on what you mean by contour?
That was autocorrect :)
Carry on with what you're doing. Keep warm, if there is activity then feed on schedule. If not then skip a feed and just stir.
get it up to 75°F. Sometimes a thin starter 100% hydration doesn't rise a lot as the gas bubbles are popping instead of raising the mixture. Try cutting back on some of the water when feeding. Mix it up more like a soft dough than a batter and then see what happens!