My starter is about 2 months old.
I normally keep my starter at 100% hydration, ambient room temperature is approximately 24 deg Celsius.
at this temp it takes approximately 12-14 hours to double in size.
If I temporarily increase the starter to 40 deg Celsius it only take 3-4 hours to double
I have made bread with it already so I know there is active yeast.
About 2 weeks ago I decided to increase the temps I maintain my starter at, so I could decrease the ratio of Yeast to other acid producing bacteria at the hopes of obtaining more flavor. The starter has been sitting at around 40 deg Celsius constantly for about 2 weeks now.
After this 2 week warm 40 deg Celsius period I noticed some changes.
Firstly my starter no longer rises. The starter will generate copious amounts of bubbles and liquid byproduct.
Even when taken off the heat completely for a few days it still only creates bubbles, with almost no rise.
The starter successfully floats and still smells "yeasty" but When I try to make bread, the dough will turn to goop before any rising occurs.
I know the starter isn't rising because it leaves no residue on the container i keep it in.
Has anyone had this occur or know what is going on?
I normally feed my starter every 24 hours, with 50% rye and 50% AP flour and 100% hydration
i'm new to this, but have had starters for a few months and have read like every board post and tutorial on starters, and i've never heard of anyone keeping their starter that warm. 22 to 27 would be more normal from most of what i read.
from cultures for health:
"Remember: Sourdough starter performs best at 70-85ºF."
(that's 21.11 c to 29.44 c)
https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/sourdough/how-to-keep-sourdough-starter-healthy/
besides, if you do something where your starter stops rising, smells funny or gets runny or separates, stop doing it see if it goes back to normal.
is too hot for your starter.
I'm no expert on starters, but I think the best way to manipulate the flavour of your loaf is to change how much starter you use in each loaf. The less starter you use, the longer your dough will take to ferment, which will give you a tangier loaf.
Hope that helps!
Ru
can't resist an opportunity to post some growth curves...so here they are, FWIW:
Besides going back to previous temps for a sustained succession of refreshments...I think you should consider a different strategy to take on flavor.
You want to treat your starter in a way that keeps all the beasties happy and in reasonable balance...so vigor is the key objective in the starter (and you can lean in one direction or another to slightly emphasize a desired characteristic, but really, a thriving starter is most important).
To work on the flavor profile of your bread, work with your formula and process...including the amount/ratios/treatment of your levain, and also your dough.
Firstly, I would say that 40C is too warm; I think 27C is probably about right to encourage good yeast growth.
Secondly, I've seen this graph before (several times) and on closer analysis I think I've got some issues with it. It implies that the only yeast strain in sourdough is Candida milleri. In most sourdough cultures, Saccharomyces strains will also be present - and often dominate.
Saccharomyces will no doubt have a different growth rate v temperature and may not decline so drastically as the temperature increases compared to c. milleri.
Lance
Is turning to goop. Even if you return to lower temperatures, it may take much longer to reverse engineer the starter. A bacteria overload in the starter will keep the pH low (acid) and slow yeast activity. The yeast respond to a sour environment by saving their energy until enough food raises the pH and triggers growth.
At 40° C one should be feeding the starter several times and in larger quantities per feed than one would at lower temps. But the temp. is high enough to send many bacteria and yeast strains right out of the starter because they went dormant or died before they could reproduce enough of themselves to thrive with the next feeding. A deadly combination. It is difficult to maintain starters in hot climates without the use of refrigeration or some way to cool the starter culture.
https://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/a-few-tips-on-dough-temperature/
How are the feeding ratios? How much starter to flour?
Twelve to fourteen hours to double at 24°C is hard to relate to without the feeding details.