Starter in the Fridge

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DJB on 4 May 2019 at 02:07

Is it possible to make a starter ( from day one) in the fridge?  I live in Darwin Australia where the ambient temperatures are around 33C.  My attempts to make a starter to date have failed to consistently get the starter to rise.  Thanks in advance for your advice.

I've been considering a practical solution to maintain a lower temp for your starter culture.  Anything above 26C is undesirable, but so is 4-7C in the fridge. I suggest a cooler box with an ice tray or chiller brick to bring the temp down to 18 to 22C.  Just a thought.  I live in Melbourne so our days above 26C are only during the summer months.  Cheers.

 

Thanks for your advice - I do get some quite large bubbles forming at times.  To date I haven't tracked the changes I see in teh starter and as such have today set up a spreadsheet to record the activity witnessed and also to  keep track fo feeding discarding processes.  Why track the changes - it appears that the 'bell curve' of yeast activity occurs over 2-3 days.  As such I am wanting to identify when the yeast/bubble activity is greatest

the person who responded to my question referred to a couple of links by a lady called Debra Wink.  She has a science background and the content of her x2 articles revolves around the pH of the starter and indicates that Pineapple juice is quite useful in establishing a starter ( other juices aren't quite so good as the pH produced is not as good as that by using Pineapple).  - ie it modifies the starter pH and creates an environment that favours yeast production ( as opposed to bacteria).  It appears getting the balance between the Yeast and Bacteria present in the starter is quite important in producing a viable starter.  

I have much to learn but I find the journey interesting

If you're willing to invest, you can get a small wine cooler.  That's what I did.  Less than $100.  I use it to keep starter and also to control bulk fermentation times.

What I would do if all I had was a fridge: use the fridge to bring the process to a near standstill any time I won't be around to attend to it.  When I can be there, then I'd take it out and let it do its thing in the warm air.  It doesn't do much harm to let the starter go past exhaustion for a few hours, which I might do when the temperature is quite warm.  You could feed twice a day and get it going without using the fridge at all.

If you keep it in the fridge all the time, it will take forever.  The warm temperatures are going to be more useful to you in the early days.

Hey there DJB, I'm from Townsville & for the last few months had been trying to get a starter going. I was having no luck at all at getting my starter to rise & fall like it is supposed to & as it was it was taking 3 days on the bench to get to a point where it was bubbly/fluffy, though it never rose. 

I even put the air con on constantly & set it to 24° but that still didnt help except to earn me an almost $800 electricity bill for that quarter. 

I have only in the last 3 days managed to get it rising & bubbly within 12 hrs!! It may be due to the weather cooling down a bit now but what I did which I think made a difference was to increase my feeding schedule. The recipe I used said to feed in 3 day intervals. But I started daily feedings a few days ago & it has really responded to that, more than anything I've done previously. Today I am going to do 2 feeds & see how it goes. I have been discarding all but 75g of starter & then mixing it with 100g flour & 125g bottled water (don't use tap water... the chemicals in Australian water will prevent anything happening, trust me....I tried that with my first starter attempt) at each feed & that has started to perk it up. 

Only thing I can suggest for cooling is to get an esky  or insulated lunch box & stick a frozen brick in one side & starter in the other (or however many bricks needed to get the temp down to the right level) & then stick the whole thing in the coolest place in your house. Maybe experiment doing that (without the starter in there) to see how the temp goes throughout a day. 

I am intending on buying myself a proofed box, which you plug in, set the temp & then throw the starter or dough into there & it will maintain the right temp. But the one I have found online is $170, so might have to be a Christmas present to myself. 

I am by no means an experienced Baker & am still fighting with my own starter but thought I'd throw a few ideas out anyway. The people on here are super helpful too!! 

Good luck!!

Have you read Debra Winks articles in 'the fresh loaf' forum. 

Its now day 3 where I have substituted pineapple juice for the water.  It made an instant and a huge difference in producing a very active bubbly starter that rose.  Would recommend giving this a go.  The pineapple juice alters the pH profile of the starter and creates an environment that favours yeast growth.  Well, that's my take on Debra Winks articles. 

Today I have as an experiment reverted to water ( I boil then cool before using) and will see if this creates an active starter. 

I think the more I read on Soughdough starters the more I view the starter as 'a zoo'.  That is a competitive environment or yeast and bacteria ( and after listening to a Sourdough podcast last night - I use podcast addict one also has to throw enzymes into 'the zoo'.  I will never fully appreciate the complexity this dynamic but it makes me appreciate that the starter is very dynamic.  Even adding water or yeast changes the pH of teh starter.  

I have in the past week created a spreadsheet to permit me to record the starter activity I witness.  One article I read talked about the concept of the starter environment cycling - ie active - dormant phases.  This too sort of resonates with me as I have observed such activity changes ( that is prior to using pineapple juice).  Knowing when one's starter is most potent probably is going to be important to when one starts prepping for a bake.  Maybe I am being a little OTT ( over teh top) but it will do no harm.  

 

I hadn't read Debra's posts before but just did. I am wondering if it is too late for me to try a day or 2 with pineapple juice. My starter is doubling but doesnt seem strong enough to leven dough yet. I tried to bake a loaf over the weekend & it did not get the rise I was expecting. 

My starter is almost 3 mths old though, so might be of no benefit to try pineapple juice. I maybe only need to get & maintain a warm, humid environment & I should see more strength & hopefully more than doubling in 12hrs. 

I'm just about to buy the Proofing Box I mentioned (although that $170 price was USD, so considerably more expensive than I thought) but I might still try the pineapple juice if this proofing box doesnt really help much. 

Good luck with yours & thanks for the advice. :)

I started only with flour and water.  So its a good 4 weeks post the 'go live date' of the starter that I introduced Pineapple Juice so you should be OK trying Pineapple Juice. 

Last night I reverted to water.  Today I the starter has risen and is bubbly etc.  Not sure if this is a residual effect or if it has altered the pH profile and rebooted the starter??.  I hope it has done the latter as I don't want to have to keep using Pineapple Juice 

Im thinking as I type maybe I would use pineapple juice as a 'rescue remedy' /in the first aid kit type thing if I run into trouble with the starter at a later date - very much an unknown -its a work in progress I guess.

 

Hey DJB,

I am contemplating trying out pineapple juice this weekend as my starter has gone a little quiet. Still getting spongey but not rising or doubling anymore. 

How much juice did you use? Did you substitute all the water at the feeding for pineapple juice? I do a 20g starter:100g water:100g flour ratio. Wondering if I should replace the whole 100g of water with equal pineapple juice. 

Not sure what's going on. I baked with my starter last week & even though it was spongey & doubling, it wasnt able to rise bread so O ended up with a heavy, dense loaf. Hoping trying the pineapple juice night just boost it along. 

I have attempting to construct this starter for so long that I have got to know the consistency by starter by look as opposed to by weight or volume quantities.   I suspect it is the same quantity of juice as I had been using of water.  My starter is more of the thicker variety however I dont think it would a problem if were a little wetter.  I have had great results with the pineapple juice - would certainly recommend its use.  I did revert to water for a few days and I continued to evidence strong bubble and rise.  I am hoping to have a go at baking this weekend - I have never baked before so many challenges ahead I suspect - thank goodness I am not baking to survive - would have died of hunger long ago.  

Yeah, my starter is 100% hydrated but as its all rye, it is much dryer. It goes spongey rather than bubbly like it did when I had it at 125% hydration. I have a half half starter as well which is rye & plain which is still much more liquid despite having the same ratios as the rye (20/100/100) & it is working much better & seems much stronger than my pure rye starter. But I am loathe to give up on my rye, as it was my first attempt. 

I'll get some pineapple juice when I go shopping tomorrow. Did you use juice in the can or bottle? Or did you blitz up an actual pineapple? 

I purchased pineapple juice in the cardboard tetra pack format.  The only thing I was worried about was preservatives.  I suspect all juices have some preservative to provide a shelf life.   The juice I got certainly worked.  - I tried it in a couple of feeds + discards and it worked great  I then reverted to just water and I continue to get good bubble and rise.