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Dear Readers, bread lovers, I am asking for your experience, knowledge and help.
I started Batch Alpha on 03.20, 21:30
I started with 50g Wholemeal and 50g White Organic AP, and 100g Evian water.
I fed it with the same amount, +50g AP, +50g Wholemeal and 100g water every day without discarding until the fourth day.
On the fourth day, I created Bravo from the same starter, technically instead of dumping I put half of it into another container. Not sure why anymore, as I fed them the same. As I recall, I was afraid that one day it rises and messes the house as the container was small.
Around Day 5, I started feeding them 1:1:1, took 150g starter with 150g flour (AP and Wholemeal 50%-50%) and 150g water. Discarded anything that left into a box. Why not into the junk? Not sure. At this point it still has not rose, the smell was quite vinegary, bit like sour wood(?) if that is a thing. Another interesting thing that even the mixture upon feeding was quite stiff, 24 hours later it become runny almost water like.
Interesting Part: On Day 7 around 17:15 on 26th of May, I checked the box with the dump ( it was the dump from Day 4 or Day 5) technically I left it there on the counter in a closed box without feeding or anything. So I checked it before dumping it, as I was curious, and it smelled like commercial yeast a bit, with alcoholic undertones. Therefore I decided to keep it, Charlie born this day, out of the scrap of the others.
I am feeding Charlie every 12 hours and the others every 24 hours.
Around from Day 5 Alpha and Bravo started to develop hooch, 0,5cm on top, and was quite runny still, with only few or no bubbles, while Charlie had a lot even then.
On Day 8 Alpha and Bravo still not rose, with almost 0 bubbles on side, just a bit on top, and it was still runny. At this point I was feeding them with 100g flour, 100g water and 100g starter ( sadly for around 4 days now with tap water, boiled though for 15 minutes).
Charlie developed a strong acetone smells, (nail polish remover), it is so intense.
Day 9 brought some changes, hooch disappeared from Alpha and Bravo the consistency got better the smell is less sour at this point, more woody but definitely not yeasty or floury, it resembles still to sour cream or yoghurt. There are bubbles on top at this point but almost none at sides. Yet hooch dissapeared from Alpha there was just a little bit on Bravo, it is weird why though. The smell is more pleasant, yet it was not really disgusting at the first place. Charlie still smells like nail polish remover, I air it sometimes and feed it in every 12 hours, 1:1:1, it was quite stiff on Day 9. Another info, at this time I started to use Brita filtered tap water, and I fed Alpha with solely Wholemeal flour and Bravo with White Bread Flour ( never received this before), and Charlie with Wholemeal as before. Charlie resembles to mousse after it rises, but the other two not even rising still.
Day 10 - 03.29
I cut it a bit in order not to feed them that much flour, it is hard to get around here due to Covid19.
So I am using 50g starter, 50g flour and 50g water, preserving 1:1:1 ratio.
Today it seems Alpha rose a bit, around 1/3 of its height, so technically almost none, nowhere near doubling. And this is more than 24 hours after feeding it on 28th of March. There is no hooch on it, the surface is quite bubbly as you can see on the pictures, it is still smells sour, yet there is a slightly alcoholic tone to it, nothing like Charlie though, it started to smell a bit yeasty I think, still sour though, and less runny than before.
Bravo had only few bubbles on side at this point, with little change in amount, similar to Alpha, and there is a bit of hooch I think, but nothing like before ( as it was around 50 ml or more on Day 5-6, on Alpha too). The smell is floury, but alcoholic also, not that sour and bit different from Alpha, which is understandable as I used Bread Flour instead of AP and Wholemeal like before. It is quite watery, not like Alpha which has stiffened up a little bit. Charlie at this point doubles within 10 hours and it starts to go back around 11 or 12 hours after feeding, at this time I feed it again. It still smells like acetone after many days, so I am quite lost with this one. I am glad that it rises, yet this smell is not pleasant, not disgusting, but I would not use it in my bread.
What do you think, how should I improve Alpha and Bravo?
What could be the problem with Charlie, still smelling like Nail Polish Remover after 3 days of regular feeding every 12 hours?
Please check the pictures and advise something in order to enhance things. My friend started 3 or 4 days after me and his starter is tripling or even quadrupling by now, and he used tap water without boiling, cheap non-organic flour ( I used organic from D&M and Wessex Mill flours). It is up and running and works well and smells good as he describes and here I am with my with this acetone smells and almost zero rise on Day 10.
Please share your experience and knowledge with me, let me learn. Thank you all for reading this, and please ask if you need any more details or have questions. I also decided to post this in order to help other if they get into similar situations. I hope the pictures are understandable, I tried to label them for clarity.
Have a nice day!
I would try leaving off the wheat flour and just feeding ap. That is what my starter does best on.
Cannot purchase AP right now sadly.
and location?
Have the temperatures been fluctuating?
Depends, it is on the shelf in the living room, in around 23-26 celsius.
Germany? (Yogurt jar).
Looks like the starters are very thin, for the next feedings, try using half the amount of water. They may be too thin to rise, popping and produced gasses on the surface instead of raising the cultures. You can also reduce the size of the samples to save flour. Try 20g samples. Feeding 20g flour with 10g water.