Day 5 of Sourdough starter

[Puggles]

I'm not seeing any results or noticeable activity from my Sourdough starter. I have followed a guide religiously and used literally the exact same tools and ingredients with proper temperatures and everything. I have done feedings every 24 hours. This is what it looked like before the feeding I just did. I think I'm going to start doing feedings every 12 hours.

Question, you would want to avoid direct sunlight with your starter, right?

Also, I've read that if you need a slightly warmer environment, you can put your starter in the oven (with the oven off) but with the oven light on for a few hours?




To me, this just looks like literal flour water.

 

[JAS_OH1]

I'm not seeing any results or noticeable activity from my Sourdough starter. I have followed a guide religiously and used literally the exact same tools and ingredients with proper temperatures and everything. I have done feedings every 24 hours. This is what it looked like before the feeding I just did. I think I'm going to start doing feedings every 12 hours.

Question, you would want to avoid direct sunlight with your starter, right?

Also, I've read that if you need a slightly warmer environment, you can put your starter in the oven (with the oven off) but with the oven light on for a few hours?

View attachment 87636

View attachment 87637
To me, this just looks like literal flour water.

I've no idea, I have never made a sourdough starter before. My husband doesn't like sourdough much so it's probably never going to happen. There are plenty of others who have, certainly someone else will chime in, like TastyReuben (who bakes a lot of bread), SatNavSaysStraightOn or Morning Glory, or several other forum members who have done it.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I'm not seeing any results or noticeable activity from my Sourdough starter

You should be seeing something by now. But did you count the day you stayed as day 0 or day 1? (Same principle as human ages, you're not 1 until after the first year, so you start counting at day 0

Question, you would want to avoid direct sunlight with your starter, right

UV light is used to sterilize water as a purification method, so yes you'll want to avoid direct sunshine unless it is at dawn or dusk.

This is what it looked like before the feeding I just did. I think I'm going to start doing feedings every 12 hours.

I don't believe that this will help you. If the 'food' source isn't being used, feeding it now frequently isn't going to help. All you'll be doing is introducing more pathogens into the environment that count be killing what you're trying to grow, and you'll just dilute what's there.

I'd have 2 concerns at present. My biggest concern is your water. I know you said it was filtered, but without knowing all of the specifics of your filtration device, that would be where I'd start to troubleshoot.

My 2nd concern is the state of the inside of that jar. You need to try to keep it cleaner. There is too much potential for introducing the wrong molds with the amount of starter on the sides of the jar. If that's not actually growing bad mold soon, then is day without doubt that your water is sterilizing what your trying to grow.

I'd find another jar and treat myself to a bottle (maybe 2L or perhaps 5L) of mineral water from the supermarket. The larger the container the cheaper it will be in the long run. I'd set another starter going and run a comparison. Same flour, same feed times and internals, same location, just different water. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen someone's water affect a starter.

 

[Puggles]

You should be seeing something by now. But did you count the day you stayed as day 0 or day 1? (Same principle as human ages, you're not 1 until after the first year, so you start counting at day 0




UV light is used to sterilize water as a purification method, so yes you'll want to avoid direct sunshine unless it is at dawn or dusk.

I don't believe that this will help you. If the 'food' source isn't being used, feeding it now frequently isn't going to help. All you'll be doing is introducing more pathogens into the environment that count be killing what you're trying to grow, and you'll just dilute what's there.

I'd have 2 concerns at present. My biggest concern is your water. I know you said it was filtered, but without knowing all of the specifics of your filtration device, that would be where I'd start to troubleshoot.

My 2nd concern is the state of the inside of that jar. You need to try to keep it cleaner. There is too much potential for introducing the wrong molds with the amount of starter on the sides of the jar. If that's not actually growing bad mold soon, then is day without doubt that your water is sterilizing what your trying to grow.

I'd find another jar and treat myself to a bottle (maybe 2L or perhaps 5L) of mineral water from the supermarket. The larger the container the cheaper it will be in the long run. I'd set another starter going and run a comparison. Same flour, same feed times and internals, same location, just different water. It wouldn't be the first time I've seen someone's water affect a starter.

It's a Brita water filter. I have two different ones. Which flours would you recommend? I've been trying a combination of stone ground rye flour and AP, everything is organic and unbleached. I'm using King Arthur brand. Should I raise the temp of the water a little bit? I've been doing as close to 85 degrees as possible and my house is at 70 degrees. Should I up the temp to 90 or 95?

I did count starting day zero. Also, I use a fresh, clean jar each time I do a feeding.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

It's a Brita water filter. I have two different ones. Which flours would you recommend? I've been trying a combination of stone ground rye flour and AP, everything is organic and unbleached. I'm using King Arthur brand. Should I raise the temp of the water a little bit? I've been doing as close to 85 degrees as possible and my house is at 70 degrees. Should I up the temp to 90 or 95?

I did count starting day zero. Also, I use a fresh, clean jar each time I do a feeding.

I don't know the brand of flour you're using. My concern is still your water. I don't know when you last changed the cartridge or how much water has been filtered through it since.
Fungi grow at a wide range of temperatures, so I don't tend to worry too much about that.

Rye flour can be difficult to get things going with. I think you had a high rye percentage didn't you? Try changing to a 50/50 and a reasonably gloppy solution. You want thick enough not to run out of the jar immediately if you tip it, but thin enough that the surface is almost instantly flat if that makes sense. Again, it is surprisingly tolerant of variations at this stage. Temperature, water percentage can all be flexible within reason. All they do is delay, not prevent the starter from growing. Containments in the water, stuff the human body handles just fine, on the other hand, will kill it it stop it occurring.

Here where I am now, my natural drinking water (untreated rain water) doesn't contain enough minerals for some of the fermentation (water kefir) I do, so I actually have to purchase less pure water!

I really did think you'll benefit from the change in water.

 

[Puggles]

Wow, I did everything the same except I didn't use any rye flour. I replaced it with whole wheat flour instead and it's % different. I'm barely out of day 1 and I'm already getting liquid (I think that means the starter is hungry), bubbles, rise and fall. Wow, the rye flour was screwing everything up.

It's already doubled in size.

It's alive..... ALLLLIIIIIIVVVVVEEEE!!

 

[TastyReuben]

It's alive..... ALLLLIIIIIIVVVVVEEEE!!

Glad to hear you got it working. I've never made sourdough, so I'm living through yours!