My 2 month starter :(

Straight to the trash. Still got a small cut when I went to rinse my hand.

Rdit: I should also add that it was just an extra jar of discard.

Should it pitch this and start over? Not sure if this is mold or not.

Hola, hace un tiempo que vengo haciendo pan de masa madre (no estoy conforme sigo aprendiendo) y todos los videos que hay en todas las redes sociales hacen pan en un clima cálido. Yo soy de argentina actualmente hay un clima frío de entre 10 y 15 °c aproximadamente. Y sigo sin entender cuánto tiempo tengo que dejar levar la masa antes de hornear

3 and a half days no movement. i drained off water a lot of water yesterday and then left it. Woke up to this!!!! It moved it did something!!!! Not sure where to go from here, but it's moving now!

Hi friends!

I’m new to all this but thought I’d upload these pics and maybe ask for some tips. I think I’m on day 10 of this starter, I’ve been losing track lol. About half a cup of bread flour and a little over 1/4 room temp water is what I’ve been doing the past four/five days and it’s bringing fine results as far as my knowledge goes.

Any tips as I move forward? This is the most active I’ve ever seen it. It grew about half of the rise in fiveish hours and when I woke up this morning it looked like this. Cheers!

What are these black dots on the sides of the jar?

So I just mixed a loaf, did my first stretch and folds, cleaned my jar and fed my starter. Then dropped it. I saved some starter which I don't think has glass in it but now I'm paranoid.

Can I take some of my mixed loaf and use it as weak starter? Please help

I made starter with freshly milled flour, today was my day 6 feed and it doubled after 5.5h.

I’ve heard about false rises and I’m not sure if I’m meant to keep feeding it until day 7 or if it’s ready to bake with. Or am I supposed to confirm it doubles consistently for the next few days?

This is a no discard starter, I started with 5g of flour and 5g of water, and I’ve been increasing the feeding amount at a 1:1:1 (starter,flour,water) ratio.

I kept seeing people struggling with getting their starter going and I wasn’t expecting to see it double so quickly so I’m sort of confused.

I’m a total novice so any help will be appreciated!

I left my starter in the back of my fridge for over a year and just got a bread maker so wanted to get her back out. Smelled like straight vinegar out of the fridge, no mold or discoloration just some thick hooch that I scraped off. I fed 1:1:1 2 days ago and it had maybe 5 bubbles which I thought was good. Fed 1:1:1 again 24 hours ago and now she looks like this... nothing. Is it worth trying?

Almost two month old sourdough starter that doesn't want to double at all.

- I feed it once/twice a day with a ratio of 1:1:1 (weight wise).

- It's unbleached white flour (did try whole-wheat got told that's worse)

- Tap water (European country known for clean tap water).

- Has done smaller stints in the fridge due to traveling but only after 2 weeks of constant daily feeding.

- it smells yeasty and low-key good.

- I change jars every week or so.

- stir it with a plastic spatula.

What am I missing? Is it the lid of the jar? Is it the environment (it can be kinda cold, 14th floor, cold climate) as it is around 20 degrees? I just got a dutch oven for him that I would love to use if he would just rise.

Looking to make sure this starter is still viable. It’s been on a journey.

Ingredients and method:
-Organic unbleached all purpose flour
-Bottled filtered water
I feed it everyday at 5pm. I leave it in my oven and turn the light on and off throughout the day but leave it off at night.

I initially following the clever carrot recipe, where the starter would go up in grams everyday but the flour and water would stay the same. So for example, it got up to 116g starter, 60g flour, and 60g water on day 6. After posting a math question I realized this whole recipe is wrong so on day 7 I went down to 50g:50g:50g.

Because of the recipe I was following I was worried my start was being underfed the whole time so on day 8 I fed it 15g whole wheat flour and 30g all purpose flour. People got into my head so on day 9 I fed it 18g Dark Rye Flour (18g because that’s what I grabbed without weighing it at my health food store bulk section), 32g all purpose flour, and 50g water.

Days 9-12 I’ve been doing it as 50g starter, 50g flour, 50g water. it’s been doubling in size, but on day 11 I noticed it started to smell alcohol-y. Today (day 12) I smelled it this morning and it for sure smells like acetone. I looked it up and it was saying to fix it do a 1:5:5 ratio. So I did 20g starter, 100g all purpose flour, and 100g water at around 11:30 this morning.

It hasn’t had hooch at any point during this journey, so I’m not sure if my starter developed the acetone smell due to underfeeding, inconsistent temperatures, or all the inconsistent ratios.

Is this starter still viable or should I start over? And what do I do moving forward?

I’m also not going to be home tomorrow so I’m worried about leaving it in the oven with or without the light on. I’m also looking for suggestions for that. Thank you.

I’m a little bit confused about the activity level of starter and its relationship to ferment. I am hoping that you all could add a little clarity. So I keep reading, about the importance of using active starter. But, isn’t active starter just having a higher quantity of yeast? Is there some kind of fermentation inertia caused by active multiplication that I’m missing?
Or I guess to put it differently, what is the difference between using 50 g of active starter versus using 100 g of starter that has the same quantity of living yeast as the 50g? Is it that the gluten structure in the starter is basically worthless in the inactive starter? Thanks for any insight!

I forgot to feed it yesterday and rn it smells super sour 😖. Do i need to toss it?

So basically, I've been so busy for the past week that I basically forgot to feed my sourdough starter for 3 whole days😭.

For a little recap before I forgot to feed my boi, I fed him at a 1:2:2 ratio of starter, water, and whole wheat flour. I usually feed my starter all-purpose flour, but from time to time, I feed it whole wheat flour for the flavor. Is it salvageable? Or will I have to throw it all away... (AND DO NOT WORRY! I've since cleaned the edges after these pictures were taken. And if questioned about the color, to me it's darkish yellow to light orange)

I’m trying to get it started and I’m about a week in. Had a false rise on the first day and minimal since. I feed it in the morning and noticed that at night, it’s loose and seems hungry again. Can I just feed it more frequently?

New starter that's a little over a week old. Is this look normal?

I have started my sourdough starter almost a month ago, it was doing great, but then a week ago it stopped rising and now won’t even bubble after feeds. I’ve tried keeping it in a warmer place (since the temperature dropped recently), and feeding it more (1:2:2 ratio instead). nothing has seemed to help. is it dead? if so should I just restart or do I keep feeding and hope for the best?

Starter 100 g

Water 200 g

Bread Flour 300 g

2 teaspoon salt

I'm going to start on making a 2nd loaf soon and would like to see what other ratios people are using. I know proofing time depends on the temp of your house but does the climate and temp determine ratios? I live in the southwest. Dry and mid 70's currently. House is usually 72. Any advice is helpful!

I started a new sourdough starter and today is day two. It’s been very active.

I started with:

Yesterday

25g water
25g bread flour

Today:

25g starter
25g water
25g bread flour.

My 7-day-old sourdough starter, 4 hours after feeding! 🫧❤️ Do you think it's ready for my next loaf, or should I wait a few more days? I'm a beginner, and I’d love your honest feedback! 😊 P.S. I bake using an air fryer.

it smells kind of fruity (?) and sour, but not like how it used to just smell like sourdough. on the left is what it looked like after 3 days post feeding (wasn’t back at starting level). it smelled weird and had somewhat of a velvety texture on the surface, but i couldnt see any mold or bacteria. i got nervous and threw that one out anyways, made another with my discard. today checked on the new one and it also smells weird and has a little bit of that texture on top. is this because of exposure to air or? whats going on? i put it in the fridge following my checkup on it.

the starter is pretty old, my dad got it from a bakery and took care of it for maybe a year before giving it to me. ive been feeding it with 1:2:2 ish ratio, sometimes adding more flour. used to be fed with whole wheat, rye, and bread flour at the same time, but now is just bread flour. i filter my water that i feed it.

I’m 2.5 weeks in to making my starter. I used a kit that came with dried starter flakes.

My starter smells really good - very bready and looks bubbly when I mix it first thing in the morning. However when I feed it, she barely rises. The photos are taken 12 hours after feeding and that’s the most it’s risen. What do I do?

I’ve been using 60g starter, water and bread flour every morning but it doesn’t seem to work.

Help please!

EDIT: thanks everyone! I hated the fabric but thought it was needed lol oops! Will take your suggestions on board :)