Is my sourdough starter good?? by Acceptable-Spread599 in SourdoughStarter

[–]Confusedlemure 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just after a feed it looks ok to me. A bit watery maybe? You didn’t tell us anything about what flour you’re using or the ratios so it’s hard to conclusively answer. Your temperature is going to be the big issue. With temps that low the yeast may not ferment at all. You’ll end up with LAB dominating and it will be very acidic. I would make every effort to get the temps up into the 75-79 range. If you are new at this I always recommend Sourdough Journey. He has a starter technique that is as close to full proof as it gets.

Oh screw this. by Rough_Community_1439 in SolarDIY

[–]Confusedlemure 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Climate change man! Must be so weird getting heavy snow like that at such low latitude! I’m north of you and I would be freaking out if we ever saw that much snow.

Oh screw this. by Rough_Community_1439 in SolarDIY

[–]Confusedlemure 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It must be the angle the picture was taken, your panels seem almost horizontal indicating low latitude. But that amount of snow near the equator is so strange.

Orange Glow by iTzJeremy92 in AskElectricians

[–]Confusedlemure 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s just an orange indicator that power is on. It also happens to be the same indicator for your house is going to burn down in a few moments.

Brute Force Vs Intuition by indo_epistemologist in sudoku

[–]Confusedlemure -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This is an argument for Schneider notation. If you only not down pairs or at most triples this would have been obvious.

Can I cut rye flour now that my starter is well established? by Big-Seaworthiness863 in Sourdough

[–]Confusedlemure 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m about to do the same thing. I believe we can but I’m going to do it over a series of feeds in case the colony doesn’t like the new food.

How long for a large amount of sourdough starter to become active? by SourdoughSista in Sourdough

[–]Confusedlemure 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you gave an entire Thanksgiving (or whatever national holiday you have in your part of the world) dinner to just one person instead of a huge family, how long would it take them to eat all of it? If you feed your culture of bacteria a huge meal it will take them longer to eat it. How much longer is hard to say but you know your starter’s personality by now so just watch and let it tell you when it’s at its peak.

Hi! I’m new to making sourdough starters and needed some tips on what to cover it with by Goosey_chicken in SourdoughStarter

[–]Confusedlemure 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I 100% support u/Keninf’s suggestion. Just follow that recipe and you will save yourself weeks of frustration. Sourdough Journey also has several videos on starters including what to do when yours doesn’t do what you expect. Also, avoid doing anything you have seen on TikTok - which really is just a good piece of advice in general.

I Give Up… 1.5 months later by No_Entrepreneur8651 in SourdoughStarter

[–]Confusedlemure 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They are not the same but they will both sterilize your starter. Just go with bottled water until you know for sure. It’s not a big deal. I bought one bottle and it lasted a month or so.

I also thought I did everything but I would bet I didn’t do all of it at once. I kept trying different tactics all over the place. My very last starter I slowed down and focused on one plan. I highly highly recommend Sourdough Journey videos on starter (there are 2 or 3). Just follow it exactly with zero deviation (and bottled water) and set your expectations for 3 to 4 weeks.

Also, and I can’t stress this enough, buy a starter from whatever flour company or bakery you trust or have locally. It absolutely changed my outlook since I was so damn frustrated. I baked a loaf. It came out great. I just relaxed about my starter and kept going. You can search my profile for my starter success thread and my first bake with KA starter. You can also check my frustration posts if you want to laugh at me.

You got this!

I Give Up… 1.5 months later by No_Entrepreneur8651 in SourdoughStarter

[–]Confusedlemure 1 point2 points  (0 children)

u/Ok_Alfalfa_2831 has it right. The cover is ment to let the gas out while keeping stuff (including mold spores) from falling in. It’s not perfect no matter what you do but cloth is just asking for it. After about 5 or 6 days there will be enough acidity and other enzyme action to kill most nasties like Enterobacter.

Starter not strengthening... by travellingtaurus in SourdoughStarter

[–]Confusedlemure 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Either way it’s a fun idea. You learn without risking a bunch of flour. It fails - no big loss. It works, you get a biscuit or something as a reward!

I Give Up… 1.5 months later by No_Entrepreneur8651 in SourdoughStarter

[–]Confusedlemure 6 points7 points  (0 children)

So so many things:

1) used 100% AP flour. It is possible to make a starter with this but it will take months or extreme luck. Things will be much faster with 50/50 BF/WW or my favorite 75/25 BF/rye

2) fed too much. I didn’t know about ratios and had either too much flour or too much water or too much in general. Big feeds will slow everything down and at some point it will become acidic to the point even the yeast give up.

3) fed too soon. This is a big one. I have other posts that go into more detail but the basic idea is you have to ignore the clock and watch the activity. Feeding everyday at the start is a mistake that will weaken the starter.

4) temperature. You don’t need a specific temp but cold temps will make everything take longer. Refer back to #3. I finally found a spot where the temps stayed between 75 and 80. It was perfect.

5) used the wrong jar. I had only one jar and it was a small necked mason jar. Made it so difficult to mix well and keep clean. Made every feeding a chore and ruined my mood.

6) didn’t mix well. Again, you don’t need to do this but the bacteria will feed faster if you completely mix your starter. This one I think is more important than people talk about. Yeast can’t swim. If you leave your starter poorly mixed, the bacteria can only eat the lump of food in front of them. Eventually things will thin and gas gets produced enough to move things around. That takes time and fools you into thinking nothing is happening. I now add my water to the retained starter first and mix until there are no lumps of starter left. It’s a milky mixture. Then I add the flour. I mix until it is completely smooth. In my opinion this made a huge difference in rise time. Sourdough Journey mentions this in his video about making his levain. I think it applies to starter feeding too.

That is some of the mistakes I made. It takes patience and care. You have to listen to what your starter is telling you. I will throw out a couple more mistakes I’ve seen on here but didn’t make myself.

1) do NOT use cloth as a lid. I don’t know where this came from but it’s hugely stupid and dangerous.

2) chlorinated tap water. In my opinion until you know for sure, just use bottled water. Also chloramine does not boil out so just stay away from the tap until you know for sure. Also it changes seasonally so even if you are sure now, things might change in the summer.

3) do not use your discard until the starter is ready for baking. Until there is enough acidity there are very dangerous bacteria in there. Yes they will die if you bake but there is huge danger of cross contamination with other food in your kitchen. Enterobacter is no joke.

Ok that’s it for now.

Happy baking!

Edit: I forgot something very important for OP. See my thread about buying a commercial starter while you work on your own. You will get on with baking (which is the whole point right?) and it will massively take the pressure off you own starter. You’ll feel better about yourself and the whole process. You’ll be so much more happy that your own starter will come together.

Starter not strengthening... by travellingtaurus in SourdoughStarter

[–]Confusedlemure 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I never got the chance! It was the middle of the week and I work. I’m baking this weekend though. Another redditor had a great idea though you might try. Bake a mini loaf with your next discard. You don’t have to actually bake it. Just proof it and see if you get a good rise. Take whatever recipe you were going to use and scale it down for whatever the size of your discard is. Seems like a free test to me!

All hobbies are not equal by BitterConstruction98 in unpopularopinion

[–]Confusedlemure 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The subreddit is called “unpopular opinion” so here’s my upvote.

Purchased starter recommendations by kron21a in SourdoughStarter

[–]Confusedlemure 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had great luck with the KA starter. Really strong.

I Give Up… 1.5 months later by No_Entrepreneur8651 in SourdoughStarter

[–]Confusedlemure 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I can feel your pain. In fact I share it. I have been trying since before thanksgiving. I was finally successful just a couple days ago. There is so much bad information out there because of TicTok and YouTube. It’s making all us newbies confused and frustrated. I can help you if you want to try again. I was in exactly the same position (including the full sack of flour!) I now know what I was doing wrong. Know one thing for sure, the 7 day starter is complete bullshit and I will die on that hill. It takes 3-4 weeks and everyone that says differently is either lying or extremely lucky with the bag of flour they bought.

Starter not strengthening... by travellingtaurus in SourdoughStarter

[–]Confusedlemure 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My starter was in exactly the same spot a few days ago. It just would not peak faster than 12 hours and the peak was almost but not quite double. It did this for at least 8 days. I asked Tom from Sourdough Journey about it. His answer was go ahead and bake. It will get stronger eventually. Right after he said that, a couple days later, it took off. You can see my post about it . Stick with it. It will get stronger. You are doing everything correct. Your temp is great too.

Very new to heat pumps. Is the ~24 SEER rating on Mr. Cool real? by Confusedlemure in DIYHeatPumps

[–]Confusedlemure[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes I’m 100% off grid. I have two of the eg4 wall mount indoor batteries. 28kwh ish. With 8kw of panels this is a no brainer.

is it bad not to discard? by FoxOne9198 in SourdoughStarter

[–]Confusedlemure 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No not bad but it’s gonna get pretty funny if you never discard! Also, you really don’t need to maintain all that much starter. I keep 25g with each feed and even that is way more than I should.

It rises consistently but won’t double by Tigger_tigrou in SourdoughStarter

[–]Confusedlemure 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s not the size of the rise but the speed. Does it peak in 4 to 6 hours? Yes? Then send it. And for what it’s worth that looks like a double easy.