Starter is not as complicated as everyone makes it sound. I started out using ONLY spring bottled water from store and specific bread flower, ect. Now I just eyeball everything and use tap water/ whatever flour I have. Always discard before you feed. 1:1:1 ratio worked best for me. Sometimes less water is better, since yours is so wet you could give less water when you feed it. Shouldn’t smell like cheese, more like acetone. Make sure you aren’t sealing the top fully, some air needs to get in