Hooch always on my starter

Joined
Aug 11, 2022
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
I'm on my 4th day of feeding my sourdough but there is always what I think is hooch on it. Right now it's really warm in my home, around 30C (86F), I've been keeping this tucked away in a cupboard so it says cooler than just leaving it out. Currently I've been leaving around 70g of starter and putting around 70g of whole wheat flour and 50g of ap flour with 120g of room temperature water. I'll feed it roughly every 24 hours. There's some activity (small bubbles in the starter) it also sometimes bubbles when I open the lid to feed it (I haven't kept the lid on very tight). There's also a sour-ish smell. I'm just worried that it isn't getting enough food because of the hooch. I'm worried that if I feed it twice a day with the same feeding I would overfeed my starter. What should I do?
 
Joined
Jan 12, 2020
Messages
1,030
Reaction score
215
I'm on my 4th day of feeding my sourdough but there is always what I think is hooch on it. Right now it's really warm in my home, around 30C (86F), I've been keeping this tucked away in a cupboard so it says cooler than just leaving it out. Currently I've been leaving around 70g of starter and putting around 70g of whole wheat flour and 50g of ap flour with 120g of room temperature water. I'll feed it roughly every 24 hours. There's some activity (small bubbles in the starter) it also sometimes bubbles when I open the lid to feed it (I haven't kept the lid on very tight). There's also a sour-ish smell. I'm just worried that it isn't getting enough food because of the hooch. I'm worried that if I feed it twice a day with the same feeding I would overfeed my starter. What should I do?

it takes a while to get going, you can boost it with a tiny pinch of dry yeast or wait it out.
I used to do it for a bakery in Boston, it took 2 weeks to really get going.
At a certain point I threw half away and kept feeding with flour and water, a bit of rye or whole wheat.
But it did take a while to gather momentum.

If you find its not growing try keeping it someplace warmer until it catches, then cool it if you want to slow it down.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
6,542
Messages
47,235
Members
5,496
Latest member
Jack Sr

Latest Threads

Top