Hi John,

Not necessarily so.

'Hooch' or liquid does often sit on top, it indicates nothing more
certain than no or little activity. The main reason for little
activity is 1, no food, others: 2, the temp is too low for critter
activity and 3, too low a germ count to have an effect or 4, you have
so much liquid that the critters can't keep it stirred. Yours on the
counter has to be first 1, then because of that as the bacteria and
yeasts die of starvation, 3. This combination has then led to mould
on top.

The solution is simple, feed your starter until it's healthy again.
Then prevent this from happening again by proper feeding. What is
proper feeding? Well that subtly depends on your starter but grossly
speaking at 70F your starter will double in critter count every 2-ish
hours so will need twice the amount of food it needed two hours ago to
stay fit. That gives an indication how much food your starer needs
when left out on the counter. n x 2^ (to the) 12 every 24 hours. That
is if you want your starter to be healthy. Most want to starve it to
death because they like the taste of the microbiological metabolic
bi-products'.

Jim


On 20 Aug, 12:56, John LaBella > wrote:
> I have been keeping & semi regularly feeding my sourdough mother.
>
> The usual appearance was to have a little "hooch" on the top ...
> Has Mother "gone bad"?
> Is this a question of when in doubt throw it out?