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In article
ountainbitwarrior.com>,
says...
> With the oversouring, the new addition in feeding needs to offset the
> sourness to bring it into a range where the organisms can grow again. Often
> doubling the flour is not enough. Tripling works most of the time. With
> established starters, and you kind of knowing what they are doing. When
> starting one and you don't know where you are, a stronger dilution can be
> helpful.

By Thursday morning the whole wheat mix was frothy and was floating atop
liquid. The diluted and half whole wheat/half standard flour mixtures
showed little if any activity. I wondered if some other microscopic
critter in the whole wheat was throwing the mixture off. I discarded the
half and half mixture, added just standard flour to the whole wheat mix,
and fed the diluted mixture with standard flour.

Twelve hours later, small bubbles covered both mixtures. This time the
original whole wheat mix had not separated. Both had a yeasty odor. The
diluted starter smelled most of yeast and had a cleaner, sweeter smell
than the original starter. So I discarded the original and continued with
the diluted.

I now wish I had set aside a bowl made only with standard flour to use as
as a control specimen. Right now I don't know if the diluted mixture is
reacting to the inoculation from the original starter, or if the yeast
action is strictly from the standard flour.

Anyway, about four hours after the last feeding the remaining starter has
patches of small bubbles atop the mixture and yeasty sourish dusty smell.
And I started to notice an unusual reaction, not with the starter but
myself: Itching. At first I wasn't sure, but by evening it was more
pronounced. Something in the goop made me itch whenever I smelled it. I
don't have that reaction to yeast or the non-standard starter, so it must
have been something else. The starter ended up in a ziplock bag in the
trash can.

Guess I'll have to make do with the non-standard starter I got from a
friend. Until I try it again, that is.

- Kevin Cheek