SC - Sour Doh question!!!

[Decker, Terry D.]

The byproducts of growing yeast are commonly carbon dioxide and alcohol.
The carbon dioxide has no odor, but the alcohol can get very pungent,
especially in a new starter which has not yet balanced between yeast and
bacilli.  The sour odor is most likely from the lactic acid produced by the
lactobacilli.  As long as the starter is swelling and bubbling, everything
should be okay.

You really don't need to feed the starter during the first couple of days,
because the generation of yeast and lactobacilli is geometric and doesn't
use up the sugars until the end of that period.  Once you have a good mass
of sourdough, it needs to be fed and used regularly.  By tomorrow, you
should have 2 to 4 cups of sourdough and I would recommend making some
bread.  

>From here on out, you will need bake a couple times a week, simply because
the starter gets difficult to feed when it goes over 4 cups (speaking from
the experience of trying to maintain 4 gallons of starter).

As the starter settles down, most of the odors should disappear, except when
you are by the bowl.  Other than immediately after feeding, the starter
should take on a semi-liquid (like a very thick pancake batter), satiny
texture.  My starter has a light tan color, but that may be from my using
unbleached flour.  

A surface crust may form from exposure to air.  If it does, skim it off and
throw it away before feeding or using the starter.  Mold is more likely to
form in a surface crust because it is not fermenting and surface crusts are
more likely to appear on a starter which is having problems.  A little Catch
22.

A mild sour odor which is odd but not unpleasant, usually denotes a good,
balanced starter.  You may not even notice it, unless the cover is off the
starter container.  In an older starter, a heavy odor of alcohol says that
the yeast is overactive and there may be a die off in progress.  A decaying
odor similar to that of a refrigerator science project, says the starter has
serious problems.

>From what you are saying, I think your starter is doing fine.  Just remember
that now the feeding will become critical.

Bear


> Alright, I'm sure some of you are exhausted by the discussion of sour 
> doh.  But the conversation inspired me to try that JUST flour 
> and water 
> experiment to see if it would actually work!  I think it really 
> did!!!  It's all bubbly, and swelling anyway.  I have 
> forgotten to feed it 
> at night both days (today is the third day), but fed it in 
> the morning 
> every day.  And it seems to be doing SOMETHING.  My question 
> though, is 
> what does this yeast and sugar free sour doh smell like?  It 
> doesn't have 
> the yeasty smell I'm used to from making sourdoh in the past. 
>  It smells 
> sour, but... strange too.  (I wish someone could come over 
> and check it for 
> me!!!)  It isn't growing fuzz or any horrible thing like 
> that.  I guess I 
> am just concerned that perhaps it is not growing the proper 
> organisms for 
> bread making, and that I might poison my family or something???   Any 
> constructive responses (email is preferred if you could 
> possibly carbon 
> copy it to me?) would be greatly appreciated!
> 
> -Laurene