[Sca-cooks] bread starter

Stefan li Rous StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
Tue Dec 17 21:32:58 PST 2002


Bear replied to me with:
>>Have you (or anyone else?) tried several different starters from a
>>place such as Ed Wood? <snip>
>>If they are indeed different, how do you keep them from contaminating
>>each other? Simply freeze one before you use another? I know some
>>local brewers who have so much yeast free floating and otherwise
>>around their house, that fruit juice left for a short while on the
>>counter begins to ferment.
>
> You ignore it.  The starter is an active ferment.  The dominant yeast will
> over power other yeasts  in the starter.  I suspect this may be part of the
> idea behind chugging.  A new starter has any number of yeasts in it.
> Chugging would tend to support a rapid dominance.

But if you simply ignore it, doesn't that mean in time that instead of
having say three different starters, you have three containers, all with
the same starter?

Or do you keep three different starters because in each case the

original starter so far outnumbers the possible invaders, that the
invaders never get a chance to take hold? Or do each of the yeasts
end up modifying the micro-environment within each of their containers
such that they end up being the best evolved to live there?

Perhaps you ought to explain "chugging". I suspect that is not the

same as "chugging a beer". :-)
--
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas         StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****





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