[Sca-cooks] bread starter

[Terry Decker]

>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?

Most starters are kept in sealed containers after the initial infusion, so
there is not a lot of cross-contamination.  In the case of a specific
starter, you are infusing with an prepared yeast source and don't need to
expose the starter to the air.  Ergo, little outside contamination.

If you left all three starters sitting open on the counter after the getting
the ferments going well, cross-contamination would be minimal as the
dominant yeast in a starter tends to outproduce any other yeasts in the
ferment with the caveat "all other conditions being equal."   There are some
situations which might radically alter the starter, so keeping it covered to
reduce possible cross contamination is a good idea.


>
>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?

Both are correct, but there is a possibility of organisms which have evolved
to take advantage of the environment.

>
>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

Chugging is getting a good ferment going, then throwing away most of the
starter and feeding it heavily to boost the activity of the yeast.  Since I
don't normally do it, I tend to forget about it, but it is a good way to
quickly build up yeast dominance in a starter.

Bear