Starter just up and died
My loyal starter, which has been churning good and reliably for three or so months now, has apparently conked out. Any advice?
Specs: I've been using APF with tap water 1:1 in grams.
Items of interest:
- I spent last week at the beach and brought the starter with me. I baked five or six loaves while there. Fed the starter every day and it was as vigorous as ever. Showed no problems at the beach. Stayed on the kitchen counter in its usual housing (a Mason jar) the whole time.
- When coming back the starter was in a secure cardboard box in the trunk. Maybe this killed it? But that's how it got *down* to the beach, and it was fine the whole week. In any event the weather was not overly warm or cold one way or the other.
- When I got back on Saturday, I fed my starter using bread flour as opposed to APF (I had an open bag in the pantry and just grabbed it absentmindedly). Could this have killed it? I *did* notice that the starter was extra-gummy and tacky after using bread flour. I switched back to APF after a few unsuccessful feedings, when I realized that that may have been killing it. But the starter hasn't revived with APF after a day or so.
See photograph, taken about four hours after a feeding earlier today, by which point there should be a great deal of activity and expansion. Thanks!
can get hot, hot enough to kill a good portion or all of the yeast. It happens fast enough. I'm guessing you weren't in TX. The other thing that did it in might have been overfeeding when "... after a few unsuccessful feedings..." there was no activity. Discarding and feeding repeatedly would have diluted and thrown out the remaining yeast that might have survived. OH well.... my heart feels for your loss. Changing AP to bread flour wouldn't have done much but affect the texture and feel of the starter as you noticed.
So now what?.... I do see a few bubbles...scrape down the sides of the jar to get all the yeast you can find into the goo and leave it alone for a few days. Cover it to keep it from drying out. Mid 70's°F. Stir it a couple of times a day to encourage yeast. Feed it only when you see plenty of action and the starter yeast aromas are back.
Meanwhile... You might want to start up a new starter or refresh or rehydrate an old refrigerated starter or a dried starter sample you put away for this kind of rescue operation.
When my starter has been in the fridge, neglected, for months - I never toss any. I do a 1:1 feed with everything. I even put water in the now empty mason jar and give it a good shake to make sure I don't miss any living yeast spoors that remain.
I believe your starter can be saved. You do have bubbles. Feed it, but don't make it too stiff. My own personal way to save a neglected/weak starter is to feed it 1:1 every 24 hours without tossing any. After a day or two, you will have quite a bit of starter, but you should also have some good signs of activity. Once you do, then you can toss some out.
Once or twice I've had 2 bowls, each with about 3 cups of starter in it, on my kitchen counter while waiting for signs of life. Usually both bowls will wake up at the same time, but once or twice only one bowl will wake up.
I think this can be saved!
Oven, Hadster, thanks for the advice. I took Oven's advice and, rather than discarding and feeding before bed last night, simply left the starter on the pantry shelf without doing anything. Got up this morning and it was bubbling very nicely, almost like normal. Guess it wasn't as dead as I thought! Still has a way to go, I think, but we're definitely on the way. I appreciate ya'lls help!
:)