Sourdough Starter - Day 2

Yesterday, I put together two sourdough starters using my own guide.   Quart sized mason jars with folded cheese cloth to cover the jars, held in place by the jar bands.   I wound up with three cups of starter in each jar instead of two, and that made one hell of a mess.  Thankfully I had the jars in the sink.

Thar she blows!

The picture is a little blurry, but the degree of the overflow is clear.  The jar in the back was finished just a few minutes before the one in the front. Eventually, the one in the front was just as bad.

Additionally, it turns out the band was on crooked on the one in front.  Eventually the pressure was so strong that it blew the lid off. I was on the phone with Jenny at the time, and SHE even heard it.

I want to describe the degree of the mess the next morning, but words fail me.  I cannot stress this enough: On day one of fermentation, use cheese-cloth, with the bands screwed all the way on.

By morning, the craziness had died down.  I still let them sit for a while (since it had only been about 12 hours, and I had 12 to go before the next feeding) and went on with my day.  The spillover dough had gotten all over the dishes in my sink, and I know I if i were not so lazy this would not have been a problem.

In any event, the experience has inspired me to modify my original guide so that you don't wind up with three cups of starter in a four cup jar OR something akin to "the blob" seething and growing in your sink.   Nonetheless, it WILL still foam over, especially on the first day when using the sugar and packaged yeast method.

Janet came over this afternoon (YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and I figured it would be a good time to show her how to feed the thing, since one of these jars is going home with her this weekend.

I took the opportunity to drop the amount in the jars to 2 cups, giving it more room to grow without spilling over.  About an hour after the feeding, one of them spilled over anyway.   Then it settled down.  I expect this will happen every time I do this, and I want to make sure everyone knows to never trust them NOT to spill over.  This is potent stuff :)

That said, once they settle and you put them in the fridge, its very unlikely to expect a mess as the metabolism of the yeast is slowed down dramatically at low temperatures.

Bottom line, I will edit the guide accordingly tonight.

For now, here is how they look:

They both were at the 2 cup line at about 6PM.  its been six hours and the one on the right overflowed for the first hour, but eventually settled down.  As you can see, the one on the right also seems to be more active.  I will probably discard the one on the left tomorrow, and split the remaining batch into two halves for the next feeding.

I am out of cheese cloth, so I am going ghetto and using paper towels as a porous cover so the mixture can still breath without allowing contaminates in.

I truly believe that cooking is a very practical application of both engineering and chemistry, and I encourage anyone with such inclinations to start doing it.  You'll eat better, save money, and get chicks.  No, seriously.  Chicks dig guys that can cook.