I went through a stage of feeding my starter and refrigerating immediately (or just a couple of hours later) however I have found that my starter is stronger if I give it more time to “have a party” at room temperature, building up the yeast population, and refrigerating when doubled or even peaked. Refrigerating immediately I think made it sluggish but once I changed to refrigerating when it was very active it is now strong and raring to go even after a week or two in the fridge. I maintain a 125% hydration whole rye starter and it seems to be very robust even when kept this way.
Back when you fed and refrigerated immediately, had the starter you were feeding come up to room temperature and its peak?
Since my starter lives in the fridge and is mostly used for inoculating a levain (sometimes but rarely straight in a dough) it never got much room temp time. So now I allow it to at least double when topping it up and it can last a few weeks between feeds.
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No, I fed it as soon as it was out of the fridge. From these responses, I’m thinking I need to play around with it a bit more. Mine pretty much looks the same today as the past two days and we’re leaving for two days… so it’s on its own. Oh… one more thing: what size container do you feel is best? I use a quart jar. Does that give it enough room to grow? Melissa, yours doesn’t appear to be much larger.
@anon44372566 I think we’re doing the same room temp time just on different sides of the refrigeration 
@dmknight77 my jar is a quart size and comes from kimchi i buy at the store, slightly wider mouth than a quart ball jar. To answer your question I like to have space in the jar for tripling.
I used some of the starter from this morning as promised in pizza dough, and then fed the remaining. This is what happened in 3 hours 
It was nice and active but the sleepy starter from this morning rose a lovely pizza dough too.
25% whole grain kamut
Double the starter the recipe called for as a speed boost.
@Fermentada Beautiful! I’ve not used Kamut yet but will give it a go. I’ve been using Montana White, which I grind, for my pizza dough but (because I’m certain it’s GMO) will change over when it’s gone.
I’m wondering if you are using WheatMontana White. I use that for my AP and bread flour. I also use Kamut but I tend to mix them vs all Kamut. And I mix whole wheat Kamut with white Kamut (I don’t mill my own) but I just bought bolted Kamut to try. I love the mix!
But to the topic and starter strategies. I think on another starter thread, @homebreadbaker said something along the line of “all the strategies are wrong except what works for you”. From reading what others do and what I read before starting with sourdough several years ago, I have to agree! I live in NW Montana and keep my house cool summer and winter (68 summer, 62-64 winter). I read a number of things that suggested I’d never be able to make and sustain a starter at those temps. Some photos follow but in my case, I believe that my well water (delicious, not softened or treated in any way) as well as the minimally processed WheatMT flour contribute to my starter performing well. Probably the water more than the flour.
I don’t use a jar. I prefer a square (ish) glass container so it is very easy to stir vigorously. The container I use is a 1.3L (5.5 quart) … about 6x6 inches at the top, 4x4 at the base. I keep about 300g of starter. If I’m feeding before using, I pull out about 1/2, feed 75g water, 75g flour. I have a number of uses for a fair amount of discard so this works for me.
This was this morning …
At 9:35, the temp where the starter was sitting was 68F.
The rose about another 1/4 inch in the next hour and a half before starting to fall.
If I’m done baking, I put it back in the frig when it is close to max growth.
re hooch. I don’t get it on my fed starter. I sometimes get a bit of grayish liquid on my discard. I keep and build the discard for up to a week if I’m planning on something that takes a lot of discard like a cracker recipe I make.
@liz Yes, I use Montana White, been using it since I started making bread over 30 years ago. I’d make 6 loaves for my family each week. I like to use it when it’s freshly ground (I think grinding it is a pain) and use 7-8 cups when making regular bread. I haven’t used it for sourdough though, mostly because I’m now mostly baking for two and the grinding, clean-up & all are time consuming… my problem because I like it freshly ground.
. The texture & flavor of the loaves were outstanding so I may just “get over it” and start grinding my wheat again.
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I’m in the same spot … sort of. I bake for just me. I tried grinding (Vitamix) and didn’t enjoy the process. I also didn’t see/taste difference and have good bakes with the WheatMT White as well as Breadtopia ground flours (Spelt, Einkorn, Kamut, WhiteSonora) which are not ground until purchase. Still, I waver a bit … we’ll see.
To all who have responded and offered suggestions… I’ve lowered the moisture level and allowed my start to raise (room temperature) then placed it in the fridge. It takes it’s time falling and has beautiful, large bubbles and after a week, no hooch!
Thanks to everyone for your help! I’ve learned a lot!
Diane
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Glad you’ve found a method that works.
Why are you waiting for the start to rise then fall before refrigeration? That just uses up most of the food value of the flour that the yeast needs to live.
My practice for decades has been to pull off what I’m going to use, or just pour off some because it’s time to feed, then feed the starter with flour and water. Let sit on the counter for an hour or so to let the little beasties get good star then pop it in the fridge. Hooch doesn’t form too fast and the starter can live a long time without another feed because it has lots of food. If it’s not used for a month or mjore I usually do two feedings, kept on the counter, the day before I start bread to get things going at fever pitch.
Didn’t used to wait, just popped I right back in the fridge because that’s what I was told to do when was gifted the start. Now, 8 years later, learning more ways to make it work. Lots of great ideas. Thanks for your input, makes sense.