Many people requested an update to my previous post (https://www.reddit.com/r/Sourdough/s/nJT9GFrWwd) – and being that I am a people pleaser to my core, I’m more than happy to oblige.
After acquiring a better jar, I poured off the hooch (sorry to all the hooch purists who wanted me to stir it back in). I then scraped off the top layer (picture 2). I couldn’t see any mould or anything particularly concerning. I measured out 50g starter, 50g bread flour, and 50g water. Mixed that shit, put the lid back on very loosely, and sat her carefully in the pantry.
Observation #1: She stinky. Really stinky. It’s kind of a sickly sweet, boozy sort of smell. Honestly, it smells like someone left cheap apple cider in the sun for way too long. The smell is off-putting enough that for the first time, I began to doubt my own resurrection abilities. Perhaps this starter won’t be a Lazarus after all. My wife smelled it too and said, and I quote, “I don’t know about all that.” But I will follow through because I am curious and committed to the experiment. Women in STEM, etc.
Observation #2: There were no colour anomalies. It looked pretty normal, if a bit thick. It looked even more normal once I added the flour and water. Appearances may be deceptive. The smell may be somehow affecting my vision.
Additional notes: I gave my son naming privileges, as it’s his birthday. He named her Artemis II, because he’s obsessed with the moon mission. Also, he says we should throw it to the moon because it smells like dog puke. So.
See you in 12 hours, Artemis. Godspeed.
by justawitch
24 Comments
I am really curious to see how Artemis turns out. My bet is it will be just fine!
Can’t wait to see what happens, I wish I didn’t give up on my 2020 starter Marie ooh the places we could be
Waiting for next update! Try feeding it more in proportion to the amount of starter you put in. Don’t stay at 1:1:1, go up to like 1:5:5
As one of the purists, apologies _reluctantly_ accepted. Jokes aside I’m looking forward to the results, godspeed!
Would love to see a hooch-nohooch comparison in revival, perhaps somebody reads this and tries in the future.
Watching this thread with some interest. Had someone on this sub basically tell me my starter sucked and I should throw it out, and it bummed me out enough to put the starter in the fridge and just give up on sourdough for a while. I’m thinking of getting back into it. If Artemis II can bounce back anyone can!
Artemis should be smelling fine in a few feeds.
Cute name!!!!
Now I’m emotionally invested, but my head cannon is that her name is Tina.
RemindMe! 12 hours
RemindMe! 12 hours
RemindMe! 12 hours
Artemis II. Love it.
What happened to it? Why does it look like it’s full of hair? Is that mold, or are those just air bubbles? If they’re bubbles, it looks fine to me – just pour the hooch off. It’s kind of hard to diagnose with a compressed photo.
Thank you for your dedication to science and progress. I can’t wait to see how it goes!!
commenting just to follow. I’m invested now
https://preview.redd.it/ueomhzaat1ug1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=654e9620d71d0e573b9c68e51789041343393c93
We’re resurrecting my dehydrated 2020 starter! Kids picked Moon over Artemis as the name though. 🙂
Mine looked like that after leaving it in the fridge for 8 months unfed, just with less hooch. It’s back and more active than ever after a few days of feeds. It took maybe four feeds for the boozy smell to go away and a normal starter smell to return. I just made delicious sourdough cinnamon buns with it. I think this will work out well for you.
God speed
I’m so invested in this.
I wanna see what happens! I was really crossing my fingers that this was a few days old! 😅 I NEED to see these results! 🙌🏽
LOL. Perfect name.
You might be interested in this video from Tom at The Sourdough Journey:
https://youtu.be/lDjBWNmNBl4?si=i1TxxMB7esSYe1GK
I’d like to place a bet that if:
1) you feed 1:1:1 2x daily
2) feed for 5-7 days
It will be strong.
I had a starter I left in the fridge for 2 years. Did the same thing. Poured off hooch. Scrapped off top, used a little from the bottom and then feed for days morning and night. I was surprised that after 3ish days, not much happened. But out of nowhere it sprang back to life and is strong as hell.
I suspect there is a remnant of healthy yeast in there and that it is protected by the hooch but it’s dwindling. As long as you don’t have mold, you’ll bring this back to life.
I have faith in this mission. Godspeed.
Just wanted to chime in that I successfully restarted my neglected starter that looked like that, which mind you had been sitting in the back of the fridge for 3 years. Thr first 24 hours I saw little rise but thr second day it was rolling.