[charlie]

I brewed last Sunday. My custom is to clean the brew rig the next day, but I got called in to work, and what with one thing and another I didn't get around to it until Wednesday. By then I had some God awful stuff growing in the remaining water! This isn't the first time that's happened, and I have been thinking of using it to make a sour, but this time something clicked. Sourdough starter!

I added 3 oz of water and 1 oz of the nasty runoff to 4 oz of flour and mixed it up. 24 hours later I had activity, so I fed it 4+4. Today I fed it 4+4 again, and the thing is going crazy! I'm going to feed it again tomorrow and then bake something Monday. I'll report back then, but it looks promising!

Charlie

[dmtaylor]

Sounds interesting!  I made a sour mash beer once - yes, a beer from that sour mash - and honestly it came out great and was not even funky after the fermentation, probably because it was also boiled after the mash.

[Slowbrew]

I did this with a wheat yeast this year.  It worked and the breads had very good, unique flavors.  The only issue I had was that it was very slow.  First rise took 8 - 10 hours.  Second took another 5 or 6.  I'm just not that patient for a loaf of bread. 
 

Have fun!

Paul

[Saccharomyces]

You need to be careful with a new wild culture that shows activity quickly, as most of the gas is being produced by Leuconostoc bacteria, not yeast.  I learned this lesson the hard way when I first started to make sourdough bread with a culture I created.  Hopefully, your culture has a high yeast cell count.  However, if things do not work out, you can make a modification to the media on the first inoculation next time.  Instead of adding three ounces of water, add three ounces of pineapple juice.  Flour has a pH of around 6.0. Pineapple has a pH of 3.5.  Together, the pH settles down to between 4 and 4.5.  That pH will keep Leuconostoc bacteria from dominating the culture in the early stages of growth and give the wild yeast in the flour and the culture that is being used to inoculate the flour and pineapple juice a chance to grow.

[denny]

You need to be careful with a new wild culture that shows activity quickly, as most of the gas is being produced by Leuconostoc bacteria, not yeast.  I learned this lesson the hard way when I first started to make sourdough bread with a culture I created.  Hopefully, your culture has a high yeast cell count.  However, if things do not work out, you can make a modification to the media on the first inoculation next time.  Instead of adding three ounces of water, add three ounces of pineapple juice.  Flour has a pH of around 6.0. Pineapple has a pH of 3.5.  Together, the pH settles down to between 4 and 4.5.  That pH will keep Leuconostoc bacteria from dominating the culture in the early stages of growth and give the wild yeast in the flour and the culture that is being used to inoculate the flour and pineapple juice a chance to grow.

Peter Reinhart, my bread guru, recommends rye flour and pineapple juice for a sourdough starter.

[charlie]

You need to be careful with a new wild culture that shows activity quickly, as most of the gas is being produced by Leuconostoc bacteria, not yeast.  I learned this lesson the hard way when I first started to make sourdough bread with a culture I created.  Hopefully, your culture has a high yeast cell count.  However, if things do not work out, you can make a modification to the media on the first inoculation next time.  Instead of adding three ounces of water, add three ounces of pineapple juice.  Flour has a pH of around 6.0. Pineapple has a pH of 3.5.  Together, the pH settles down to between 4 and 4.5.  That pH will keep Leuconostoc bacteria from dominating the culture in the early stages of growth and give the wild yeast in the flour and the culture that is being used to inoculate the flour and pineapple juice a chance to grow.

That's good info. Thanks!

Charles

[Village Taphouse]

[charlie]

The "Starter" got inactive. I fed it again but it didn't bubble, and then it got nasty, so I pitched it.

[narvin]

The "Starter" got inactive. I fed it again but it didn't bubble, and then it got nasty, so I pitched it.

Not too surprising.  There's definitely lacto in there but you also get all kinds of anaerobic nasties in the spent grainbed that i'm sure would outcompete it at room temperature, at least enough to make it stink. Yes I've experienced it.