White crusty film (mold?) on starter...is it ruined? Pictures inside...

M

mariadnoca

Moderator
Why do I have disasters the night before holidays?

I just looked over and saw my new to me starter (thank you cyalexa2!) covered in white stuff that I'm assuming is mold. The starter itself is very stiff (72% hydration I think) and I was a bit worried it would dry out in the big mason jar. I did keep the lid on, but barely screwed on.

I got it Saturday and fed it then and Sunday with plans to feed it again this coming Sunday or sooner after TG. It's been on my nightstand at room temp for the most part.

>>In an effort to do something, I salvaged 1 t from the bottom. Fed as directed per amounts, and tossed the gross top half - which was crusty. However, has it all gone bad?

Should I have it in a different type of container? Or store it differently? The new smaller jar I put it in I've only covered with a dish towel for now.

This is how it looked (SOB!):

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/Food/IMG_2394_zpsffd02916.jpg

And here you can see condensation on the underside of the lid:

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/Food/IMG_2395_zpsb1ad1eda.jpg

 
I sent you an email

I had similar stuff on my last batch, although not as much. I also had more condensation than usual and my bowl is quite a bit smaller than a mason jar. The only thing I have been doing differently is that I put the bowl in a cupboard because I read that the starter should be protected from UV light.

I don't think it is ruined although we may have to tweak how we are refreshing it for a while to get the right organisms back in business. I can't take the time to research it now and will be interested to see any responses.

If all else fails, I froze some a few months ago. I can thaw and revive that and we will start over.

 
Starter and UV light...

hi, Cindy

not sure where you got this info, but there's no need to put the starter in the dark because of UV exposure. THe amount of UV light in the environment won't harm the starter. If you were shinning a pure UV light on it it would be different, but even then the only affected organisms would be at the very surface of the starter, as UV has minimal penetration through matter. Considering that those organisms are probably the least active because the surface dries out, the harm would be minimal

 
FOund something....

... on a beer making site about the UV danger

No idea where they got that from, but maybe it's the type of situation in which for unrelated reasons when they kept the said starter in the dark it worked better and from then on they assumed it would be the UV light.

smileys/smile.gif

 
thanks for your input

I don't remember where I saw the statement about UV light.

Do you have any ideas about how to handle our contaminant? My new batch looks OK so far.

 
It's hard to say if your starter is bad from the photo...

... often mine will look pretty bad with a darkish liquid accumulating on top, but that doesn't mean it's ruined.

I would feed it a few more times using a small amount of the starter and some organic rye flour - to see how it behaves. If you get a starter that when fed at 80% hydration will puff up nicely and then collapse within 12 to 16 hours, there will be nothing to worry about

 
See my reply above...

... I don't think you necessarily got a contaminant - I would refresh it a few more times and bake a loaf with it.

If you get something pink-ish or red, I would discard because it's definitely another organism but a starter can sometimes look pretty ugly and still be ok, particularly if the surface gets dried out

 
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