My starter went sour in the wrong way and I had to toss 6 years of work

So I keep my starter in a mason jar on the counter and feed it every morning before work, same as I have since 2018. Last Tuesday I opened the lid and it smelled like nail polish remover and had this gray liquid on top, which I know means it's starving. Turns out my fridge died sometime Sunday while I was at my sister's place in Rochester and I didn't notice because everything inside still felt cold, and the starter had been sitting in a warm kitchen for three days. I tried to save it with two feedings of fresh flour but the smell got worse, so I dumped it down the sink on Thursday. Six years of pancakes, loaves, and Christmas stollen gone just like that. I grabbed a packet of dry yeast for the weekend batch and it was fine but it's not the same, the rise was flat and the crumb was boring. Does anyone here keep a backup jar of starter in the freezer? I'm kicking myself for not doing that sooner.

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brian_rivera5924d ago

Did you actually check the temp inside the fridge before you blamed it, or was the starter already on its way out before you left for Rochester? Curious because a dead fridge over a weekend usually leaves stuff way warmer than "still felt cold," so I'm wondering if the real problem was the starter sitting out on the counter that whole time instead. Also six years is a long run, so what was your normal feeding ratio and how often were you actually baking with it? If you were only pulling it out once a week or so, that jar on the counter was probably running on fumes way before this.

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