My sourdough starter went from sad to bubbly in 5 days after I switched to filtered water

I was using tap water for months and got barely any rise... then my friend told me the chlorine in city water kills the yeast. After switching to a brita filter on day 3 the bubbles doubled overnight. Has anyone else dealt with weird water issues messing up their starter?

2 comments

2 Comments

allen.charlie17h ago

Yeah city water is brutal on starters. The chlorine basically nukes the natural yeast. I've been using a basic fridge filter for a year now and never looked back.

blakem3712h ago

I get what you're saying about chlorine hurting a starter, but I don't think a fridge filter is the only answer. City water does have chlorine, but letting it sit out overnight or boiling it first works just fine for me and costs nothing. A filter is nice, but not totally necessary if you just give the water a little time to off-gas.