How can I reduce the amount of hooch my sourdough starter is making?
Sometimes my sourdough starter goes hooch (the brown liquid, alcohol) nuts and produces a ton. Other times it goes days and produces very little. I've never been able to isolate what causes this.
What promotes and discourages hooch growth in a sourdough starter?
Best Answer
Hooch formation is a sign of a starving sourdough starter. I've never actually had hooch forming on a regularly fed sourdough mother. So this is the short answer.
I've sometimes spotted something similar to hooch, but it's just a false sign; Twice a day I feed my sourdough starter (it's at room temperature), and I clean my glass jar each feeding. Sometimes a small amount of water is left in the jar, and when I pour in my sourdough it doesn't incorporate the water. This water over time moves on top of the sourdough and looks like hooch, but isn't. This might or might not be the problem. Remember, a room temperature sourdough should be fed twice a day. I don't have much experience with cold-storage sourdough, but once every second day should be good.
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Quick Answer about "How can I reduce the amount of hooch my sourdough starter is making?"
No matter what I do, my starter produces hooch. How can I fix it? If your sourdough starter continually produces hooch, you need to change the way in which you feed it. You'll need to increase the ratio of flour and water to starter.How do I get rid of hooch sourdough starter?
Hooch is harmless but should be poured off and discarded prior to stirring and feeding your starter. If a hooch is forming on your starter regularly, increase the feeding frequency and/or move the starter to a cooler spot (70-85\xbaF), to slow things down.How do you fix a sourdough watery starter?
What do I do? If your starter is too watery, add more flour when you do your next feeding. If it's too thick, add some more water with your next feeding. Keep trying and experimenting until you get that perfect sourdough starter texture and thickness (which, for me, is the consistency of pancake batter).Do you drain hooch sourdough starter?
Runny liquid floating on the surface of your sourdough starter is perfectly normal, and actually shows that your starter is feeding well! The liquid is called 'hooch'. If your sourdough starter starts to run out of food (sugars and starches in your flour), then it will start to produce hooch.Sourdough starter hooch - What to do with it?
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Answer 2
I feed my room temperature starter once a day, with about 1 3/4 c. flour, to about 3/4 c. water, or just so it is quite thick, and I can manage to mix it. I do not remove any, or 'discard' each time I feed, as I am only trying to keep it from starving to death and want the sourness it is gaining.
Once it is getting a bit too full in my container, I use some for something, after feeding... that might be a banana bread, or pancakes, or more recently, I made a pumpkin/raisin/walnut quick bread that called for baking soda.
That usually reduces it back to where I started, or close.
As to the 'hootch', it is formed due to a lack of food, saying it simply. The amount that is forming is just talking to you, it is saying...it is a bit past my dinner time, or it is WAY past my dinner time: What are you trying to do, starve me? If it forms a LOT, you can pour off some, and then stir in any little bit left on top, or if it is forming just a little, simply stir it back in, and feed.
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