As it's being kept so warm, and because you aren't using rye flour, you will probably find that this recipe doesn't work well for you. For it to work well, rye flour is required as per the recipe. Wholewheat flour doesn't contain as many nutrients for the bacteria to eat (and sifted wholewheat even less) so they will be hungry more quickly which is why it doesn't tend to work as well. That coupled with the very warm temps your starter is kept, isn't a good combination because the temperature will speed everything up and they will run out of food even more quickly. If you can switch to rye flour you will have a much better chance of it being successful. If you can't, you would probably be better off using a more traditional starter recipe which involves discard. If you have to feed it more than once a day a no discard method won't work for you because you'll end up with an unmanageable amount of starter without discarding. I hope that helps!

A pleasure to visit your blog pages. I love Sourdough and I love wholemeal. I was using yeast to ferment my sourdough bread and now I prefer using natural wild yeast.

Here is what I did:
Day 1: 15 grams of wholemeal (sifted) flour + 15 grams of water
Day 2: While adding mater I accidentally added 33 grams so I add 33 grams of the same flour and mixed it. I live in Auckland, New Zealand and despite being summer and hot the temperature is not consistent day in day out. Instead, I leave it in the oven with the light on and it is constant 28.5C/83F and then I turn off the light in the night and it drops back to about 24.5c/76F. I mixed this at 8 AM and put it in the oven and the size quadrupled by 1 PM.

Would you add more flour and water to it since it is quadrupled or will you leave it for today and continue the process on Day 3?

Kumar

It sounds very much like it could be kahm yeast which is harmless and your starter should be fine to continue. It's pretty common on starters and when making kombucha. I found a picture on the internet for you to check: https://images.app.goo.gl/BXafHzWq97qzkb5S7
If you see that layer again just scrape it off. If however you notice a revolting, cheesy smell ( you honestly can't miss it!), see anything furry, pink, blue or green you will need to discard the starter and start again. Hope that helps!

Per your advice and instructions, I have since scooped a large tablespoon each into 2 clean mason jars and fed 25gm room temp water 25 gm rye flour covered loosely. Jars now on kitchen countertop .Shall be watching it and will give you a report in 7? days. Keeping my fingers crossed. Thank you for your help.

There are many different methods for making a starter and they will all work given time and the right conditions, but it's really important to choose one method and stick to it rather than chop and change. Starters need routine and switching up what you're doing will just confuse your bacteria and you won't get consistent results. If you want to make a waste-free no discard starter then follow my method and if you don't mind discarding, find a more traditional discard method that you like. Just be consistent.

With regards the crust, have you got a loosely fitted lid on it as per my instructions? If it doesn't a crust will develop. Keep a lid on and it should stay moist and crust-free.
Also my recipe states to use 25 grams of flour and 25 grams of water, not 15. The volume using 25 grams of each is already very small. If you're using half that, that could be another reason it's drying out and getting a crust.

If you're in BC, it's not really very cold even in winter, and at the moment it's still pretty mild. Your starter doesn't need to be on the fire place. It will be fine on the kitchen counter. If you are putting your fire on (even if you've only had it on once) I can pretty much guarantee your starter is getting too hot above it. Heat rises. When the bacteria get too hot they die. Just keep it in the kitchen. Mine lives there all year here in Victoria and does just fine.

You should not be stirring it twice a day. My instructions don't say to do that. You just stir it when you add the flour and water. If you're stirring it at any other time you will be disrupting it and breaking up any forming bubbles. Breaking the bubbles releases Co2 into the bacteria's environment, poisoning them and hindering their growth. Just mix the flour and water in and leave it for 24 hours.

I also don't say to use warm water. It should be room temperature.

My biggest tip is not to overthink it. Feed it water and good quality rye flour once a day at roughly the same time as per my instructions and forget about it the rest of the time. If you miss a day don't worry and just feed it when you remember or the next day.

I hope that helps!

I started with 15 grams of Rye flour and 15 grams of lukewarm water. Feeding everyday with the same ratio.

Placed both bottles on top of my fire place which is warm (BTW I am in BC Canada).

Only a teeny weeny bubbles so far. After reading some blogs I followed the advice to activate it adding

warm apple juice and same ratio of water rye flour for 2 days. It flourished and rose twice the volume. It was active and fluffy.I was happy thinking it is going to happen after all.

I reverted to warm water and rye flour routine and it fell back to as sluggish as before. Since it has continued for weeks without results I started discarding the top layer everyday .

I feed it same ratio, stir at least twice a day to aerate it. Each morning there is a crust on top of somewhat

thick and gummy dough with tiny speck of small bubbles.

What am I doing wrong?

I keep reading that Patience is Key but I cannot figure why my starter is going nowhere. I would appreciate very much

you guidance and help.

Thank you
Rosalind.

I'm so pleased you found it. Discarding is so wasteful. I hope your new starter makes you great bread!