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My first attempt at sourdough starter went totally sideways

I tried to make a sourdough starter from scratch about 3 weeks ago. Followed a popular online guide that said to feed it every 12 hours with equal parts flour and water. By day 4 it smelled like vomit and had this weird orange liquid on top. I almost threw it out but my neighbor said that's actually normal during the bacterial phase. I kept going and by day 10 it finally started doubling and smelling like yogurt. Has anyone else had their starter smell terrible in the beginning or did I mess something up?
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3 Comments
stellaperry
Did that orange liquid smell as bad as it looked? I had the same thing happen with mine and I almost quit too. It was so gross but it worked out in the end.
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elliot_gibson27
Honestly, was yours that weird neon orange too? Mine smelled like a mix of burnt plastic and old dishwater, I almost gagged the first time I opened it. Ngl, I stuck it out and it ended up fixing the issue, but I still have no idea what that stuff was supposed to be. Tbh I'm half convinced it was just food coloring and hope in a bottle.
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torres.thea
Oh man, I'm gonna be the weirdo here but honestly I didn't think it smelled that bad @stellaperry! Like yeah it was a little funky but I've smelled way worse stuff at work. Idk maybe I just got a mild batch or something.
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