My sourdough starter doubled in 4 hours after I switched water sources

I used tap water in Austin for 6 months and got nothing but hooch, then tried bottled spring water last Tuesday and my starter went from barely bubbling to doubled in 4 hours, anyone else notice their local water chemistry wrecking fermentations?

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1 Comment

logan_schmidt18d ago

Chlorine is the usual suspect but I think fluoride and all the other stuff they add matters way more than people give it credit for. I was one of those people who thought water is water and it took me three failed batches before I even thought to check. My tap water here tests fine for drinking but my starter would just sit there and produce that gray liquid on top no matter what I did. Switched to filtered water from the grocery store and it was like someone flipped a switch, active bubbles within two days. The weird part is my tap water has never changed according to the city reports, but something about it just kills yeast.