brown.susan•2mo agoTop Commenter

My sourdough starter turned into a science experiment gone wrong

I tried making a new starter from scratch about three weeks ago, using a recipe from a baking blog. It was going fine until day five, when it started smelling like nail polish remover instead of yeast. I kept feeding it for two more days, hoping it would fix itself, but it just got worse. I ended up having to throw the whole jar out because it looked gray and slimy. Has anyone else had a starter go bad that fast, and what did you do to save it?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_diana1mo agoMost Upvoted

The King Arthur blog says that nail polish smell comes from too much acetic acid kicking in when the starter is hungry and warm. I left mine in a cooler spot and fed it every 12 hours for a few days and the smell went back to normal. Gray slime is usually mold or bacterial overgrowth though, so you were right to toss that batch.

susan_henderson2mo ago

Oh man, I read somewhere that the nail polish smell means it's super hungry. Maybe try feeding it twice a day next time?

briannguyen2mo ago

My cat's breath smelled like acetone once and the vet said it was diabetes.