If your sourdough starter stinks like alcohol, vinegar, or nail polish remover, it means that it's really hungry and has produced lots of acetic acid. The good bacteria have eaten up all the nutrients in the flour and are desperate to be fed.
When the sourdough starter isn't fed often enough or feedings are skipped, it is common for an alcohol odor to develop. Increasing feeding frequency can help; however, if the starter has been neglected for a while, it may require more effort to revive it.
Why does my starter smell like nail polish remover? Sometimes your starter will develop an acetone or nail polish remover smell. It's perfectly normal, it's just hungry, so feed, feed, feed.
It's normal for sourdough starters to smell like nail polish, mild vinegar, or even almost sweet…in addition to that sourdough smell we know and love. That acetone smell you sometimes get is a sign that the starter is hungry. You want to be careful if it gets smells that are very strong and foul.
"Hooch" is the liquid that collects on the top of your starter when it hasn't been fed in awhile. This liquid is the alcohol given off as wild yeast ferments. The presence of hooch isn't a sign that your starter is in danger. However, it does indicate that your starter is hungry and needs to be fed.
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. So instead of feeding it 1:1:1, you'll need to feed it 1:2:2.
The presence of hooch does not mean your starter is spoiled. It does, however, mean your starter needs to be fed–the sooner, the better. You can pour off the hooch or mix it back in. If your starter is getting hooch on a regular basis, you need to adjust your feeding schedule.
To reduce the smell of the starter you simply have to feed it by throwing out some of the starter and adding new flour and water. And that's it, that's how you solve this problem, you simply have to feed your starter. But solving the problem once won't be enough, what you really want is to prevent it.
If a sourdough starter is not bubbly, it may require more frequent feedings. If feeding every 12 hours, increase to feeding every 8-10 hours, to make sure the culture is getting enough food. Check the temperature in the culturing area. Sourdough likes a temperature between 70°F and 85ºF, around the clock.
Fermentation [1]: Bread dough typically contains yeast, which ferments the sugars in the dough and produces carbon dioxide, alcohol, and other byproducts. If your bread dough has been left to ferment for too long, the yeast can produce too much alcohol, giving the bread a strong alcoholic smell.
My Sourdough Starter Smells Like Alcohol/Beer/Vinegar/Nail Polish Remover. If your sourdough starter stinks like alcohol, vinegar, or nail polish remover, it means that it's really hungry and has produced lots of acetic acid. The good bacteria have eaten up all the nutrients in the flour and are desperate to be fed.
Old starters will also smell very strong and acidic – like vinegar, acetone, or even nail polish remover. After many months of neglect, the storage container usually looks pretty crusty and sketchy too. All of this is normal, and the starter is still okay to use and revive.
People often believe that a bad smell is a sign that the sourdough starter has gone bad, but this is completely false. The only smell that you don't want to come from your starter is that of mold. But this smell is usually accompanied by the actual mold, so it's quite hard to miss.
Sourdough starter that is stored in the fridge for a long time can develop a very dark colored hooch that is often mistaken for mold. Similarly, if left on the counter, some starters can develop darker patches that may look like mold forming. It is actually the very beginnings of hooch.
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. Hooch is a runny liquid that ranges in color. It can be clear, brown, grey or even black.
The bad news is that, yes, sourdough starters can go bad. You have a bad sourdough starter if it was heated above 140 degrees F or if it has developed mold. However, discoloration aside from pink or orange may just be a sign of hooch which is totally safe.
The discard is just the sourdough starter you're not currently feeding or baking with. It's called discard because it often gets "discarded" during feeding. If you don't "discard" some starter during feeding your starter will just grow and grow and grow until you're staring in a remake of The Blob.
If your starter is not doubling or growing substantially in volume between feedings, it is not strong enough to leaven dough. You can certainly try baking, but you most likely will not achieve proper fermentation.
It will need a lid or cover, but not something airtight: Sourdough starter emits gas, and a sealed canister can explode. If you have intermittent baking plans, you may want something that can be lidded more tightly and stashed in the refrigerator.
Overproofed sourdough is preventable but also salvageable. Reshape the dough, bake it as a pizza or flatbread dough, or bake it and turn it into breadcrumbs for granola.
Keep feeding your starter, and you'll see normal activity (bubbles) return in a few days. If your starter has a bit of dark liquid on top, it's not dead! It simply means it's hungry and that it's time to feed it. Unless your starter has a pink or orange hue or is beginning to mold, you probably haven't killed it yet.
A sourdough starter that smells like acetone usually means that the starter is hungry and needs to be fed. Therefore, you should not use the starter if it smells like acetone because the underfed starter will not raise your bread adequately and you will be left with a flat loaf.
Keep the Hooch to Get a More Sour Loaf
Many bakers throw out the hooch that develops on top of sourdough starter. This brownish liquid, that develops when the starter has run out of food is full of sour flavors. Mix it right back into the starter during feedings to give your bread an extra sour flavor.
Sourdough starter CAN die if neglected for long enough in the refrigerator, because it doesn't completely stop being active in the fridge, it just slows down considerably. My starter died after 5 months of being left in the fridge unattended. So don't leave it too long!
Myth 7: You can't overfeed sourdough starter.
While starters do need regular feeding, it is possible to overfeed one. Each time you feed a starter, you thin out the population of microorganisms by adding flour and water.