I'm having a bit of trouble getting going, and I'm hoping you may have some suggestions. I've tried starting with these instructions three times now and everything seems to be fine up until day 3. I've been using rye flour (not KA brand since I could find it at the store) to start and after 24 hours, each time I've seen a little rising action and it has smelled freshly fruity (a lot like a brewery smells, so I figured things were going well). From there, I removed the half cup, added the water and the KA unbleached flour and let it sit for day 2. This has been the most successful feeding each time I've tried this, with plenty of bubbles and the starter doubling/tripling in volume easily before the 24 hours are up. The first time, I waited 24 hours before feeding again, but the last two times, I've fed it as soon as it finished rising to the top of the container (a 4 cup glass measuring cup). Here is where things have been getting frustrating... after the third feeding, I've been lucky to get just some bubbles on the surface. Very little to no size increase. I've tried feeding a few more times to see if it would strengthen over time with no luck. Perhaps more telling is that the consistency after leaving it for 12 hours regularly becomes like thick pancake batter, which I've read is a bad sign. The scent always changes noticeably too, from that fresh brewery smell to something much sharper/more acidic maybe? I hesitate to use those words, but it's certainly different from before. As the flour adjusted in proportion to be more white and less rye, I assumed these changes might be normal, but again, I've had very little luck getting volume increase after the second day. I assumed for a while that temperature was the culprit, as the first and second time I tried, the temp dropped from mid 70s to mid to low 60s midway through the process, but this third time, the temperature has been consistently in the low 70s, but I've been getting the same results. I thenjoy read that an increase in acidity could be the result of not feeding often enough. So, on the most recent batch I tried catching it and feeding it on the second day as close as possible to when it doubled in size. Unfortunately, I got the same result. At this point, I'm thinking that maybe I need to try a different starting flour? That maybe the yeast that naturally comes from the flour I've been using isn't as compatible as I would like with the KA flour? Maybe I'm using too much/little water? Should I just start again and/or keep feeding every 12 hours regardless and hope it gains strength? Any thoughts you have are welcome, and thank you in advance! I'm very excited to get it right!

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