Hi Carrie, the conistency change you describe is typical for a starter that is equal parts starter, flour and water by weight—it starts out thick and pasty right after you feed it, but thins out to more of a pancake batter consistency as it ferments. So, this alone isn’t a worrisome result. The fact that it doesn’t seem to be rising much and has an off odor is more concerning, but probably just indicates that it needs more time to become active and healthy. One thing that might be helpful is to switch to feeding with our unbleached all-purpose flour rather than bread flour. The bread flour is higher in protein, which means it has a lower starch content because the starch and protein are inversely proportionate in wheat flour. Since our unbleached all-purpose flour is lower in protein, it has a higher starch content, which is what your starter needs for nourishment—so it will be getting a better meal when you feed it with all purpose flour. You might also want to let it rise at room temperature (without the light bulb) and see if this makes a difference. It sounds like you’re catching the starter at the tail end of the process, when it’s already past its peak, so slowing things down a bit may be helpful in observing your starter and its progress. For more help troubleshooting your starter, please give our Baker’s Hotline a call at 855-371-2253. We’d love to talk sourdough with you!

Barb

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