Hi Gretchen, if you're following our sourdough starter recipe this involves discarding all but 1/2 cup (4 ounces, 113g) starter and feeding this 1/2 cup (4 ounces, 113g) water and 1 scant cup (4 ounces, 113g) flour. This means the normal maintenance amount of starter you should have in your jar is about 1 1/2 cups (12 ounces, 339g). Normal rising behavior shouldn't overflow a quart-sized canning jar, so perhaps you're not discarding the correct amount, or you're using a smaller sized jar? As far as the rising goes, it's not uncommon for the starter to hit a lull in rising around day 4, which can go on for several days, so this may be what you're experiencing. Patience almost always works when it comes to the sourdough starter creation process, so it's fine to continue as you're doing. You also have the option to try an alternative feeding routine suggested to us by microbiologist, Debra Wink. This method uses up a little less flour and is meant to increase the acidity of your starter, which can encourage the wild yeast to kick in: 

1. Feed only once per day. 

2. Feed with whole wheat or whole rye flour, if available. If you only have AP, that's okay. 

3. Feed with a ratio of 2 parts starter : 1 part water : 1 part flour, by weight. For example, you could save 1/2 cup (4 ounces, 113g) starter and feed 1/4 cup (2 ounces, 57g) water and 1/2 cup (2 ounces, 57g) whole grain flour. 

Once the starter is rising predictably (twice), you'll want to return to twice a day feedings (which will further promote yeast activity). You can also gradually transition back to feeding with AP flour, and increase the water/flour portion of the starter back to our regular 1:1:1 ratio, by weight. You should expect a certain amount of delay each time you switch your starter's feeding routine, as the organisms need time to adjust, but once the starter is rising predictably again, then you can consider your starter mature and ready for baking bread. I hope this helps! Let us know how it goes. 

Barb

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