Hi Barb,

This is more idle curiosity than anything else, but here goes.

I was living abroad in japan for nearly 2 years, and just got back to the states early March. In Japan, I'd started a sourdough starter following instructions on this website and had great success with it--we didn't buy bread from the store for more than 18 months.

Now, I kept my sourdough starter in a bit of a lazy fashion, but it worked perfectly for almost 2 years, was extremely vigorous, made delicious bread, never produced any alcohol-y smells, never produced any gray-looking hooch, nothing, despite my, uh, mistreatment. Here's how I kept it:
1. On the countertop, unrefrigerated, year-round. We kept the windows open much of spring and fall, and it was so humid in the summer the dehumidifiers couldn't keep up. Still, the starter was happy. A little slow in winter, a little faster in summer, but quite reliable.
2. I fed only the day before baking, which was usually 1 time a week, sometimes once every 2 weeks--way less than recommended.
3. I didn't bother with discard, just added flour/water in approx. 1/2c water and 1 cup flour. The next day I'd remove the appropriate amount for baking and re-cap the jar until next week.

When we got ready to move, I dehydrated some of my starter and re-hydrated it once we got set up home. However, since being back the starter has been much more finicky, and I suddenly find myself dealing with alcohol smells, gray hooch, the works--I've even had to start keeping it in the fridge rather than the countertop.

I'm wondering--why the difference? Why was it so easy and wonderful to maintain before, but now it's giving me so much trouble? Did I just completely luck out back in japan?

Anyways, sorry to bug you, it's just been bothering me. Thanks for any insight you can provide!

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