Hi Sebastien, it sounds like your starter attempts have been thwarted by a type of bacteria that is sometimes present early on in the sourdough creation process. This type of bacteria gives off carbon dioxide and can cause an early vigorous rise, but also seems to be associated with a subsequent delay in the wild yeast kicking in. For your next sourdough starter I would suggest going with a different method that was created by microbiologist and sourdough baker, Debra Wink, who discovered that lowering the pH of the starter environment helped to avoid this type of bacteria and allowed the yeast to join the party in a more timely fashion. Her method is called the Pineapple Juice Solution, and you can read more about how she came up with this approach in part 1. 

Once your starter begins rising predictably with Wink's method, you may want to consider gradually transitioning to feeding with unbleached AP flour and shift to something closer to the 1:1:1 ratio of starter:water:flour (by weight) that we recommend in our sourdough starter recipe. You may still experience some delays in rising along the way, as it takes time for the starter organisms to adjust to changes, but as long as the starter keeps bubbling you're headed in the right direction. Once your starter is rising predictably with twice a day feedings, and has a pleasant aroma, then you should be good to go! 

Keep in mind that it's best to feed your starter when it's at its peak of rising, or just beginning to fall, which keeps yeast activity vigorous. Allowing the starter to fall significantly between feedings can result in sluggish yeast behavior. If you find your starter is peaking after only a few hours (which can sometimes happen in warm weather) then you might find it helpful to slow down fermentation by offering your starter a relatively larger meal of water and flour. To slow down the rate of fermentation a 1:2:2, or even 1:3:3 ratio of starter:water:flour (by weight) may be helpful in order to allow you to feed your starter closer to the peak. This doesn't mean you have to double or triple the amount of flour you're feeding your starter, since you can reduce the amount of starter you feed, relative to the amount of water/flour. 

I hope this helps! Let us know how it goes, or if you run into any difficulties along the way. 

Barb

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