Hi Prakash, I apologize for the delay in responding to your question! I was away for a few weeks. I think you're probably correct that the aluminum tray was reacting with the acidity in your starter and affecting the flavor, so I would try to avoid letting your starter or dough come in contact with reactive metals. As long as you're allowing your starter some time to ferment at room temperature before storing it in the refrigerator at 5C, I don't think this will cause it any damage. As long as it's rising and fermenting regularly, the friendly bacteria will do their job and the starter should remain stable and healthy. 

As far as oven spring goes, it may be that your bread is a bit over-proofed before it goes in the oven. I expect your dough rises and ferments fairly quickly with that percentage of starter in the dough, especially in your warmer conditions. It may be that reducing the percentage of starter in your recipe will help slow things down a bit so you get more oven spring, or you could just try baking the dough a bit earlier and see if that helps. Good luck and let us know how it goes! 

Barb

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