Hi Samuel, it's a very good sign that your starter is rising well, but it may be suffering from rising so quickly, and then being left to collapse significantly between feedings. This can result in sluggish yeast behavior and may also make it more susceptible to spoiling. While it's fairly common for a fledgling starter to smell funky for a few days early in the process, this is not something that you want to persist. 

Ideally you want to feed your starter when it's at its peak of rising, or just beginning to fall. Rather than trying to feed your starter every 4 hours (which gets a little crazy), you can adjust the ratio of ingredients in your starter to help slow down fermentation. This can be particularly important if you live in a warm climate, since warm temperatures also tend to speed up fermentation. The goal is to find a twice a day feeding routine that allows you to replenish (feed) your starter when it's closer to that peak. To that end, offering your starter a relatively larger meal (less starter, as compared to water and flour fed) will help slow down fermentation and hopefully move the peak closer to the 12 hour mark. I would recommend trying a 1:3:3 ratio, or even a 1:4:4 (starter:water:flour, by weight). For example you could feed 28g starter + 113g water + 113g flour, which would be 1:4:4. 

Using cool water to feed your starter can also be helpful if you dealing with warmer temperatures. And it's okay to refrigerate your starter between feedings if it's reached its peak and you're not able to feed it right then. 

Whole grain flours do absorb more water than white flour, so this could, indeed, explain the thicker consistency of your starter. Whole wheat starters also tend to ferment more quickly than white flour starters, so you may want to gradually phase out the whole wheat flour. A white flour starter may be a bit easier to maintain if it's very warm where you live. 

I hope this helps. Let us know how it goes! 

Barb

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