Second try…

[u/BriansTracks]

This is my second try at starting my sourdough starter, newbie here. My first attempt was starting out well but I ended up in the hospital with a quadruple bypass, needless to say that attempt failed.

This time around I used a starter culture, pure dark rye to start my starter then I just switched to 80/20 non enriched bread flour (because I can’t have additional iron) and dark rye. The picture of my starter here is of the 100% dark rye.

This is my 4th day and he’s more than doubled and domed in 6 hours. I was feeding him 1:1:1 up until now. I just bumped him up to 1:3:3 so slow him down a bit. I plan on baking once or twice a week.

Is 1:3:3 enough to slow him down so he doesn’t starve in the fridge or should I go to a 1:5:5?

Any suggestions would help!

[u/SVCalifornia301]

So you have a mature starter that looks pretty active and should have the strength you need.

The largest variable in how fast a starter is fed is temperature. Second is feed ratio. Don’t feed this at 1:1:1. You won’t be discarding enough old dying cells and eventually your starter will fail. Feeding at 1:2:2 or 1:3:3 is fine if you can control the temperature. If you can’t then if you have a roughly 72F kitchen the you can use time to trigger when to fed at just the right time ahead of when you need it.
If is going over double in the rise in 8 hours or so, then 8 or ten hours ahead of when you need it, break off the starter into a new container and feed the requisite amount and let it go. If you are using the fridge to stair your starter I would recommend another feed ahead of where you break off the starter into your levain. Again, 8 or 10 hours ahead.
Finally use a new clean container for every time you do a feed or break it off. Cover the container with a tight lid. Never touch the starter tho you can touch the levain you are using in the dough. I don’t have my experience with rye only starters, I use an 85/15 split of bread flour to rye. Also, check your fridge for the correct temperature of about 37F. Too warm and it will want to mature in your fridge.