Sourdough starter died on me during a power outage in Portland

We lost power for almost 48 hours during that big ice storm back in February. My starter was sitting on the counter and I didn't think to put it in the fridge or anything. By the time the lights came back on it had this weird pinkish layer on top and smelled like nail polish remover. I tried feeding it anyway but it never bubbled again after that. Has anyone else lost a starter to a power outage or am I the only one who made that mistake?

2 comments

2 Comments

black.joel18d ago

That pink layer happened to a friend of mine last summer too.

valw3618d ago

Oh man, actually that pink layer isn't really a "layer" like people think... it's more of a bacterial thing that happens when the water gets too warm and stagnant. I had a pool guy explain it to me once, said it's called pink slime and it's caused by a bacteria that loves sitting water. It's not like algae or anything you can just shock out easily either, you gotta scrub the heck out of the surfaces and run the filter nonstop. Tell your friend to check their calcium levels too, that's usually what messes it up in the first place.