Sourdough Starter Tip: Water Separation vs Hooch (2024)

FAQs

Sourdough Starter Tip: Water Separation vs Hooch? ›

WATER SEPARATION: 1—Water separation means your starter is WEAK & needs more time 2—Water separation is liquid on an INACTIVE/NEW starter 3—Liquid can be on top, sides, or bottom of the starter 4—Liquid formed EARLY after feeding 5—Clear in color only HOOCH: 1—Hooch means your starter is STARVING & it's time to feed 2— ...

Water Separation occurs in the early stages of creating a new sourdough starter, before you ever get any rises or falls or even bubbles within your starter. This typically happens within the first few days if you're going to experience it.

A clear liquid on top of a starter that has vigorously risen and fallen and was covered with bubbles (which have subsided) is hooch. If you see hooch on your starter, discard and refeed. A clear liquid on top of a starter that has not vigorously risen and fallen is water separation.

The clear liquid is either water separation (harmless) or “hooch” which is ethyl alcohol, a natural byproduct of yeast fermentation. If your starter has not risen and fallen, it is water separation. If your starter has risen and fallen, it is hooch. Many new sourdough bakers mistake water separation for hooch.

If you have just a bit, stir it in, feed the starter and keep going. If you have a lot, like an inch in a quart jar, pour it off, replace it with water, and then feed the starter. You can prevent hooch by keeping your starter fed well and often.

An overfed starter can be too diluted and it will be very watery. Your workers are there, they are just overwhelmed with too much food and water. When this happens, first leave it out in the warmth overnight. In the morning discard all but a tablespoon of starter and feed it.

If your starter is too runny, it maybe that you need to increase the ratio. A ratio of 1:2:2 can work - so you'd double the flour and water. Alternatively, if your starter is very runny, a 1:2:1 ratio could be used. This would mean that for 50g of starter, you'd feed it 100g of flour and 50g of water.

It's actually quite difficult to kill sourdough starter. And that black stuff isn't harmful, either — it's perfectly safe. The inky liquid is simply telling you the starter is hungry. After 8 weeks in the refrigerator without being fed, what began as a happy, healthy starter (l) was hungry and hooch-topped (r).

My sourdough starter has hooch but not rising? If your sourdough starter has hooch, this indicates that it is hungry so it will not rise. A sourdough starter rises as it consumes food and the yeast produce CO2 gas, causing the mixture to rise in the jar. You'll be able to see bubbles forming on the surface of the jar.

Typical signs of food spoilage and mold include pink, orange, or green colors, white fuzzy spots, or sometimes areas that are darker with white areas on top. If you see any of these signs, I would recommend throwing your starter away and creating a new one.

How does water separation work? ›

Water Separation Operation

The fuel rises through the treated media surface of the separator unit, which works by separating water from the fuel through its repellent surface. The water particles form large droplets then end up falling back into the water trap.

-The mixture of water and alcohol can be best separated using distillation because both have different boiling points and both are miscible liquids.

Hence, to separate alcohol and water fractional distillation is used.

The dark liquid is a form of naturally occurring alcohol known as hooch, which indicates that your sourdough starter is hungry. Hooch is harmless but should be poured off and discarded prior to stirring and feeding your starter.

If you don't get rid of the excess, eventually you'll have more starter than your feedings can sustain. After a few days, your daily 1/4 cup flour and water won't be enough to sustain your entire jar of starter, and your starter will be slow and sluggish, not much better than discard itself.

When we send out our dried sourdough starter packets, the instructions say to make it like a thick pancake batter. That is the viscosity we prefer. We recommend doing this with a 100% hydration - remember, that is 50% flour and 50% water.

This is not always a bad thing, and sometimes extra flour is necessary to rectify a runny starter or make the starter peak at a later time. Feeding a sourdough starter too much water is worse as the starter won't have enough flour to feed on and it will be runny and less bubbly than it should be.

Why Is My Sourdough Starter Drying Out? Sometimes if you are using a paper towel or coffee filter to cover your sourdough starter, it can cause the top layer of starter to dry out. While it's not ideal, there's no harm done. Just scrape the dry top layer off when you discard before feeding.

The ONLY reason a starter overflows is this: the jar holding your starter is too small to contain the amount you fed it. An overflowing starter does not mean that it's stronger than one that doesn't overflow. I know this is a myth that many people believe.