I am on my second attempt at creating a viable starter. The first ended with the starter becoming way too acidic and, instead of trying one of the (literally) thousands of 'tricks' out there to restore it, I bought a dried starter culture and set out on starter 2.0. I thought it was doing quite well. It was bubbly and active and consistently doubling (or more) in 6-8 hours. I tried to use to make a 'simple' loaf of bread. Everything seemed to be going well until I placed it in a straight sided container to bulk ferment and it did absolutely nothing for 10 hours. Not even a tiny rise. It just spread out and stuck to the sides of the container. I went back to feeding my starter to try and strengthen it further and for several days it barely budged. I fed at a 1:5:5 ratio (10:50:50) in an attempt to 'boost' it and nothing. I went back to 1:1:1 feedings and added 25% rye flour to my organic flour to see if that would 'wake' it up. After a couple day, it is now doubling and showing some signs of life, but the bubbling is still small and not very pronounced. After all that, my question is, would it be helpful if I increased my number of feedings? Right now, I feed every 12 hours (like clockwork) but I've seen some say to feed it when it peaks to keep it active. Does this work? Are there any suggestions for make my starter more vigorous and mature? I've attached a picture of my starter right now. It was last fed 8.5 hours ago (100/100/100).
Feeding 1:1:1 every 12 hours sounds like a way to keep the yeast constantly starved. I've been feeding my all-white flour 1:9:10 (starter:water:flour) and it usually reaches peak some 14 - 16 hours later. The 1:1:1 schedule would also produce a starter that is very acidic for most of the day. I actually refresh mine once per day, and it's on the runny side when I do.
Your picture shows good expansion but I would have expected much larger bubbles. When you go to discard and refresh after 12 hours, does the starter seem thin and runny, or does it have some body left?
BTW, you can maintain a starter with much smaller amounts, and build up to more when you plan to bake. Currently I've been experimenting with keeping just a gram of starter, so I refresh with 9 grams water and 10 grams flour. I'm not really that precise, and start with the dregs that remain after I discard the old starter. By experience, I know that will usually be between 1 and 2 grams. Of course you have to use a small enough container. I'm using a 4-oz glass jar with a straight inside, no bottleneck.
Sometimes when it's hard to make a starter or keep it in good shape the problem has turned out to be the water quality. Some people have solved the problem just by changing to bottled drinking water. You might try that out and see if the starter behaves differently.
TomP
When I go to discard, lately, it's runny, kind of thin. I use bottled water.
OK, thin is what I expect from the 1:1:1 12 hour schedule.
What's the brand? Just because it's bottled don't always assume it's the best thing for a starter.
I use the purified/drinking water I get from the local grocery store (Publix).
Has been stripped of all minerals. Minerals are like vitamins to starters.
Try Sparkling Perrier or San Pellegrino for the next few feeds, till your starter perks up, then switch to Evian.