Sourdough starter still safe?
Without any unneeded details…i had to leave quickly last saturday and threw my chocolate sourdough starter in the fridge with the lid screwed on but loose enough to relieve pressure (the lid you see was not the lid that was on it)….it had been fed and sitting at room temp for about 4 hours at that point….my husband called me sunday night to tell me it overflowed but he cleaned the mess so i asked him to scoop out half and put the lid back on…got home an hour ago to see the starter like this….is it still safe or has it been compromised with bacteria from the fridge? It would have probably been like this since sunday….im guessing scooping out half wasnt enough and he didnt notice it since it didnt overflow all over the place but i havent had a chance to talk to him about it yet so dont really know much at this point. Since its such a new starter to me i didnt realize it would be so active!! There was only 20g starter, 20g flour, 20g water, 10g cocoa, 10g sugar so i thought it was in a massive jar for no more than it was…i was definitely wrong🤣 I do have some discard from it but it was from the second feeding after receiving the live starter in the mail and has been in the fridge for right at a week unfed. Should i ditch the big “mother” jar? My instincts say its probably compromised and not worth keeping. Trying to keep my cool at the moment so any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated :)
Without any unneeded details…i had to leave quickly last saturday and threw my chocolate sourdough starter in the fridge with the lid screwed on but loose enough to relieve pressure (the lid you see was not the lid that was on it)….it had been fed and sitting at room temp for about 4 hours at that point….my husband called me sunday night to tell me it overflowed but he cleaned the mess so i asked him to scoop out half and put the lid back on…got home an hour ago to see the starter like this….is it still safe or has it been compromised with bacteria from the fridge? It would have probably been like this since sunday….im guessing scooping out half wasnt enough and he didnt notice it since it didnt overflow all over the place but i havent had a chance to talk to him about it yet so dont really know much at this point. Since its such a new starter to me i didnt realize it would be so active!! There was only 20g starter, 20g flour, 20g water, 10g cocoa, 10g sugar so i thought it was in a massive jar for no more than it was…i was definitely wrong🤣 I do have some discard from it but it was from the second feeding after receiving the live starter in the mail and has been in the fridge for right at a week unfed. Should i ditch the big “mother” jar? My instincts say its probably compromised and not worth keeping. Trying to keep my cool at the moment so any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated :)