I just created my starter yesterday and am looking forward to watching its progress. When I found this site, I was excited to see the connection to Callington Mill as I visited and did the mill tour in November! When funds permit, I hope to purchase some basic equipment from you guys and my flours from Callington. I have a small question - I see most people have their starter in a glass jar for visibility - is it ok to use clear plastic? I have a large lidded bucket that I planned on using for my starter but will buy glass if that is better for my new babe.
Category:
Replies
Hello Ellen,
Whilst, it is nice to be able to easily observe signs of activity and easily monitor just with a casual glance, this is by no means essential and a number of older sources recommend glazed stoneware containers probably as much to discourage people from using (corrodable) metal as anything else and maybe for robustness and availability. It just takes a little more effort (and maybe a torch) to monitor what is happening in your container. Possibly less affected by temperature changes as well.
I'm pretty sure that the yeasts and bacteria don't mind as long as there is food and not something that is going to leach out and kill them, and, if not them, you.
Some writers rail against using plastic for keeping culture but I think you could argue about keeping any foodstuff in plastic using the very thin 'science'/thick hearsay that often supports the argument. Despite that, if you do use plastic, just be sure that it is food grade and not just a paint bucket from the hardware.
Good luck with your projects.
Farinam
Thanks Farinam I'll see how it goes then