My sourdough starter keeps dying - what am I doing wrong

[Scholar29]

I have tried to start a sourdough starter three times now and each one has died by day five or six. It bubbles for the first two or three days and then goes completely flat and smells bad. I am using strong white bread flour, tap water, and keeping it at room temperature in my kitchen. I feed it 1:1:1 ratio every 24 hours. What am I doing wrong?

[Always_Craig96]

It probably has not died - it is going through a completely normal phase. Days three to five of a new starter almost always go flat and smell unpleasant as the initial wild yeast gets outcompeted by lactic acid bacteria. Most people throw it away at exactly the moment it is about to turn into something useful. Keep going

[QuantumLeap53]

Temperature is more important than most people realise. An average UK kitchen in June might be 18 to 20 degrees but a cool corner near an exterior wall could be 15 or lower. Wild yeast activity at 15 degrees is very slow. Find the warmest spot in your kitchen, ideally near but not on top of an appliance that generates some heat

[Lucy05]

Tap water chlorine is a common killer especially with chlorinated UK tap water. The chlorine inhibits yeast development. Switch to filtered water or leave your tap water in an open container for an hour before using it. That small change fixes this problem for a lot of people

[Luke_67]

The 1:1:1 ratio every 24 hours in a cool kitchen may be too infrequent. A new starter needs more frequent feeding - try twice a day with a 1:1:1 ratio and discard half before each feed. The discard is not waste, it keeps the acidity manageable and gives the yeast enough fresh food