Reviving Ischia Starter From Refrigerator

[Tommy T]

I recently purchased an Ischia culture and was successful activating it.  It has been in the refrigerator a couple of days. The instructions that came with the culture says to fill the culture jar with warm water after removing it from the fridge and to stir vigorously.  Then dump the excess and leave about a cup in the jar and then feed.  I haven't seen anyone here doing this (unless I missed it).  Does anyone use this technique?  Any recomendations. 
Thanks
Tom

[Jet_deck]

It seems counter productive.

What is your plan?  Are you wanting to use it soon, or you just took it out of hibernation because the instructions said to?  People leave their starters in hibernation generally until a few days before using them....  Let us know what your thinking....

[Tommy T]

My plan was to reactivate my culture in the morning to make dough hopefully sometime tomorrow.  Ed woods Instuctions say that "when a refrigerated culture is fed flour and warmed, the organisms begin to reactivate but the activity of the wild yeast is inhibited by the increased acidity.  This is corrected by filling the culture jar with warm water while stirring vigorously.  The excess is then discarded,leaving slightly more than one cup in the jar.  This is fed 2/3 cup of flour and sufficient water to restore the thick pancake batter consistency.  It is then proofed at 70-75f".

Tom

[Tommy T]

I have never work with a natural culture but the water technique seemed to work great.  I took the culture out of the fridge and filled the jar up with 90F water and stirred the water and culture together.  I put 1 1/2 cups into a new jar and feed it.  Proofed for 4 hrs at 75f.  Cultured increased about 3" in the jar.

[bfguilford]

Tom:

I think that what you are describing is more the technique of "washing" a starter, which is used by some people when their starter has become too acidic (most often because they left it in the fridge for a looooong time without feeding it).

The way I use my Ischia (and I use it 1-2 times a week) is to take it out of the fridge and let it come to around room temperature (around an hour). Then I discard however much I am going to use after feeding it (usually around 1/3 cup, because I use it mostly for bread). I then feed it with a 50/50 mix of flour and water by weight (which works out to around 1/3 cup by volume of flour and around 7/8 cup of water by volume... weight it out once and you'll be able to eyeball it after that). Let it double or triple in volume in a warm spot (mid-70s works for me), which usually takes 4-6 hours. I use whatever amount of starter I need, and then feed it again. I then let it sit at mid-70s for 60-90 minutes until I see the beginning of activity, and then put it back into the fridge.

Hope that helps.

Barry