Hello everyone, I'm new here and it's also my first time trying to make a sourdough starter. I named her Chimera because she may or may not be mutated from my first try (I might've jinxed her with this name). Anyways, I'm on day 6 right now and I feel like it's not going well at all 😭

A walkthrough of my step-by-step:

Day 1: 25g AP flour + 25g filtered water (I did my research a bit and the AP flour that I've used is alright because it's wheat flour)

Day 2: I noticed it risen a bit after 12 hours, but barely noticeable. Then at the 24 hours mark it risen A LOT. The guide I was following on TikTok said not to discard yet until Day 3, so I fed the same routine of 25g+25g.

Day 3: I kind of forgotten to take pictures starting this day because I was busy moving around 🙏🏻. It risen A LOT faster now at 12hours mark. The guide said to discard after 24hours and feed every 12hours from now on (1:1:1). Since I had to go somewhere else for the weekends, I discarded her to 10g and moved her to a new bigger jar with feeding 1:5:5 because I can't feed every 12 hours. I also switched up the flour to Bread Flour because I saw another person saying to use bread flour or rye flour to strengthen it. (I think this is where everything gone wrong 😭)

Day 4: Chimera did not rise at all!!! To add on, she started having a layer of liquid (from my understanding it means she's hungry?). The guide said since I'm feeding 1:5:5, I shouldn't need to feed every 12 hours, but I saw her condition and decided to feed her at the 12 hours point with 50g + 50g (bread flour from here onwards). After another 12 hours, she still hasn't risen at all, but I still see the liquid? So, I fed her another 50g + 50g.

Day 5: Still same, not risen one bit and still hooching? I don't know, so I decided to discard most of her to her old jar to see what's going on and try saving her with another method I saw online (which is to discard almost all of her, add 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup water, sit overnight or all day, if it start rising, let it go until it falls, if not, do the same thing again and it should rise the 2nd time).

Day 6 (today): Both the discard and the refresh has not risen at all even tho I let them sit overnight (more than 12 hours)! 😭 The discard jar (small jar that you can see in the two bottom left pictures) was HOOCHING like crazy, and the refreshed one (big jar) stayed the same with noticeable small layer of clear liquid. At this point I feel very devastated because I thought I was doing well since it was rising on day 2-3. But, I'm not giving up, the person I saw did say if it doesn't rise just do it again and that it should rise the 2nd time. So, I discarded both jars to almost none and did the same 3/4 cup + 1/2 cup. I did two because hoping at least one of them survive. I think I'm just impatient at this point and worried because it's been 6h and there's no signs of rising or anything noticeable yet 😭.

I have a feeling it won't rise at all tomorrow (after letting it sit overnight/24h). Which is why I'm seeking help here 😢 I really wanna try baking sourdough bread, I even bought the kits and everything to start baking once the starter can be used.

So, to the experts and veterans out here, do you guys have any advice? 😭 Do I just throw all of Chimera away and start a new one or can she still be saved? Any advice on what steps I should take is appreciated please 🙏🏻 I'm so lost, nervous, and stressed out omg Chimera 😭

PS: I also have to mention that I live in Malaysia where it's 24/7 humid and warm here, so from my understanding my starter should kinda grow/eat faster? I think this is important to take note if I'm not wrong.

Once again, THANK YOU in advanced everyone for the help 🙏🏻

Beginner Starter