I often get questions from people about their starter that they have made and keep in reserve in the refrigerator. Most common is about the dark liquid called hooch that may form at the top. I have to admit, it can look a little gross and your first instinct may be to discard
the whole batch as having gone bad. Don't do this!
The point of making the starter was to create your own yeast. When yeast is present with grains and moisture, alcohol is formed. Hooch is the alcohol that forms. I would not recommend that you drink it though.
The formation of hooch is your starter telling you it wants to be fed. If you are happy with the size of your starter and you are not planning on making bread with it for a while then just leave it sit in the refrigerator. Before you feed, stir or use the starter again you should first pour off the hooch as best you can. And that's the hoopla over hooch.
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