A 1:1:1 feed is a great place to start with sourdough, but it isn’t a rule you have to follow forever. As your starter gets stronger, or your kitchen temperatures change, your sourdough starter might need a little more food.
If your starter is peaking fast and collapsing long before you plan to bake, smelling sharply acidic soon after feeding, or looking too runny, it may need a different feeding ratio.
Try feeding it more
Instead of changing everything about your routine, try slightly increasing the ratio while keeping the same general timing. A 1:2:2 feed gives your starter twice as much flour and water relative to the starter you keep. For an especially active starter, a larger feed like this can give you a longer, more predictable rise before it peaks.
Try adjusting the water ratio
If your starter is getting a little too runny, you might also adjust the water to flour ratio you’re adding. For me, if my starter is on the more liquid side, I will give it a 1:2:3 feed (starter:water:flour). This does two things: it gives your starter even more food to use up as it grows, and it reduces the water content, which allows your starter to thicken up.
The goal isn’t to chase one perfect feeding ratio. It’s to learn what your starter is telling you and adjust based on its activity, your room temperature, and when you actually want to bake. Try different things. Experiment. Eventually you will get in a groove.
Get experimental
The beauty of sourdough starters is that you’re constantly producing more and more, which gives you plenty of opportunities to run some experiments. If you’re feeling nervous about experimenting with your ratios, I recommend saving some discard in its own jar, or even a few different jars. Keep your original starter as your “control” and keep feeding it the same way you have been, on the exact same schedule. In a different jar, use some of the discard to test out a different ratio. This way, you can test out what happens with different feeding ratios and if one of your ratio experiments flops, you’ll always have your original starter as a backup.
I also highly recommend either storing some starter in the fridge as a backup, or freezing and/or dehydrating some of your starter for longer storage. I’ve had to dig into my emergency dehydrated starter fund before and I am so glad I had it.