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Cathy, do not be dismayed.  The half-gram was just another example of my insomnia brain in play.  In class we were told that we had up to four grams of leeway in any direction.  I assure you that the half-gram is not going to make or break you.  Go ahead and round up.

Good question on the bottled water.  When I start a new culture, I always used bottled water, as our water is chlorinated and chlorine can inhibit the growth of new yeasts.  Once the culture has taken root, I switch to tap water, but I let it sit at room temp for a few hours; this dissipates the chlorine.

Again, I realize that this has been a bit sketchy, but I promise to fill in the gaps.

Collena, m’love, do not fear the bread.  It only sounds unsanitary, but it actually makes the world go around. 

Nope, e, you read that right.  Rye flour is more effective at catching wild yeasts than all-purpose flour, so you start the white culture with all rye flour on the first day, a mix of rye and a.p. on the second day, and then all a.p. flour after the third day.  Once your starter is active, if you ever think it could do with a bit of a flavor boost, you can give it a rye and/or whole wheat feeding.  On the other hand, you never want to introduce any other flour but rye into your rye starter; that one should be kept “pure”.  For this reason, I always feed the rye starter first.

Oh, e...and here I was, thinking about how to revise the bread recipe so that you would not have to bother with the rye starter.  (It’s not a matter of just subbing white starter for rye, because the hydration rates are different.) That said, I’m glad you’re trying the rye starter, as the breads you can make from it will be so delicious.

Do not, do not, do not panic about the state of your rye starter!  For the first 24 hours it will just look like thick mud, and it will smell bad.  Keep feeding it, equal weights of everything.  The temptation will be strong to throw in more water, but resist it if you can.  Most rye bread recipes are written with the assumption that your sour is at 100% hydration.  It might take more than three days—it might take five, even—but eventually the rye starter will shoot up and have masses of tiny little bubbles.  When the starter is really ripe, you can pull the lid off the container and actually hear the starter crackle a bit.  It’s such an amazing sound.

Dear e, and other friends, I have not forgotten about the bread recipe.  I’ve been having a bit of trouble writing this week.  I promise you, we will be turning this stuff into bread, and it will be good.

Oh, e, I know that guilt well.  I used to try to assuage it by pouring off the surplus onto parchment-lined sheet pans, letting it dry, breaking it into chips, bagging it up and offering it to friends and fellow bakers.  Unfortunately, my baking friends already had starters of their own, and the non-baking friends were too intimidated to try keeping a starter alive.  Ah, well.

The issue of refrigerating starters is controversial.  Most professional bakers I know frown on refrigeration, claiming that cold storage destroys some of the more nuanced flavors in the final bread.  However, the thing about pro bakers is that they are baking hundreds of loaves every day, and thus can build exactly as much starter as they need.  Home bakers, by contrast, usually don’t bake more than twice a week, if that.  I’d say don’t make yourself nuts:  if you need to fridge it, fridge it.  The only problem with refrigerating, in my view, is that it requires a little planning:  you should give your starter at least two feeds, preferably three, before you use it for baking.  If you want to bake on Saturday, for example, start feeding your starter on Thursday morning, or even Wednesday night.