u/TwerpyDerpy123

Kevin is officially 3 weeks old and is now consistently rising. Im feeding him every twelve hours with 30g whole wheat flour to 30g spring water to 30g starter, and now Im wondering if he is ready to be baked. This is my first starter, so Im pretty unexperienced in the realm of sourdough starter and knowing when it is ready to be used.
The photo Ive put is his rise after about 7 hours. As said before, this is pretty consistent with his rises over the past week and a half ish. Ive heard that the float test is a sin against the sourdough community, so Im not even going to bring that up, but I am wondering if there is a full proof way of knowing?

This is my first ever try at making sourdough starter, and ngl Im super duper nervous. As per a recipe I found here, I (for the first two days) mixed every twelve hours. And when I say I was consistent, I mean I woke up in the wee dark hours of the night in order to mix. Today (day three) was my first feeding. This morning, before I mixed it, it was about 1 1/2 (ish) times its original size. A couple hours after I mixed it, unlike normally, it stopped rising and had a small amount of bubbles on the top.
I just decided to feed it anyway, just in case it wasn't dead. I took 30g starter to 30g water and flour (whole wheat), as per the recipe. It has been multiple hours now (8-9), and although the recipe says to mix it, I've seen other people say you dont have to. Im overloaded by too many opinions T0T. Either way I am worried it is dead. Some people say to still keep feeding it, and that this is normal for day 3-6, but, since Im new to this, Im gaslighting myself into believing that my starter has transcended into the shadow realm, never to be seen again. Should I still keep feeding and mixing it? Is mixing it even necessary?
Sourdough wizards, share your knowledge pleeassseee.