Sourdough Bread?

[Akanae]

Any tips on making this properly? I started my sourdough starter with 1/2 cup each water and flour, it was really bubbly/frothy after two days and then it went kind of flat but kept producing a lot of hooch, so I kept feeding it and decided to try and use it, but it didn't rise my dough at all.

Any tips on doing this? Are there some climates where it just isn't feasible? Utah tends to be pretty arid.