I am trying to save my 12 yr old starter! I got busy one day and after mixing up some bread threw all my starter away without taking some out to feed. So thankfully I had an emergency backup. This had been in the fridge about 2 yrs? I take it out let in warm a little than fed, and put in a warm place. Well I forgot about it and the warm place turned into a hot place! after about 8 hours I remembered! Now it has been a few days of feeding 3 times a day. I am still unsure if I am fighting a losing battle or not. It has a few bubbles when I go to feed, but the smell is not right, just smells like wet flour. Is there still hope or do I just let it go???
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Two questions come to mind:
1. Did you use all of your back up or do you have more to try again?
2. How hot was the hot place you left it?
Worse case, you can continue to feed what you have going and it may produce a new starter to work with. If successful, make a couple of backups in case it happens again.
Good luck
Making cold backups (fridge) and dry backups is a good idea. I’ve just dried my starter, following advices found on this site. After drying I’ve ground it to flakes and stored it in a pouch. I’ll make an experiment in a month or two, seeing if I can revive the dried starter in 1-2 days, and comparing the level of activity to the one I keep in the fridge.