Dried Ischia Ruined?
So I had a friend mail me some of their Ischia starter dried about 7 months ago, and after reactivating it with only half the dried amount sent, I shoved the other part in the drawer in my bedroom and left it be. It was dark in there and maintained at room temp, which is around 70 degrees Fahrenheit in my home.
The problem I have is that I left my starter while on vacation at room temp and came back to it absolutely dead. No way it was coming back, so know I am wondering if I ruined this dried starter? Today I was reviewing on how to reactivate dried starter and noticed that people were saying, "Remove dried starter from the fridge or freezer." I had no idea that the common protocol was the store dried starter in the fridge or freezer and assumed that it would be fine in its dried state at room temperature. I have since dissolved all the dry starter that I have and have fed it twice now, once as soon as it was dissolved to 100% hydration. I maintained the hydration at that by feeding about 2 tablespoons each of water/flour as said before at the 24 hour mark.
I am seriously concerned that most of the yeast is dead, and that the Ischia culture, while still there in small numbers maybe, will be overrun by my local wold yeast and killed off, resulting in a completely new strain without the Ischia's strong and fast lift capabilities. Am I correct in having this fear, or will even a small number of the Ischia culture be enough to propagate and survive an invasion of new fungi if it happens? I seriously hope that I haven't allowed my starter to become ruined, I absolutely LOVE the culture and the prospect of losing it upsets me severely.