Harvesting dregs

I've been drinking plenty of sours lately and with the thought of possibly brewing one in the future, I've been saving the dregs (Cantillon, JP, Cascade, Orval, Bruery, Crooked Stave, Fantome as well as a bunch of local stuff). I made a 1.030 starter wort with some Malto Goya (haven't been brewing in the winter) and been pitching the dregs into the bottle and keeping it in my cellar. I haven't noticed and kraussen or anything. Am I wasting my time and dregs?

Cellar temp is probably too cool to see any activity. Also might check the label on the Malta and see if it has preservatives that may inhibit or kill the yeast and bacteria.

Spit looks like the only thing other than water, malt, sugar and hops in the Malto is phosphoric acid. Could that be the culprit?
I thought I read online somewhere about a guy keeping dregs saved in the fridge?
Think these dregs are shot and I should toss them or keep them around til I'm ready to use them and make a healthy starter when I'm ready?

TNGabe said:

Cellar temp is probably too cool to see any activity.

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I think what Gabe is getting at here is that you won't SEE activity at those temperatures. It does not necessarily mean everyone in there is dead.

I'm going to add a few thoughts:

The first set of dregs added to the wort may have fermented everything out. It is also conceivable that it happened overnight, without a krausen, or without you noticing. You shouldn't see any significant activity once it's fermented out.

I like to add cooled wort to bottles when I drink interesting sours, and slap a bottle airlock on them for storage. I have a Kriek De Ranke sitting like this right now. I didn't see any activity for weeks, and i was very close to dumping it, until I finally noticed a healthy an nasty looking krausen one day. I suspect it just took a very long time for the culture to grow up from the dregs.

There may be several factors impacting your situation: temperature, culture size, available sugars...

I'm sure you are you are on your way to some tasty sour beer! Good luck!