A laboratory- scale digester was operated for an extended period (837 days), and was subjected to three different hydraulic and organic disturbances. The temperature and pH inside the digesters were monitored online. Total biogas yield and gas composition (CH4 and CO2) were measured. Different recovery strategies were tested, which all resulted in different states of meta-stability resulting in somehow similar performance - in terms of specific methane generation. Upon overload, reduced feeding did not yield satisfactory improvement and seed enrichment with new inoculum sources was mandatory. Under a hydraulic shock, reduced biomass wastage and re-seeding was efficient. Under an organic shock, long suspended feeding was necessary to allow for volatile fatty acids dissipation. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the AWMA's 107th Annual Conference & Exhibition (Long Beach, CA 6/24-27/2014).