diff --git a/libbeat/publisher/pipeline/controller.go b/libbeat/publisher/pipeline/controller.go
index 1991e243802..0770cf559eb 100644
--- a/libbeat/publisher/pipeline/controller.go
+++ b/libbeat/publisher/pipeline/controller.go
@@ -121,7 +121,6 @@ func (c *outputController) Set(outGrp outputs.Group) {
 			c.retryer.sigOutputRemoved()
 		}
 	}
-	c.retryer.updOutput(c.workQueue)
 	for range clients {
 		c.retryer.sigOutputAdded()
 	}
diff --git a/libbeat/publisher/pipeline/retry.go b/libbeat/publisher/pipeline/retry.go
index f05c9ed2edd..5521f3444af 100644
--- a/libbeat/publisher/pipeline/retry.go
+++ b/libbeat/publisher/pipeline/retry.go
@@ -112,13 +112,6 @@ func (r *retryer) sigOutputRemoved() {
 	r.sig <- retryerSignal{tag: sigRetryerOutputRemoved}
 }
 
-func (r *retryer) updOutput(ch workQueue) {
-	r.sig <- retryerSignal{
-		tag:     sigRetryerUpdateOutput,
-		channel: ch,
-	}
-}
-
 func (r *retryer) retry(b Batch) {
 	r.in <- batchEvent{tag: retryBatch, batch: b}
 }
@@ -212,8 +205,6 @@ func (r *retryer) loop() {
 
 		case sig := <-r.sig:
 			switch sig.tag {
-			case sigRetryerUpdateOutput:
-				r.out = sig.channel
 			case sigRetryerOutputAdded:
 				numOutputs++
 			case sigRetryerOutputRemoved: