diff --git a/qa/integration/specs/01_logstash_bin_smoke_spec.rb b/qa/integration/specs/01_logstash_bin_smoke_spec.rb
index b3647f00e..97e1866ea 100644
--- a/qa/integration/specs/01_logstash_bin_smoke_spec.rb
+++ b/qa/integration/specs/01_logstash_bin_smoke_spec.rb
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ describe "Test Logstash instance" do
       FileUtils.mkdir_p(tmp_data_path)
       @ls1.spawn_logstash("-f", config1, "--path.data", tmp_data_path)
       sleep(0.1) until File.exist?(file_config1) && File.size(file_config1) > 0 # Everything is started successfully at this point
-      expect(is_port_open?(9600)).to be true
+      @ls1.wait_for_logstash
 
       @ls2.spawn_logstash("-f", config2, "--path.data", tmp_data_path)
       try(num_retries) do
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ describe "Test Logstash instance" do
       if @ls2.settings.feature_flag != "persistent_queues"
         @ls1.spawn_logstash("-f", config1)
         sleep(0.1) until File.exist?(file_config1) && File.size(file_config1) > 0 # Everything is started successfully at this point
-        expect(is_port_open?(9600)).to be true
+        @ls1.wait_for_logstash
 
         puts "will try to start the second LS instance on 9601"
 
diff --git a/qa/integration/specs/secret_store_spec.rb b/qa/integration/specs/secret_store_spec.rb
index b932a5bb2..5f2d154c5 100644
--- a/qa/integration/specs/secret_store_spec.rb
+++ b/qa/integration/specs/secret_store_spec.rb
@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@ describe "Test that Logstash" do
     test_env["LOGSTASH_KEYSTORE_PASS"] = "keystore_pa9454w3rd"
     @logstash.env_variables = test_env
     @logstash.start_background_with_config_settings(config_to_temp_file(@fixture.config), settings_dir)
-    @logstash.wait_for_logstash
     Stud.try(num_retries.times, [StandardError, RSpec::Expectations::ExpectationNotMetError]) do
       # 10 generated outputs, mypath, and the tags all come from the secret store
       expect(IO.read(File.join(File.join(test_path, "mypath"), "logstash_secretstore_test.output")).gsub("\n", "")).to eq("Hello world! mytag1,mytag2.mytag3" * 10)
@@ -54,7 +53,6 @@ describe "Test that Logstash" do
     test_env["LOGSTASH_KEYSTORE_PASS"] = "keystore_pa9454w3rd"
     @logstash.env_variables = test_env
     @logstash.spawn_logstash("-e", "input {heartbeat {}} output { }", "--path.settings", settings_dir)
-    @logstash.wait_for_logstash
     Stud.try(num_retries.times, [StandardError, RSpec::Expectations::ExpectationNotMetError]) do
       result = @logstash.monitoring_api.node_stats rescue nil
       expect(result).not_to be_nil