diff --git a/pkg/ingester/flush.go b/pkg/ingester/flush.go
index b3f207119f857..883690cbcca08 100644
--- a/pkg/ingester/flush.go
+++ b/pkg/ingester/flush.go
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ func (i *Ingester) flush(mayRemoveStreams bool) {
 	}
 
 	i.flushQueuesDone.Wait()
+	level.Debug(util_log.Logger).Log("msg", "flush queues have drained")
 
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/ingester/metrics.go b/pkg/ingester/metrics.go
index 2942eed517f67..d685d02dacc9e 100644
--- a/pkg/ingester/metrics.go
+++ b/pkg/ingester/metrics.go
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ type ingesterMetrics struct {
 	recoveredEntriesTotal prometheus.Counter
 	recoveredBytesTotal   prometheus.Counter
 	recoveryBytesInUse    prometheus.Gauge
+	recoveryIsFlushing    prometheus.Gauge
 }
 
 // setRecoveryBytesInUse bounds the bytes reports to >= 0.
@@ -107,5 +108,9 @@ func newIngesterMetrics(r prometheus.Registerer) *ingesterMetrics {
 			Name: "loki_ingester_wal_bytes_in_use",
 			Help: "Total number of bytes in use by the WAL recovery process.",
 		}),
+		recoveryIsFlushing: promauto.With(r).NewGauge(prometheus.GaugeOpts{
+			Name: "loki_ingester_wal_replay_flushing",
+			Help: "Whether the wal replay is in a flushing phase due to backpressure",
+		}),
 	}
 }
diff --git a/pkg/ingester/replay_controller.go b/pkg/ingester/replay_controller.go
index 0b72a618ffcc5..72fe9d513acfa 100644
--- a/pkg/ingester/replay_controller.go
+++ b/pkg/ingester/replay_controller.go
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@ package ingester
 import (
 	"sync"
 
+	util_log "github.com/cortexproject/cortex/pkg/util/log"
+	"github.com/dustin/go-humanize"
+	"github.com/go-kit/kit/log/level"
 	"go.uber.org/atomic"
 )
 
@@ -28,6 +31,7 @@ func (f *replayFlusher) Flush() {
 
 		instance.streamsMtx.Unlock()
 	}
+
 }
 
 type Flusher interface {
@@ -70,8 +74,23 @@ func (c *replayController) Cur() int {
 
 func (c *replayController) Flush() {
 	if c.isFlushing.CAS(false, true) {
+		c.metrics.recoveryIsFlushing.Set(1)
+		prior := c.currentBytes.Load()
+		level.Debug(util_log.Logger).Log(
+			"msg", "replay flusher pre-flush",
+			"bytes", humanize.Bytes(uint64(prior)),
+		)
+
 		c.flusher.Flush()
+
+		after := c.currentBytes.Load()
+		level.Debug(util_log.Logger).Log(
+			"msg", "replay flusher post-flush",
+			"bytes", humanize.Bytes(uint64(after)),
+		)
+
 		c.isFlushing.Store(false)
+		c.metrics.recoveryIsFlushing.Set(0)
 
 		// Broadcast after lock is acquired to prevent race conditions with cpu scheduling
 		// where the flush code could finish before the goroutine which initiated it gets to call