diff --git a/cmd/cortex/main.go b/cmd/cortex/main.go
index e317d7b6fa2..e6af811e474 100644
--- a/cmd/cortex/main.go
+++ b/cmd/cortex/main.go
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ func main() {
 	flag.DurationVar(&cfg.remoteTimeout, "remote.timeout", 5*time.Second, "Timeout for downstream ingesters.")
 	flag.DurationVar(&cfg.ingesterConfig.FlushCheckPeriod, "ingester.flush-period", 1*time.Minute, "Period with which to attempt to flush chunks.")
 	flag.DurationVar(&cfg.ingesterConfig.RateUpdatePeriod, "ingester.rate-update-period", 15*time.Second, "Period with which to update the per-user ingestion rates.")
-	flag.DurationVar(&cfg.ingesterConfig.MaxChunkAge, "ingester.max-chunk-age", 10*time.Minute, "Maximum chunk age before flushing.")
+	flag.DurationVar(&cfg.ingesterConfig.MaxChunkAge, "ingester.max-chunk-age", 1*time.Hour, "Maximum chunk age before flushing.")
 	flag.IntVar(&cfg.numTokens, "ingester.num-tokens", 128, "Number of tokens for each ingester.")
 	flag.IntVar(&cfg.distributorConfig.ReplicationFactor, "distributor.replication-factor", 3, "The number of ingesters to write to and read from.")
 	flag.IntVar(&cfg.distributorConfig.MinReadSuccesses, "distributor.min-read-successes", 2, "The minimum number of ingesters from which a read must succeed.")
diff --git a/ingester/ingester.go b/ingester/ingester.go
index 15334625718..6e6c6e1bb74 100644
--- a/ingester/ingester.go
+++ b/ingester/ingester.go
@@ -515,7 +515,7 @@ func (i *Ingester) flushSeries(u *userState, fp model.Fingerprint, series *memor
 	}
 
 	firstTime := series.chunkDescs[0].FirstTime()
-	flush := immediate || model.Now().Sub(firstTime) > i.cfg.MaxChunkAge
+	flush := immediate || len(series.chunkDescs) > 1 || model.Now().Sub(firstTime) > i.cfg.MaxChunkAge
 	u.fpLocker.Unlock(fp)
 
 	if flush {