diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngine.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngine.java
index f9e613cb0ab..373de60ba01 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngine.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/internal/InternalEngine.java
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ public class InternalEngine extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements Engin
     private final AtomicInteger flushing = new AtomicInteger();
     private final Lock flushLock = new ReentrantLock();
 
-    private final RecoveryCounter onGoingRecoveries = new RecoveryCounter();
+    protected final RecoveryCounter onGoingRecoveries = new RecoveryCounter();
 
 
     // A uid (in the form of BytesRef) to the version map
@@ -1677,10 +1677,10 @@ public class InternalEngine extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements Engin
         }
     }
 
-    private final class RecoveryCounter implements Releasable {
+    protected final class RecoveryCounter implements Releasable {
         private final AtomicInteger onGoingRecoveries = new AtomicInteger();
 
-        public void startRecovery() {
+        void startRecovery() {
             store.incRef();
             onGoingRecoveries.incrementAndGet();
         }
@@ -1689,7 +1689,7 @@ public class InternalEngine extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements Engin
             return onGoingRecoveries.get();
         }
 
-        public void endRecovery() throws ElasticsearchException {
+        void endRecovery() throws ElasticsearchException {
             store.decRef();
             onGoingRecoveries.decrementAndGet();
             assert onGoingRecoveries.get() >= 0 : "ongoingRecoveries must be >= 0 but was: " + onGoingRecoveries.get();
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/service/InternalIndexService.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/service/InternalIndexService.java
index 3bbe5e3cc4e..2e77653183a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/service/InternalIndexService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/service/InternalIndexService.java
@@ -552,7 +552,7 @@ public class InternalIndexService extends AbstractIndexComponent implements Inde
         @Override
         public void onShardCloseFailed(ShardId shardId, Throwable t) {
             assert countDown.isCountedDown() == false;
-            assert shardIds.contains(shardId.getId()) : "Unkown shard id";
+            assert shardIds.contains(shardId.getId()) : "Unknown shard id";
             listener.onShardCloseFailed(shardId, t);
             failures.add(t);
             if (countDown.countDown()) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/Store.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/Store.java
index 22b35f0e041..30af8cd650e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/Store.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/Store.java
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.index.store.distributor.Distributor;
 import java.io.*;
 import java.nio.file.NoSuchFileException;
 import java.util.*;
+import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentMap;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 import java.util.concurrent.locks.ReentrantReadWriteLock;
 import java.util.zip.Adler32;
@@ -350,6 +351,7 @@ public class Store extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements CloseableIndex
             this.onClose = onClose;
             // only do this once!
             decRef();
+            logger.debug("store reference count on close: " + refCounter.refCount());
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/basic/SearchWhileCreatingIndexTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/basic/SearchWhileCreatingIndexTests.java
index 46d1e0440c3..d7b1806799f 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/basic/SearchWhileCreatingIndexTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/basic/SearchWhileCreatingIndexTests.java
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ public class SearchWhileCreatingIndexTests extends ElasticsearchIntegrationTest
         int shardsNo = numberOfReplicas + 1;
         int neededNodes = shardsNo <= 2 ? 1 : shardsNo / 2 + 1;
         internalCluster().ensureAtLeastNumDataNodes(randomIntBetween(neededNodes, shardsNo));
-        for (int i = 0; i < 20; i++) {
+        for (int i = 0; i < 200; i++) {
             logger.info("running iteration {}", i);
             if (createIndex) {
                 createIndex("test");
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/engine/MockInternalEngine.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/engine/MockInternalEngine.java
index e409ac3f50b..5d85445534e 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/engine/MockInternalEngine.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/engine/MockInternalEngine.java
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ public final class MockInternalEngine extends InternalEngine implements Engine {
                 }
             }
         }
+        logger.debug("Ongoing recoveries after engine close: " + onGoingRecoveries.get());
     }
 
     @Override