diff --git a/src/Curl/Multi.jl b/src/Curl/Multi.jl
index f16e365..238aa4a 100644
--- a/src/Curl/Multi.jl
+++ b/src/Curl/Multi.jl
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ mutable struct Multi
 end
 
 function init!(multi::Multi)
-    uv_timer_stop(multi.timer)
+    multi.handle != C_NULL && return
     multi.handle = curl_multi_init()
     add_callbacks(multi)
     set_defaults(multi)
@@ -42,9 +42,12 @@ end
 
 function add_handle(multi::Multi, easy::Easy)
     lock(multi.lock) do
-        isempty(multi.easies) && preserve_handle(multi)
-        multi.handle == C_NULL && init!(multi)
+        if isempty(multi.easies)
+            preserve_handle(multi)
+            uv_timer_stop(multi.timer) # stop grace timer
+        end
         push!(multi.easies, easy)
+        init!(multi)
         @check curl_multi_add_handle(multi.handle, easy.handle)
     end
 end
diff --git a/test/runtests.jl b/test/runtests.jl
index 1803ea8..ca885bb 100644
--- a/test/runtests.jl
+++ b/test/runtests.jl
@@ -421,6 +421,12 @@ include("setup.jl")
         head = String(read!(open(file), Vector{UInt8}(undef, 16)))
         @test head == "\x1f\x8b\b\0\xa5T.\\\x02\x03\xec]{s۶"
     end
+
+    @testset "grace cleanup" begin
+        dl = Downloader(grace=1)
+        Downloads.download("https://httpbingo.org/drip"; downloader=dl)
+        Downloads.download("https://httpbingo.org/drip"; downloader=dl)
+    end
 end
 
 Downloads.DOWNLOADER[] = nothing