diff --git a/cmd/ingester/app/consumer/consumer.go b/cmd/ingester/app/consumer/consumer.go
index feda7a606c5..c939eac60c4 100644
--- a/cmd/ingester/app/consumer/consumer.go
+++ b/cmd/ingester/app/consumer/consumer.go
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ package consumer
 
 import (
 	"sync"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/Shopify/sarama"
 	sc "github.com/bsm/sarama-cluster"
@@ -42,6 +43,8 @@ type Consumer struct {
 	internalConsumer consumer.Consumer
 	processorFactory ProcessorFactory
 
+	deadlockDetector deadlockDetector
+
 	partitionIDToState map[int32]*consumerState
 }
 
@@ -52,17 +55,20 @@ type consumerState struct {
 
 // New is a constructor for a Consumer
 func New(params Params) (*Consumer, error) {
+	deadlockDetector := newDeadlockDetector(params.Factory, params.Logger, time.Minute)
 	return &Consumer{
 		metricsFactory:     params.Factory,
 		logger:             params.Logger,
 		internalConsumer:   params.InternalConsumer,
 		processorFactory:   params.ProcessorFactory,
+		deadlockDetector:   deadlockDetector,
 		partitionIDToState: make(map[int32]*consumerState),
 	}, nil
 }
 
 // Start begins consuming messages in a go routine
 func (c *Consumer) Start() {
+	c.deadlockDetector.start()
 	go func() {
 		c.logger.Info("Starting main loop")
 		for pc := range c.internalConsumer.Partitions() {
@@ -73,6 +79,7 @@ func (c *Consumer) Start() {
 				// to the cleanup process not completing
 				p.wg.Wait()
 			}
+			c.partitionMetrics(pc.Partition()).startCounter.Inc(1)
 			c.partitionIDToState[pc.Partition()] = &consumerState{partitionConsumer: pc}
 			go c.handleMessages(pc)
 			go c.handleErrors(pc.Partition(), pc.Errors())
@@ -86,6 +93,7 @@ func (c *Consumer) Close() error {
 		c.closePartition(p.partitionConsumer)
 		p.wg.Wait()
 	}
+	c.deadlockDetector.close()
 	c.logger.Info("Closing parent consumer")
 	return c.internalConsumer.Close()
 }
@@ -97,27 +105,43 @@ func (c *Consumer) handleMessages(pc sc.PartitionConsumer) {
 	defer c.closePartition(pc)
 
 	msgMetrics := c.newMsgMetrics(pc.Partition())
+
 	var msgProcessor processor.SpanProcessor
 
-	for msg := range pc.Messages() {
-		c.logger.Debug("Got msg", zap.Any("msg", msg))
-		msgMetrics.counter.Inc(1)
-		msgMetrics.offsetGauge.Update(msg.Offset)
-		msgMetrics.lagGauge.Update(pc.HighWaterMarkOffset() - msg.Offset - 1)
+	deadlockDetector := c.deadlockDetector.startMonitoringForPartition(pc.Partition())
+	defer deadlockDetector.close()
 
-		if msgProcessor == nil {
-			msgProcessor = c.processorFactory.new(pc.Partition(), msg.Offset-1)
-			defer msgProcessor.Close()
-		}
+	for {
+		select {
+		case msg, ok := <-pc.Messages():
+			if !ok {
+				c.logger.Info("Message channel closed. ", zap.Int32("partition", pc.Partition()))
+				return
+			}
+			c.logger.Debug("Got msg", zap.Any("msg", msg))
+			msgMetrics.counter.Inc(1)
+			msgMetrics.offsetGauge.Update(msg.Offset)
+			msgMetrics.lagGauge.Update(pc.HighWaterMarkOffset() - msg.Offset - 1)
+			deadlockDetector.incrementMsgCount()
+
+			if msgProcessor == nil {
+				msgProcessor = c.processorFactory.new(pc.Partition(), msg.Offset-1)
+				defer msgProcessor.Close()
+			}
+
+			msgProcessor.Process(&saramaMessageWrapper{msg})
 
-		msgProcessor.Process(&saramaMessageWrapper{msg})
+		case <-deadlockDetector.closePartitionChannel():
+			c.logger.Info("Closing partition due to inactivity", zap.Int32("partition", pc.Partition()))
+			return
+		}
 	}
-	c.logger.Info("Finished handling messages", zap.Int32("partition", pc.Partition()))
 }
 
 func (c *Consumer) closePartition(partitionConsumer sc.PartitionConsumer) {
 	c.logger.Info("Closing partition consumer", zap.Int32("partition", partitionConsumer.Partition()))
 	partitionConsumer.Close() // blocks until messages channel is drained
+	c.partitionMetrics(partitionConsumer.Partition()).closeCounter.Inc(1)
 	c.logger.Info("Closed partition consumer", zap.Int32("partition", partitionConsumer.Partition()))
 }
 
diff --git a/cmd/ingester/app/consumer/consumer_metrics.go b/cmd/ingester/app/consumer/consumer_metrics.go
index 4d760978e11..279a3f95911 100644
--- a/cmd/ingester/app/consumer/consumer_metrics.go
+++ b/cmd/ingester/app/consumer/consumer_metrics.go
@@ -30,8 +30,17 @@ type errMetrics struct {
 	errCounter metrics.Counter
 }
 
+type partitionMetrics struct {
+	startCounter metrics.Counter
+	closeCounter metrics.Counter
+}
+
+func (c *Consumer) namespace(partition int32) metrics.Factory {
+	return c.metricsFactory.Namespace("sarama-consumer", map[string]string{"partition": strconv.Itoa(int(partition))})
+}
+
 func (c *Consumer) newMsgMetrics(partition int32) msgMetrics {
-	f := c.metricsFactory.Namespace("sarama-consumer", map[string]string{"partition": strconv.Itoa(int(partition))})
+	f := c.namespace(partition)
 	return msgMetrics{
 		counter:     f.Counter("messages", nil),
 		offsetGauge: f.Gauge("current-offset", nil),
@@ -40,7 +49,12 @@ func (c *Consumer) newMsgMetrics(partition int32) msgMetrics {
 }
 
 func (c *Consumer) newErrMetrics(partition int32) errMetrics {
-	f := c.metricsFactory.Namespace("sarama-consumer", map[string]string{"partition": strconv.Itoa(int(partition))})
-	return errMetrics{errCounter: f.Counter("errors", nil)}
+	return errMetrics{errCounter: c.namespace(partition).Counter("errors", nil)}
+}
 
+func (c *Consumer) partitionMetrics(partition int32) partitionMetrics {
+	f := c.namespace(partition)
+	return partitionMetrics{
+		closeCounter: f.Counter("partition-close", nil),
+		startCounter: f.Counter("partition-start", nil)}
 }
diff --git a/cmd/ingester/app/consumer/consumer_test.go b/cmd/ingester/app/consumer/consumer_test.go
index fad87ad0436..8db11895d32 100644
--- a/cmd/ingester/app/consumer/consumer_test.go
+++ b/cmd/ingester/app/consumer/consumer_test.go
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@ func newConsumer(
 		logger:             logger,
 		internalConsumer:   consumer,
 		partitionIDToState: make(map[int32]*consumerState),
+		deadlockDetector:   newDeadlockDetector(factory, logger, time.Second),
 
 		processorFactory: ProcessorFactory{
 			topic:          topic,
@@ -173,6 +174,11 @@ func TestSaramaConsumerWrapper_start_Messages(t *testing.T) {
 		Tags:  partitionTag,
 		Value: 0,
 	})
+	testutils.AssertCounterMetrics(t, localFactory, testutils.ExpectedMetric{
+		Name:  "sarama-consumer.partition-start",
+		Tags:  partitionTag,
+		Value: 1,
+	})
 }
 
 func TestSaramaConsumerWrapper_start_Errors(t *testing.T) {
@@ -210,3 +216,29 @@ func TestSaramaConsumerWrapper_start_Errors(t *testing.T) {
 
 	t.Fail()
 }
+
+func TestHandleClosePartition(t *testing.T) {
+	metricsFactory := metrics.NewLocalFactory(0)
+
+	mp := &pmocks.SpanProcessor{}
+	saramaConsumer := smocks.NewConsumer(t, &sarama.Config{})
+	mc := saramaConsumer.ExpectConsumePartition(topic, partition, msgOffset)
+	mc.ExpectErrorsDrainedOnClose()
+	saramaPartitionConsumer, e := saramaConsumer.ConsumePartition(topic, partition, msgOffset)
+	require.NoError(t, e)
+
+	undertest := newConsumer(metricsFactory, topic, mp, newSaramaClusterConsumer(saramaPartitionConsumer))
+	undertest.deadlockDetector = newDeadlockDetector(metricsFactory, undertest.logger, 200*time.Millisecond)
+	undertest.Start()
+	defer undertest.Close()
+
+	for i := 0; i < 10; i++ {
+		undertest.deadlockDetector.allPartitionsDeadlockDetector.incrementMsgCount() // Don't trigger panic on all partitions detector
+		time.Sleep(100 * time.Millisecond)
+		c, _ := metricsFactory.Snapshot()
+		if c["sarama-consumer.partition-close|partition=316"] == 1 {
+			return
+		}
+	}
+	assert.Fail(t, "Did not close partition")
+}
diff --git a/cmd/ingester/app/consumer/deadlock_detector.go b/cmd/ingester/app/consumer/deadlock_detector.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4b5b2696742
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/ingester/app/consumer/deadlock_detector.go
@@ -0,0 +1,184 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2018 The Jaeger Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package consumer
+
+import (
+	"runtime"
+	"strconv"
+	"sync/atomic"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/uber/jaeger-lib/metrics"
+	"go.uber.org/zap"
+)
+
+// deadlockDetector monitors the messages consumed and wither signals for the partition to be closed by sending a
+// message on closePartition, or triggers a panic if the close fails. It triggers a panic if there are no messages
+// consumed across all partitions.
+//
+// Closing the partition should result in a rebalance, which alleviates the condition. This means that rebalances can
+// happen frequently if there is no traffic on the Kafka topic. This shouldn't affect normal operations.
+//
+// If the message send isn't processed within the next check interval, a panic is issued.This hack relies on a
+// container management system (k8s, aurora, marathon, etc) to reschedule
+// the dead instance.
+//
+// This hack protects jaeger-ingester from issues described in  https://github.com/jaegertracing/jaeger/issues/1052
+//
+type deadlockDetector struct {
+	metricsFactory                metrics.Factory
+	logger                        *zap.Logger
+	interval                      time.Duration
+	allPartitionsDeadlockDetector *allPartitionsDeadlockDetector
+	panicFunc                     func(int32)
+}
+
+type partitionDeadlockDetector struct {
+	msgConsumed                   *uint64
+	logger                        *zap.Logger
+	partition                     int32
+	closePartition                chan struct{}
+	done                          chan struct{}
+	incrementAllPartitionMsgCount func()
+}
+
+type allPartitionsDeadlockDetector struct {
+	msgConsumed *uint64
+	logger      *zap.Logger
+	done        chan struct{}
+}
+
+func newDeadlockDetector(metricsFactory metrics.Factory, logger *zap.Logger, interval time.Duration) deadlockDetector {
+	panicFunc := func(partition int32) {
+		metricsFactory.Counter("deadlockdetector.panic-issued", map[string]string{"partition": strconv.Itoa(int(partition))}).Inc(1)
+		time.Sleep(time.Second) // Allow time to flush metric
+
+		buf := make([]byte, 1<<20)
+		logger.Panic("No messages processed in the last check interval",
+			zap.Int32("partition", partition),
+			zap.String("stack", string(buf[:runtime.Stack(buf, true)])))
+	}
+
+	return deadlockDetector{
+		metricsFactory: metricsFactory,
+		logger:         logger,
+		interval:       interval,
+		panicFunc:      panicFunc,
+	}
+}
+
+func (s *deadlockDetector) startMonitoringForPartition(partition int32) *partitionDeadlockDetector {
+	var msgConsumed uint64
+	w := &partitionDeadlockDetector{
+		msgConsumed:    &msgConsumed,
+		partition:      partition,
+		closePartition: make(chan struct{}, 1),
+		done:           make(chan struct{}),
+		logger:         s.logger,
+
+		incrementAllPartitionMsgCount: func() {
+			s.allPartitionsDeadlockDetector.incrementMsgCount()
+		},
+	}
+
+	go s.monitorForPartition(w, partition)
+
+	return w
+}
+
+func (s *deadlockDetector) monitorForPartition(w *partitionDeadlockDetector, partition int32) {
+	ticker := time.NewTicker(s.interval)
+	defer ticker.Stop()
+
+	for {
+		select {
+		case <-w.done:
+			s.logger.Info("Closing ticker routine", zap.Int32("partition", partition))
+			return
+		case <-ticker.C:
+			if atomic.LoadUint64(w.msgConsumed) == 0 {
+				select {
+				case w.closePartition <- struct{}{}:
+					s.metricsFactory.Counter("deadlockdetector.close-signalled", map[string]string{"partition": strconv.Itoa(int(partition))}).Inc(1)
+					s.logger.Warn("Signalling partition close due to inactivity", zap.Int32("partition", partition))
+				default:
+					// If closePartition is blocked, the consumer might have deadlocked - kill the process
+					s.panicFunc(partition)
+					return // For tests
+				}
+			} else {
+				atomic.StoreUint64(w.msgConsumed, 0)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// start monitors that the sum of messages consumed across all partitions is non zero for the given interval
+// If it is zero when there are producers producing messages on the topic, it means that sarama-cluster hasn't
+// retrieved partition assignments. (This case will not be caught by startMonitoringForPartition because no partitions
+// were retrieved).
+func (s *deadlockDetector) start() {
+	var msgConsumed uint64
+	detector := &allPartitionsDeadlockDetector{
+		msgConsumed: &msgConsumed,
+		done:        make(chan struct{}),
+		logger:      s.logger,
+	}
+
+	go func() {
+		s.logger.Debug("Starting global deadlock detector")
+		ticker := time.NewTicker(s.interval)
+		defer ticker.Stop()
+
+		for {
+			select {
+			case <-detector.done:
+				s.logger.Debug("Closing global ticker routine")
+				return
+			case <-ticker.C:
+				if atomic.LoadUint64(detector.msgConsumed) == 0 {
+					s.panicFunc(-1)
+					return // For tests
+				}
+				atomic.StoreUint64(detector.msgConsumed, 0)
+			}
+		}
+	}()
+
+	s.allPartitionsDeadlockDetector = detector
+}
+
+func (s *deadlockDetector) close() {
+	s.logger.Debug("Closing all partitions deadlock detector")
+	s.allPartitionsDeadlockDetector.done <- struct{}{}
+}
+
+func (s *allPartitionsDeadlockDetector) incrementMsgCount() {
+	atomic.AddUint64(s.msgConsumed, 1)
+}
+
+func (w *partitionDeadlockDetector) closePartitionChannel() chan struct{} {
+	return w.closePartition
+}
+
+func (w *partitionDeadlockDetector) close() {
+	w.logger.Debug("Closing deadlock detector", zap.Int32("partition", w.partition))
+	w.done <- struct{}{}
+}
+
+func (w *partitionDeadlockDetector) incrementMsgCount() {
+	w.incrementAllPartitionMsgCount()
+	atomic.AddUint64(w.msgConsumed, 1)
+}
diff --git a/cmd/ingester/app/consumer/deadlock_detector_test.go b/cmd/ingester/app/consumer/deadlock_detector_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0cb31fbd1bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/ingester/app/consumer/deadlock_detector_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2018 The Jaeger Authors.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package consumer
+
+import (
+	"sync"
+	"sync/atomic"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/uber/jaeger-lib/metrics"
+	"github.com/uber/jaeger-lib/metrics/testutils"
+	"go.uber.org/zap"
+)
+
+func TestClosingSignalEmitted(t *testing.T) {
+	mf := metrics.NewLocalFactory(0)
+	l, _ := zap.NewDevelopment()
+	f := newDeadlockDetector(mf, l, time.Millisecond)
+	w := f.startMonitoringForPartition(1)
+	assert.NotNil(t, <-w.closePartitionChannel())
+	w.close()
+}
+
+func TestNoClosingSignalIfMessagesProcessedInInterval(t *testing.T) {
+	mf := metrics.NewLocalFactory(0)
+	l, _ := zap.NewDevelopment()
+	f := newDeadlockDetector(mf, l, time.Second)
+	f.start()
+	defer f.close()
+
+	w := f.startMonitoringForPartition(1)
+
+	w.incrementMsgCount()
+	assert.Zero(t, len(w.closePartitionChannel()))
+	w.close()
+}
+
+func TestResetMsgCount(t *testing.T) {
+	mf := metrics.NewLocalFactory(0)
+	l, _ := zap.NewDevelopment()
+	f := newDeadlockDetector(mf, l, 50*time.Millisecond)
+	f.start()
+	defer f.close()
+	w := f.startMonitoringForPartition(1)
+	w.incrementMsgCount()
+	time.Sleep(75 * time.Millisecond)
+	// Resets happen after every ticker interval
+	w.close()
+	assert.Zero(t, atomic.LoadUint64(w.msgConsumed))
+}
+
+func TestPanicFunc(t *testing.T) {
+	mf := metrics.NewLocalFactory(0)
+	l, _ := zap.NewDevelopment()
+	f := newDeadlockDetector(mf, l, time.Minute)
+
+	assert.Panics(t, func() {
+		f.panicFunc(1)
+	})
+
+	testutils.AssertCounterMetrics(t, mf, testutils.ExpectedMetric{
+		Name:  "deadlockdetector.panic-issued",
+		Tags:  map[string]string{"partition": "1"},
+		Value: 1,
+	})
+}
+
+func TestPanicForPartition(t *testing.T) {
+	l, _ := zap.NewDevelopment()
+	wg := sync.WaitGroup{}
+	wg.Add(1)
+	d := deadlockDetector{
+		metricsFactory: metrics.NewLocalFactory(0),
+		logger:         l,
+		interval:       1,
+		panicFunc: func(partition int32) {
+			wg.Done()
+		},
+	}
+
+	d.startMonitoringForPartition(1)
+	wg.Wait()
+}
+
+func TestGlobalPanic(t *testing.T) {
+	l, _ := zap.NewDevelopment()
+	wg := sync.WaitGroup{}
+	wg.Add(1)
+	d := deadlockDetector{
+		metricsFactory: metrics.NewLocalFactory(0),
+		logger:         l,
+		interval:       1,
+		panicFunc: func(partition int32) {
+			wg.Done()
+		},
+	}
+
+	d.start()
+	wg.Wait()
+}