diff --git a/sdks/java/io/iceberg/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/iceberg/RecordWriterManager.java b/sdks/java/io/iceberg/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/iceberg/RecordWriterManager.java
index 1e25e6b9c234..d5439ad83831 100644
--- a/sdks/java/io/iceberg/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/iceberg/RecordWriterManager.java
+++ b/sdks/java/io/iceberg/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/iceberg/RecordWriterManager.java
@@ -163,7 +163,10 @@ boolean write(Record record) {
 
       @Nullable RecordWriter writer = writers.getIfPresent(routingPartitionKey);
       if (writer == null && openWriters >= maxNumWriters) {
-        return false;
+        writers.cleanUp();
+        if (openWriters >= maxNumWriters) {
+          return false;
+        }
       }
       writer = fetchWriterForPartition(routingPartitionKey, writer);
       writer.write(record);