diff --git a/cogl/cogl/cogl-pipeline-debug.c b/cogl/cogl/cogl-pipeline-debug.c
index 7555257d0..9f1007b94 100644
--- a/cogl/cogl/cogl-pipeline-debug.c
+++ b/cogl/cogl/cogl-pipeline-debug.c
@@ -103,9 +103,10 @@ dump_layer_cb (CoglNode *node, void *user_data)
     {
       g_string_append_printf (changes_label, "\"];\n");
       g_string_append (state->graph, changes_label->str);
-      g_string_free (changes_label, TRUE);
     }
 
+  g_string_free (changes_label, TRUE);
+
   state_out.parent_id = layer_id;
 
   state_out.node_id_ptr = state->node_id_ptr;
@@ -210,9 +211,10 @@ dump_pipeline_cb (CoglNode *node, void *user_data)
     {
       g_string_append_printf (changes_label, "\"];\n");
       g_string_append (state->graph, changes_label->str);
-      g_string_free (changes_label, TRUE);
     }
 
+  g_string_free (changes_label, TRUE);
+
   if (layers)
     {
       g_list_foreach (pipeline->layer_differences,