diff --git a/ggml/src/ggml-metal.m b/ggml/src/ggml-metal.m
index c6a7014fc..40835074b 100644
--- a/ggml/src/ggml-metal.m
+++ b/ggml/src/ggml-metal.m
@@ -438,6 +438,7 @@ static struct ggml_backend_metal_context * ggml_metal_init(void) {
     ctx->capture_scope = nil;
 
     ctx->gf = nil;
+    Block_release(ctx->encode_async);
     ctx->encode_async = nil;
     for (int i = 0; i < GGML_METAL_MAX_COMMAND_BUFFERS; ++i) {
         ctx->command_buffers[i] = nil;
@@ -3000,46 +3001,6 @@ static enum ggml_status ggml_metal_graph_compute(
             }
         }
 
-        // TODO: how to avoid this allocation? I tried initializing it in ggml_backend_metal_set_n_cb but it crashes.
-        ctx->encode_async = ^(size_t iter) {
-            const int cb_idx = iter;
-            const int n_cb_l = ctx->n_cb;
-
-            const int n_nodes_0 = ctx->n_nodes_0;
-            const int n_nodes_1 = ctx->n_nodes_1;
-
-            const int n_nodes_per_cb = ctx->n_nodes_per_cb;
-
-            id<MTLCommandBuffer> command_buffer  = ctx->command_buffers[cb_idx];
-            id<MTLComputeCommandEncoder> encoder = [command_buffer computeCommandEncoder];
-
-            int node_start = 0;
-            int node_end   = n_nodes_0;
-
-            if (cb_idx < n_cb_l) {
-                node_start = n_nodes_0 + (                                         (cb_idx + 0) * n_nodes_per_cb);
-                node_end   = n_nodes_0 + (MIN((cb_idx == n_cb_l - 1) ? n_nodes_1 : (cb_idx + 1) * n_nodes_per_cb, n_nodes_1));
-            }
-
-            for (int idx = node_start; idx < node_end; ++idx) {
-                if (should_capture) {
-                    [encoder pushDebugGroup:[NSString stringWithCString:ggml_op_desc(ggml_graph_node(gf, idx)) encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
-                }
-
-                ggml_metal_encode_node(ctx, idx, encoder);
-
-                if (should_capture) {
-                    [encoder popDebugGroup];
-                }
-            }
-
-            [encoder endEncoding];
-
-            if (cb_idx < 2 || ctx->abort_callback == NULL) {
-                [command_buffer commit];
-            }
-        };
-
         // the main thread commits the first few commands immediately
         // command_buffer[n_cb]
         {
@@ -3468,10 +3429,46 @@ static void ggml_backend_metal_set_n_cb(ggml_backend_t backend, int n_cb) {
         }
     }
 
-    // TODO: setting encode_async here causes crash during the next ggml_metal_graph_compute call. why?
-    //ctx->encode_async = ^(size_t iter) {
-    //    ...
-    //};
+    ctx->encode_async = Block_copy(^(size_t iter) {
+        const int cb_idx = iter;
+        const int n_cb_l = ctx->n_cb;
+
+        const int n_nodes_0 = ctx->n_nodes_0;
+        const int n_nodes_1 = ctx->n_nodes_1;
+
+        const int n_nodes_per_cb = ctx->n_nodes_per_cb;
+
+        id<MTLCommandBuffer> command_buffer  = ctx->command_buffers[cb_idx];
+        id<MTLComputeCommandEncoder> encoder = [command_buffer computeCommandEncoder];
+
+        int node_start = 0;
+        int node_end   = n_nodes_0;
+
+        if (cb_idx < n_cb_l) {
+            node_start = n_nodes_0 + (                                         (cb_idx + 0) * n_nodes_per_cb);
+            node_end   = n_nodes_0 + (MIN((cb_idx == n_cb_l - 1) ? n_nodes_1 : (cb_idx + 1) * n_nodes_per_cb, n_nodes_1));
+        }
+
+        const bool should_capture = ctx->capture_next_compute;
+
+        for (int idx = node_start; idx < node_end; ++idx) {
+            if (should_capture) {
+                [encoder pushDebugGroup:[NSString stringWithCString:ggml_op_desc(ggml_graph_node(ctx->gf, idx)) encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
+            }
+
+            ggml_metal_encode_node(ctx, idx, encoder);
+
+            if (should_capture) {
+                [encoder popDebugGroup];
+            }
+        }
+
+        [encoder endEncoding];
+
+        if (cb_idx < 2 || ctx->abort_callback == NULL) {
+            [command_buffer commit];
+        }
+    });
 }
 
 static struct ggml_backend_i ggml_backend_metal_i = {