diff --git a/code/libraries/coded-sequence/java/nu/marginalia/sequence/GammaCodedSequence.java b/code/libraries/coded-sequence/java/nu/marginalia/sequence/GammaCodedSequence.java
index bfb3a548..6dacceae 100644
--- a/code/libraries/coded-sequence/java/nu/marginalia/sequence/GammaCodedSequence.java
+++ b/code/libraries/coded-sequence/java/nu/marginalia/sequence/GammaCodedSequence.java
@@ -149,6 +149,8 @@ public class GammaCodedSequence implements Iterable<Integer>, CodedSequence {
      * or equal to zero.
      */
     public static ByteBuffer encode(ByteBuffer workArea, IntList sequence) {
+        workArea.clear();
+
         var writer = new BitWriter(workArea);
 
         writer.putGamma(sequence.size() + 1);
diff --git a/code/libraries/coded-sequence/java/nu/marginalia/sequence/io/BitWriter.java b/code/libraries/coded-sequence/java/nu/marginalia/sequence/io/BitWriter.java
index 57455541..cbf27f50 100644
--- a/code/libraries/coded-sequence/java/nu/marginalia/sequence/io/BitWriter.java
+++ b/code/libraries/coded-sequence/java/nu/marginalia/sequence/io/BitWriter.java
@@ -23,8 +23,6 @@ public class BitWriter {
         this.bitPosition = 0;
         this.currentValue = 0;
         this.totalMeaningfulBytes = 0;
-
-        underlying.clear();
     }
 
     public void putBit(boolean value) {