diff --git a/cmd/thanos/query_frontend.go b/cmd/thanos/query_frontend.go
index bc3c0f1b20..5ac7342bf8 100644
--- a/cmd/thanos/query_frontend.go
+++ b/cmd/thanos/query_frontend.go
@@ -106,7 +106,10 @@ func runQueryFrontend(
 		if err != nil {
 			return errors.Wrap(err, "initializing the query frontend config")
 		}
-
+		if cfg.CortexResultsCacheConfig.CacheConfig.Memcache.Expiration == 0 {
+			level.Warn(logger).Log("msg", "memcached cache valid time set to 0, so using a default of 24 hours expiration time")
+			cfg.CortexResultsCacheConfig.CacheConfig.Memcache.Expiration = 24 * time.Hour
+		}
 		cfg.CortexResultsCacheConfig = &queryrange.ResultsCacheConfig{
 			Compression: cfg.CacheCompression,
 			CacheConfig: *cacheConfig,
diff --git a/pkg/queryfrontend/config.go b/pkg/queryfrontend/config.go
index b2b9e77ecf..3df378e76a 100644
--- a/pkg/queryfrontend/config.go
+++ b/pkg/queryfrontend/config.go
@@ -88,11 +88,6 @@ func NewCacheConfig(logger log.Logger, confContentYaml []byte) (*cortexcache.Con
 			level.Warn(logger).Log("message", "MaxItemSize is not yet supported by the memcached client")
 		}
 
-		if config.Expiration == 0 {
-			level.Warn(logger).Log("msg", "memcached cache valid time set to 0, so using a default of 24 hours expiration time")
-			config.Expiration = 24 * time.Hour
-		}
-
 		return &cortexcache.Config{
 			Memcache: cortexcache.MemcachedConfig{
 				Expiration:  config.Expiration,