diff --git a/filebeat/input/kafka/config.go b/filebeat/input/kafka/config.go
index 2637db1a1ea..b132a843055 100644
--- a/filebeat/input/kafka/config.go
+++ b/filebeat/input/kafka/config.go
@@ -182,6 +182,9 @@ func newSaramaConfig(config kafkaInputConfig) (*sarama.Config, error) {
 
 	if config.Kerberos != nil {
 		cfgwarn.Beta("Kerberos authentication for Kafka is beta.")
+
+		k.Net.SASL.Enable = true
+		k.Net.SASL.Mechanism = sarama.SASLTypeGSSAPI
 		k.Net.SASL.GSSAPI = sarama.GSSAPIConfig{
 			AuthType:           int(config.Kerberos.AuthType),
 			KeyTabPath:         config.Kerberos.KeyTabPath,
diff --git a/libbeat/outputs/kafka/config.go b/libbeat/outputs/kafka/config.go
index 6e25a7afd85..d2b645f075d 100644
--- a/libbeat/outputs/kafka/config.go
+++ b/libbeat/outputs/kafka/config.go
@@ -218,6 +218,9 @@ func newSaramaConfig(log *logp.Logger, config *kafkaConfig) (*sarama.Config, err
 
 	if config.Kerberos != nil {
 		cfgwarn.Beta("Kerberos authentication for Kafka is beta.")
+
+		k.Net.SASL.Enable = true
+		k.Net.SASL.Mechanism = sarama.SASLTypeGSSAPI
 		k.Net.SASL.GSSAPI = sarama.GSSAPIConfig{
 			AuthType:           int(config.Kerberos.AuthType),
 			KeyTabPath:         config.Kerberos.KeyTabPath,