diff --git a/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/library/gitea_create_repos.py b/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/library/gitea_create_repos.py
index a0afec63fd..be0dcb0038 100755
--- a/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/library/gitea_create_repos.py
+++ b/playbooks/roles/gitea-git-repos/library/gitea_create_repos.py
@@ -122,14 +122,23 @@ class Gitea(object):
 
     def make_gitea_project(self, project, csrf_token):
         org, repo = project['project'].split('/', 1)
+        repo_properties = {
+                'auto_init': True,
+                'name': repo,
+                'description': project.get('description', '')[:255],
+                # Do not use this functionality until jeepyb can do similar
+                # for the gerrit side. Once Gerrit and Gitea can be configured
+                # this could be used on new repos.
+                # Note we default to master to avoid relying on tool defaults
+                # as we currently rely on Gitea, Gerrit, and Git to all be in
+                # sync which may not be the case going forward.
+                'default_branch': project.get('default-branch', 'master'),
+                'private': False,
+                'readme': 'Default',
+            }
         resp = self.post(
             '/api/v1/org/{org}/repos'.format(org=org),
-            json=dict(
-                auto_init=True,
-                description=project.get('description', '')[:255],
-                name=repo,
-                private=False,
-                readme='Default'))
+            json=repo_properties)
         self.log("Created repo:", project['project'])
 
     def update_gitea_project_settings(self, project, csrf_token):