diff --git a/playbooks/manual/upgrade/mbs.yml b/playbooks/manual/upgrade/mbs.yml
index ac44886d68..cabd64a55c 100644
--- a/playbooks/manual/upgrade/mbs.yml
+++ b/playbooks/manual/upgrade/mbs.yml
@@ -92,6 +92,8 @@
    - /srv/web/infra/ansible/vars/{{ ansible_distribution }}.yml
   handlers:
   - import_tasks: "{{ handlers_path }}/restart_services.yml"
+  vars:
+    mbs_import_default_modules: False
 
   pre_tasks:
   - name: tell nagios to shush w.r.t. the backend
@@ -114,6 +116,11 @@
   - name: And... start the backend again
     service: name="fedmsg-hub" state=started
 
+  - name: Import the default-modules
+    command: /usr/bin/mbs-manager import_module /etc/module-build-service/default-modules/{{ item | basename }}
+    with_fileglob:
+    - default-modules.{{ env }}/*.yaml
+
   post_tasks:
   - name: tell nagios to unshush w.r.t. the backend
     nagios: action=unsilence service=host host={{ inventory_hostname_short }}{{ env_suffix }}
diff --git a/roles/mbs/common/tasks/main.yml b/roles/mbs/common/tasks/main.yml
index 0acd97671c..7c782ccd53 100644
--- a/roles/mbs/common/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/mbs/common/tasks/main.yml
@@ -98,4 +98,6 @@
   command: /usr/bin/mbs-manager import_module /etc/module-build-service/default-modules/{{ item | basename }}
   with_fileglob:
   - default-modules.{{ env }}/*.yaml
+  when: mbs_import_default_modules | default(True)
+