diff --git a/defaults/main.yml b/defaults/main.yml
index 5e4545413456858739bd5530d3742c9c50f7cb70..5432ecade7a8fe56caf3dc395de0235c34aee4e9 100644
--- a/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/defaults/main.yml
@@ -42,5 +42,5 @@ gitlab:
     starttls: true
     tls: false
     verify_ssl: 'peer' # Can be: 'none', 'peer', 'client_once', 'fail_if_no_peer_cert'
-    #ca_path: '/etc/ssl/certs'
-    #ca_file: '/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt'
+    ca_path: ~ # eg '/etc/ssl/certs'
+    ca_file: ~ # eg '/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt'
diff --git a/templates/gitlab.rb.j2 b/templates/gitlab.rb.j2
index 42350efb69822733b5e5d42ac76e2f86424e8d4a..a40dc8ba5934023579c9bdaf3af998c2e790a754 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab.rb.j2
+++ b/templates/gitlab.rb.j2
@@ -645,10 +645,10 @@ gitlab_rails['smtp_tls'] = {{ gitlab.smtp.tls|to_json }}
 ###! Docs: http://api.rubyonrails.org/classes/ActionMailer/Base.html
 gitlab_rails['smtp_openssl_verify_mode'] = '{{ gitlab.smtp.verify_ssl }}'
 
-{% if 'ca_path' in gitlab.smtp %}
+{% if gitlab.smtp.ca_path %}
 gitlab_rails['smtp_ca_path'] = "{{ gitlab.smtp.ca_path }}"
 {% endif %}
-{% if 'ca_file' in gitlab.smtp %}
+{% if gitlab.smtp.ca_file %}
 gitlab_rails['smtp_ca_file'] = "{{ gitlab.smtp.ca_file }}"
 {% endif %}
 {% endif %}