diff --git a/lib/BackbeatConsumer.js b/lib/BackbeatConsumer.js
index f5a35f1cb9..a6538c6f1b 100644
--- a/lib/BackbeatConsumer.js
+++ b/lib/BackbeatConsumer.js
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ class BackbeatConsumer extends EventEmitter {
             // automatically create topic
             'allow.auto.create.topics': true,
             'statistics.interval.ms': 1000,
-            'rebalance_cb': true,
+            'rebalance_cb': this._onRebalance.bind(this),
         };
         const topicParams = {};
         if (this._fromOffset !== undefined) {
@@ -209,15 +209,6 @@ class BackbeatConsumer extends EventEmitter {
         this._consumer.on('event.error', err => this._log.error('rdkafka.error', { err }));
         this._consumer.on('event.throttle', throttle => this._log.info('rdkafka.throttle', { throttle }));
         this._consumer.on('event.stats', observeKafkaStats);
-        this._consumer.on('rebalance', (err, assignment) => {
-            if (err.code === kafka.CODES.ERRORS.ERR__ASSIGN_PARTITIONS) {
-                this._log.debug('rdkafka.assign', { err, assignment });
-            } else if (err.code === kafka.CODES.ERRORS.ERR__REVOKE_PARTITIONS) {
-                this._log.debug('rdkafka.revoke', { err });
-            } else {
-                this._log.error('rdkafka.rebalance', { err, assignment });
-            }
-        });
 
         this._connect();
     }
@@ -495,6 +486,50 @@ class BackbeatConsumer extends EventEmitter {
         return undefined;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @param {kafka.KafkaError} err Rebalance event
+     * @param {TopicPartition[]} assignment List of (un)assigned partitions
+     * @returns {void}
+     */
+    _onRebalance(err, assignment) {
+        if (err.code === kafka.CODES.ERRORS.ERR__ASSIGN_PARTITIONS) {
+            this._log.debug('rdkafka.assign', { err, assignment });
+
+            try {
+                this._consumer.assign(assignment);
+            } catch (e) {
+                // Ignore exceptions if we are not connected
+                const logger = this._consumer.isConnected() ? this._log.error : this._log.debug;
+                logger.bind(this._log)('rdkafka.assign failed', { err, e, assignment });
+            }
+        } else if (err.code === kafka.CODES.ERRORS.ERR__REVOKE_PARTITIONS) {
+            this._log.debug('rdkafka.revoke', {
+                err,
+                queueLen: this._processingQueue.length(),
+                running: this._processingQueue.running(),
+            });
+
+            if (!this._processingQueue || this._processingQueue.length() + this._processingQueue.running() === 0) {
+                this._consumer.unassign();
+                return;
+            }
+
+            this._processingQueue.drain(() => {
+                this._log.debug('processing queue drained, un-assigning');
+
+                try {
+                    this._consumer.unassign();
+                } catch (e) {
+                    // Ignore exceptions if we are not connected
+                    const logger = this._consumer.isConnected() ? this._log.error : this._log.debug;
+                    logger.bind(this._log)('rdkafka.unassign failed', { err, e, assignment });
+                }
+            });
+        } else {
+            this._log.error('rdkafka.rebalance', { err, assignment });
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Function to be called when safe to commit the consumer offset
      * of the given entry