diff --git a/contrib/submit-build.json b/contrib/submit-build.json
index c5a42739..ad494680 100644
--- a/contrib/submit-build.json
+++ b/contrib/submit-build.json
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 {
-    "scmurl": "git://pkgs.stg.fedoraproject.org/modules/testmodule.git?#789dc7b"
+    "scmurl": "git://pkgs.stg.fedoraproject.org/modules/testmodule.git?#789dc7b",
+    "branch": "master"
 }
diff --git a/module_build_service/utils.py b/module_build_service/utils.py
index ad9f6481..4b8da1d7 100644
--- a/module_build_service/utils.py
+++ b/module_build_service/utils.py
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ def _fetch_mmd(url, branch=None, allow_local_url=False, whitelist_url=False):
                               'does not match the branch "{1}"'.format(
                                   mmd.stream, scm.branch))
     else:
-        mmd.stream = scm.branch
+        mmd.stream = str(scm.branch)
 
     # If the version is in the modulemd, throw an exception since the version
     # is generated by pdc-updater