diff --git a/lib/mrsk/configuration.rb b/lib/mrsk/configuration.rb
index 65d69771..f12a85da 100644
--- a/lib/mrsk/configuration.rb
+++ b/lib/mrsk/configuration.rb
@@ -46,6 +46,10 @@ class Mrsk::Configuration
       "traefik.http.middlewares.#{service}.retry.initialinterval" => "500ms"
   end
 
+  def ssh_options
+    { user: config.ssh_user || "root", auth_methods: [ "publickey" ] }
+  end
+
   private
     attr_accessor :config
 
diff --git a/lib/tasks/mrsk/setup.rb b/lib/tasks/mrsk/setup.rb
index a1405753..1e5f0569 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/mrsk/setup.rb
+++ b/lib/tasks/mrsk/setup.rb
@@ -5,6 +5,4 @@ include SSHKit::DSL
 
 MRSK_CONFIG = Mrsk::Configuration.load_file(Rails.root.join("config/deploy.yml"))
 
-SSHKit::Backend::Netssh.configure do |ssh|
-  ssh.ssh_options = { user: MRSK_CONFIG.ssh_user, auth_methods: [ "publickey" ] }
-end
+SSHKit::Backend::Netssh.configure { |ssh| ssh.ssh_options = MRSK_CONFIG.ssh_options }