diff --git a/pykafka/rdkafka/simple_consumer.py b/pykafka/rdkafka/simple_consumer.py
index d3444463d..7e71cd854 100644
--- a/pykafka/rdkafka/simple_consumer.py
+++ b/pykafka/rdkafka/simple_consumer.py
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
+LIBRDKAFKA_MAX_ALLOWED_QUEUED_MAX_MESSAGE_BYTES = 2097151  # see librdkafka commit cc43f4
+
 
 class RdKafkaSimpleConsumer(SimpleConsumer):
     """A pykafka.SimpleConsumer with librdkafka-based fetchers
@@ -248,9 +250,10 @@ def _mk_rdkafka_config_lists(self):
             # queued.max.messages.kbytes so for now we infer the implied
             # maximum (which, with default settings, is ~2GB per partition):
             "queued.min.messages": self._queued_max_messages,
-            "queued.max.messages.kbytes": str(
+            "queued.max.messages.kbytes": str(min(
                 self._queued_max_messages
-                * self._fetch_message_max_bytes // 1024),
+                * self._fetch_message_max_bytes // 1024,
+                LIBRDKAFKA_MAX_ALLOWED_QUEUED_MAX_MESSAGE_BYTES)),
 
             "fetch.wait.max.ms": self._fetch_wait_max_ms,
             "fetch.message.max.bytes": self._fetch_message_max_bytes,