diff --git a/offset_request.go b/offset_request.go
index b4e63bf6d..326c3720c 100644
--- a/offset_request.go
+++ b/offset_request.go
@@ -28,17 +28,17 @@ func (b *offsetRequestBlock) decode(pd packetDecoder, version int16) (err error)
 
 type OffsetRequest struct {
 	Version        int16
-	replicaID      *int32
-	storeReplicaID int32
+	replicaID      int32
+	isReplicaIDSet bool
 	blocks         map[string]map[int32]*offsetRequestBlock
 }
 
 func (r *OffsetRequest) encode(pe packetEncoder) error {
-	if r.replicaID == nil {
+	if r.isReplicaIDSet {
+		pe.putInt32(r.replicaID)
+	} else {
 		// default replica ID is always -1 for clients
 		pe.putInt32(-1)
-	} else {
-		pe.putInt32(*r.replicaID)
 	}
 
 	err := pe.putArrayLength(len(r.blocks))
@@ -126,15 +126,15 @@ func (r *OffsetRequest) requiredVersion() KafkaVersion {
 }
 
 func (r *OffsetRequest) SetReplicaID(id int32) {
-	r.storeReplicaID = id
-	r.replicaID = &r.storeReplicaID
+	r.replicaID = id
+	r.isReplicaIDSet = true
 }
 
 func (r *OffsetRequest) ReplicaID() int32 {
-	if r.replicaID == nil {
-		return -1
+	if r.isReplicaIDSet {
+		return r.replicaID
 	}
-	return r.storeReplicaID
+	return -1
 }
 
 func (r *OffsetRequest) AddBlock(topic string, partitionID int32, time int64, maxOffsets int32) {