diff --git a/CHANGELOG.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
index eaaf196880ef..40584019faa3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
@@ -216,6 +216,7 @@ https://github.com/elastic/beats/compare/v6.2.3...master[Check the HEAD diff]
 - Add Audit log fileset to the Elasticsearch module. {pull}7365[7365]
 - Add Slow log fileset to the Elasticsearch module. {pull}7473[7473]
 - Add deprecation fileset to the Elasticsearch module. {pull}7474[7474]
+- Add `config_timezone` option to Kafka module to convert dates to UTC. {issue}7546[7546] {pull}7578[7578]
 
 *Heartbeat*
 
diff --git a/filebeat/docs/modules/kafka.asciidoc b/filebeat/docs/modules/kafka.asciidoc
index a6b903d4c95f..b6d33ff95311 100644
--- a/filebeat/docs/modules/kafka.asciidoc
+++ b/filebeat/docs/modules/kafka.asciidoc
@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@ include::../include/config-option-intro.asciidoc[]
 
 include::../include/var-paths.asciidoc[]
 
+include::../include/var-convert-timezone.asciidoc[]
+
 
 [float]
 === Fields
diff --git a/filebeat/filebeat.reference.yml b/filebeat/filebeat.reference.yml
index e78587bbd173..8d787d0f8afc 100644
--- a/filebeat/filebeat.reference.yml
+++ b/filebeat/filebeat.reference.yml
@@ -194,6 +194,8 @@ filebeat.modules:
     # Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
     #var.paths:
 
+    # Convert the timestamp to UTC. Requires Elasticsearch >= 6.1.
+    #var.convert_timezone: false
 
 #------------------------------- kibana Module -------------------------------
 - module: kibana
diff --git a/filebeat/module/kafka/_meta/config.yml b/filebeat/module/kafka/_meta/config.yml
index fe568e8e5621..9193a87a5fc9 100644
--- a/filebeat/module/kafka/_meta/config.yml
+++ b/filebeat/module/kafka/_meta/config.yml
@@ -11,3 +11,5 @@
     # Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
     #var.paths:
 
+    # Convert the timestamp to UTC. Requires Elasticsearch >= 6.1.
+    #var.convert_timezone: false
diff --git a/filebeat/module/kafka/_meta/docs.asciidoc b/filebeat/module/kafka/_meta/docs.asciidoc
index bdce41e96262..737a381be698 100644
--- a/filebeat/module/kafka/_meta/docs.asciidoc
+++ b/filebeat/module/kafka/_meta/docs.asciidoc
@@ -57,3 +57,5 @@ include::../include/config-option-intro.asciidoc[]
 ==== `log` fileset settings
 
 include::../include/var-paths.asciidoc[]
+
+include::../include/var-convert-timezone.asciidoc[]
diff --git a/filebeat/module/kafka/log/config/log.yml b/filebeat/module/kafka/log/config/log.yml
index 98c684ef52f6..2aec4b7b218e 100644
--- a/filebeat/module/kafka/log/config/log.yml
+++ b/filebeat/module/kafka/log/config/log.yml
@@ -8,3 +8,7 @@ multiline:
   pattern: '^\['
   negate: true
   match: after
+{{ if .convert_timezone }}
+processors:
+- add_locale: ~
+{{ end }}
diff --git a/filebeat/module/kafka/log/ingest/pipeline.json b/filebeat/module/kafka/log/ingest/pipeline.json
index 9ba9a2480640..6e9407e62a9f 100644
--- a/filebeat/module/kafka/log/ingest/pipeline.json
+++ b/filebeat/module/kafka/log/ingest/pipeline.json
@@ -52,7 +52,9 @@
       "date": {
         "field": "kafka.log.timestamp",
         "target_field": "@timestamp",
-        "formats": ["yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss,SSS"]
+        "formats": ["yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss,SSS"],
+        {< if .convert_timezone >}"timezone": "{{ beat.timezone }}",{< end >}
+        "ignore_failure": true
       }
     },
     {"remove": {"field": "kafka.log.timestamp" }}
diff --git a/filebeat/module/kafka/log/manifest.yml b/filebeat/module/kafka/log/manifest.yml
index 97ea201ec89d..bdf24847b008 100644
--- a/filebeat/module/kafka/log/manifest.yml
+++ b/filebeat/module/kafka/log/manifest.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ var:
       - "{{.kafka_home}}/logs/server.log*"
       - "{{.kafka_home}}/logs/state-change.log*"
       - "{{.kafka_home}}/logs/kafka-*.log*"
+  - name: convert_timezone
+    default: false
+    # if ES < 6.1.0, this flag switches to false automatically when evaluating the
+    # pipeline
+    min_elasticsearch_version:
+      version: 6.1.0
+      value: false
 
 ingest_pipeline: ingest/pipeline.json
 input: config/log.yml
diff --git a/filebeat/modules.d/kafka.yml.disabled b/filebeat/modules.d/kafka.yml.disabled
index fe568e8e5621..9193a87a5fc9 100644
--- a/filebeat/modules.d/kafka.yml.disabled
+++ b/filebeat/modules.d/kafka.yml.disabled
@@ -11,3 +11,5 @@
     # Filebeat will choose the paths depending on your OS.
     #var.paths:
 
+    # Convert the timestamp to UTC. Requires Elasticsearch >= 6.1.
+    #var.convert_timezone: false