diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 6994ad147..7295e2d09 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -514,7 +514,6 @@ pages:
     # We also don't need a CONTEXT_DIR var as its also
     # hardcoded to be windows-docker/
     DOCKERFILE: 'ci/windows-docker/Dockerfile'
-    GST_UPSTREAM_BRANCH: 'main'
   tags:
     - 'windows'
     - 'shell'
diff --git a/ci/images_template.yml b/ci/images_template.yml
index 39ada9029..1230d77db 100644
--- a/ci/images_template.yml
+++ b/ci/images_template.yml
@@ -2,3 +2,6 @@ variables:
   GST_RS_IMG_TAG: "2024-04-10.0"
   GST_RS_STABLE: "1.77.2"
   GST_RS_MSRV: "1.70.0"
+  # The branch we use to build GStreamer from in the docker images
+  # Ex. main, 1.24, my-test-branch
+  GST_UPSTREAM_BRANCH: 'main'
diff --git a/ci/install-gst.sh b/ci/install-gst.sh
index 422ef230a..140d98c71 100755
--- a/ci/install-gst.sh
+++ b/ci/install-gst.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 set -e
 
+DEFAULT_BRANCH="$GST_UPSTREAM_BRANCH"
+
 pip3 install meson==1.1.1 --break-system-packages
 
 # gstreamer-rs already has a 'gstreamer' directory so don't clone there
@@ -9,7 +11,7 @@ pushd .
 cd ..
 git clone https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/gstreamer/gstreamer.git \
     --depth 1 \
-    --branch 1.24
+    --branch "$DEFAULT_BRANCH"
 
 cd gstreamer