diff --git a/streams/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/StreamsConfig.java b/streams/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/StreamsConfig.java
index 068fcb869de10..e1d6315a72574 100644
--- a/streams/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/StreamsConfig.java
+++ b/streams/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/streams/StreamsConfig.java
@@ -1268,7 +1268,7 @@ public Map<String, Object> getProducerConfigs(final String clientId) {
         props.putAll(clientProvidedProps);
 
         // When using EOS alpha, stream should auto-downgrade the transactional commit protocol to be compatible with older brokers.
-        if (StreamThread.eosAlphaEnabled(this)) {
+        if (StreamThread.processingMode(this) == StreamThread.ProcessingMode.EXACTLY_ONCE_ALPHA) {
             props.put("internal.auto.downgrade.txn.commit", true);
         }