diff --git a/knative-operator/deploy/resources/knativekafka/1-channel-consolidated.yaml b/knative-operator/deploy/resources/knativekafka/1-channel-consolidated.yaml
index 23da885d14..393457ce97 100644
--- a/knative-operator/deploy/resources/knativekafka/1-channel-consolidated.yaml
+++ b/knative-operator/deploy/resources/knativekafka/1-channel-consolidated.yaml
@@ -726,7 +726,9 @@ metadata:
   labels:
     kafka.eventing.knative.dev/release: "v0.22.3"
 spec:
-  replicas: 1
+  # this deployment is going to be scaled up by the
+  # controller when the very first KafkaChannel is created
+  replicas: 0
   selector:
     matchLabels:
       messaging.knative.dev/channel: kafka-channel
diff --git a/knative-operator/hack/001-eventing-kafkachannel_replicas1.patch b/knative-operator/hack/001-eventing-kafkachannel_replicas1.patch
deleted file mode 100644
index 827fa1d1ca..0000000000
--- a/knative-operator/hack/001-eventing-kafkachannel_replicas1.patch
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-diff --git a/knative-operator/deploy/resources/knativekafka/1-channel-consolidated.yaml b/knative-operator/deploy/resources/knativekafka/1-channel-consolidated.yaml
-index 393457ce..23da885d 100644
---- a/knative-operator/deploy/resources/knativekafka/1-channel-consolidated.yaml
-+++ b/knative-operator/deploy/resources/knativekafka/1-channel-consolidated.yaml
-@@ -726,9 +726,7 @@ metadata:
-   labels:
-     kafka.eventing.knative.dev/release: "v0.22.3"
- spec:
--  # this deployment is going to be scaled up by the
--  # controller when the very first KafkaChannel is created
--  replicas: 0
-+  replicas: 1
-   selector:
-     matchLabels:
-       messaging.knative.dev/channel: kafka-channel
diff --git a/knative-operator/hack/update-manifests.sh b/knative-operator/hack/update-manifests.sh
index f6f40bb8b9..6f76bd52f8 100755
--- a/knative-operator/hack/update-manifests.sh
+++ b/knative-operator/hack/update-manifests.sh
@@ -37,8 +37,5 @@ function download_kafka {
 
 download_kafka knativekafka "$KNATIVE_EVENTING_KAFKA_VERSION" "${kafka_files[@]}"
 
-# We set the replica to 1, for now, while upstream has it 0.
-git apply "$root/knative-operator/hack/001-eventing-kafkachannel_replicas1.patch"
-
 # This is for  SRVKE-807.
-git apply "$root/knative-operator/hack/007-eventing-kafka-pdb.patch"
+git apply "$root/knative-operator/hack/007-eventing-kafka-pdb.patch"
\ No newline at end of file