diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index a038d04b..4f46a018 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ python:
   - '2.7'
   - '3.4'
   - '3.5'
+  - '3.6'
 matrix:
   include:
     - python: '3.7'
diff --git a/snowplow_tracker/_version.py b/snowplow_tracker/_version.py
index 59f9008f..63c85c93 100644
--- a/snowplow_tracker/_version.py
+++ b/snowplow_tracker/_version.py
@@ -20,6 +20,6 @@
 """
 
 
-__version_info__ = (0, 8, 2)
+__version_info__ = (0, 8, 4)
 __version__ = ".".join(str(x) for x in __version_info__)
 __build_version__ = __version__ + ''
diff --git a/snowplow_tracker/emitters.py b/snowplow_tracker/emitters.py
index ff2380cc..e2dfab28 100644
--- a/snowplow_tracker/emitters.py
+++ b/snowplow_tracker/emitters.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
     # Python 3
     from queue import Queue
 
+import celery
 from celery import Celery
 import redis
 import requests
@@ -51,16 +52,6 @@
 
 new_contract("redis", lambda x: isinstance(x, (redis.Redis, redis.StrictRedis)))
 
-try:
-    # Check whether a custom Celery configuration module named "snowplow_celery_config" exists
-    import snowplow_celery_config
-    app = Celery()
-    app.config_from_object(snowplow_celery_config)
-except ImportError:
-    # Otherwise configure Celery with default settings
-    snowplow_celery_config = None
-    app = Celery("Snowplow", broker="redis://guest@localhost//")
-
 
 class Emitter(object):
     """
@@ -385,14 +376,6 @@ def consume(self):
             self.queue.task_done()
 
 
-@app.task(bind=True, name='tasks.flush')  # the self passed with bind can be used for on_fail/retrying
-def flush_emitter(self, emitter):
-    try:
-        emitter.flush()
-    finally:
-        logger.info("Flush called on emitter")
-
-
 class CeleryEmitter(Emitter):
     """
         Uses a Celery worker to send HTTP requests asynchronously.
@@ -400,13 +383,24 @@ class CeleryEmitter(Emitter):
         but on_success and on_failure callbacks cannot be set.
     """
     def __init__(self, endpoint, protocol="http", port=None, method="get", buffer_size=None, byte_limit=None):
+        if not celery.current_app or not celery.current_app.configured:
+            try:
+                # Check whether a custom Celery configuration module named "snowplow_celery_config" exists
+                import snowplow_celery_config
+                app = Celery()
+                app.config_from_object(snowplow_celery_config)
+
+            except ImportError:
+                # Otherwise configure Celery with default settings
+                snowplow_celery_config = None
+                app = Celery("Snowplow", broker="redis://guest@localhost//")
         super(CeleryEmitter, self).__init__(endpoint, protocol, port, method, buffer_size, None, None, byte_limit)
 
     def flush(self):
         """
             Schedules a flush task
         """
-        flush_emitter.delay(self)  # passes emitter (self - CeleryEmitter) to task
+        super(CeleryEmitter, self).flush.delay()
         logger.info("Scheduled a Celery task to flush the event queue")
 
 
diff --git a/snowplow_tracker/payload.py b/snowplow_tracker/payload.py
index c7c788b5..894505c7 100644
--- a/snowplow_tracker/payload.py
+++ b/snowplow_tracker/payload.py
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ def add_json(self, dict_, encode_base64, type_when_encoded, type_when_not_encode
             json_dict = json.dumps(dict_, ensure_ascii=False)
 
             if encode_base64:
-                encoded_dict = base64.urlsafe_b64encode(json_dict.encode("ascii"))
+                encoded_dict = base64.urlsafe_b64encode(json_dict.encode("utf-8"))
                 if not isinstance(encoded_dict, str):
                     encoded_dict = encoded_dict.decode("utf-8")
                 self.add(type_when_encoded, encoded_dict)