diff --git a/tomcat-multiple-instances/defaults/main.yml b/tomcat-multiple-instances/defaults/main.yml
index f7a1fd21..095451a3 100644
--- a/tomcat-multiple-instances/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/tomcat-multiple-instances/defaults/main.yml
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@ tomcat_m_heap_size: '{{ tomcat_m_min_heap_size }}'
 tomcat_m_permgen_size: 512m
 tomcat_m_restart_timeout: 300
 # -server -Djava.awt.headless=true are always used. No need to specify them
-tomcat_m_java_opts: "-Xms{{ tomcat_m_min_heap_size }} -Xmx{{ tomcat_m_heap_size }} -XX:MaxPermSize={{ tomcat_m_permgen_size }}"
+tomcat_m_java_opts_heap: "-Xms{{ tomcat_m_min_heap_size }} -Xmx{{ tomcat_m_heap_size }}"
+tomcat_m_java_opts_permgen: "-XX:MaxPermSize={{ tomcat_m_permgen_size }}"
+tomcat_m_java_opts: "{{ tomcat_m_java_opts_heap }} {{ tomcat_m_java_opts_permgen }}"
 tomcat_m_java_gc_opts: "-XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC"
 # Use "-XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC" to enable the CMS garbage collector (improved
 # response time). If you use that option and you run Tomcat on a machine with
diff --git a/tomcat-multiple-instances/templates/tomcat-default.j2 b/tomcat-multiple-instances/templates/tomcat-default.j2
index 0152cd9b..86ecf1ba 100644
--- a/tomcat-multiple-instances/templates/tomcat-default.j2
+++ b/tomcat-multiple-instances/templates/tomcat-default.j2
@@ -2,8 +2,13 @@ TOMCAT_USER={{ item.user }}
 TOMCAT_GROUP={{ item.user }}
 JAVA_HOME={{ item.java_home }}
 JAVA_OPTS="-server -Djava.awt.headless=true"
+{% if item.java_heap is defined %}
+JAVA_HEAP="{{ item.java_heap }}"
+{% else %}
+JAVA_HEAP="{{ tomcat_m_java_opts_heap }}"
+{% endif %}
 {% if item.java_opts is defined %}
-JAVA_OPTS="{{ item.java_opts }} $JAVA_OPTS"
+JAVA_OPTS="{{ item.java_opts }} $JAVA_OPTS $JAVA_HEAP"
 {% endif %}
 {% if item.java_gc_opts is defined %}
 JAVA_OPTS="{{ item.java_gc_opts }} $JAVA_OPTS"