diff --git a/scripts/persistent-conda-ebs/on-create.sh b/scripts/persistent-conda-ebs/on-create.sh
index bedc610..55275cb 100644
--- a/scripts/persistent-conda-ebs/on-create.sh
+++ b/scripts/persistent-conda-ebs/on-create.sh
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ unset SUDO_UID
 # Install a separate conda installation via Miniconda
 WORKING_DIR=/home/ec2-user/SageMaker/custom-miniconda
 mkdir -p "$WORKING_DIR"
-wget https://repo.anaconda.com/miniconda/Miniconda3-4.6.14-Linux-x86_64.sh -O "$WORKING_DIR/miniconda.sh"
+wget https://repo.anaconda.com/miniconda/Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh -O "$WORKING_DIR/miniconda.sh"
 bash "$WORKING_DIR/miniconda.sh" -b -u -p "$WORKING_DIR/miniconda" 
 rm -rf "$WORKING_DIR/miniconda.sh"
 
@@ -28,8 +28,11 @@ source "$WORKING_DIR/miniconda/bin/activate"
 KERNEL_NAME="custom_python"
 PYTHON="3.6"
 
+echo "INFO: Creating new conda environment with name $KERNEL_NAME and Python version $PYTHON"
+conda config --prepend channels conda-forge
 conda create --yes --name "$KERNEL_NAME" python="$PYTHON"
 conda activate "$KERNEL_NAME"
+echo "INFO: Python version: `python --version`"
 
 pip install --quiet ipykernel