diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index ee8a56f7..e09e3847 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -10,11 +10,11 @@ ENV KAFKA_VERSION=$kafka_version \
     KAFKA_HOME=/opt/kafka \
     PATH=${PATH}:${KAFKA_HOME}/bin
 
-COPY download-kafka.sh start-kafka.sh broker-list.sh create-topics.sh /tmp/
+COPY download-kafka.sh start-kafka.sh broker-list.sh create-topics.sh start-console-consumer.sh start-console-producer.sh /tmp/
 
 RUN apk add --update unzip wget curl docker jq coreutils \
  && chmod a+x /tmp/*.sh \
- && mv /tmp/start-kafka.sh /tmp/broker-list.sh /tmp/create-topics.sh /usr/bin \
+ && mv /tmp/start-kafka.sh /tmp/broker-list.sh /tmp/create-topics.sh /tmp/start-console-consumer.sh /tmp/start-console-producer.sh /usr/bin \
  && /tmp/download-kafka.sh \
  && tar xfz /tmp/kafka_${SCALA_VERSION}-${KAFKA_VERSION}.tgz -C /opt \
  && rm /tmp/kafka_${SCALA_VERSION}-${KAFKA_VERSION}.tgz \
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index af80fa87..a78f382e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ The image is available directly from [Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com/r/wurst
 ## Pre-Requisites
 
 - install docker-compose [https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/](https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/)
-- modify the ```KAFKA_ADVERTISED_HOST_NAME``` in ```docker-compose.yml``` to match your docker host IP (Note: Do not use localhost or 127.0.0.1 as the host ip if you want to run multiple brokers.)
+- set an environment variable ```DOCKER_HOST_IP``` to match your docker host IP (Note: Do not use localhost or 127.0.0.1 as the host ip if you want to run multiple brokers.)
 - if you want to customize any Kafka parameters, simply add them as environment variables in ```docker-compose.yml```, e.g. in order to increase the ```message.max.bytes``` parameter set the environment to ```KAFKA_MESSAGE_MAX_BYTES: 2000000```. To turn off automatic topic creation set ```KAFKA_AUTO_CREATE_TOPICS_ENABLE: 'false'```
 - Kafka's log4j usage can be customized by adding environment variables prefixed with ```LOG4J_```. These will be mapped to ```log4j.properties```. For example: ```LOG4J_LOGGER_KAFKA_AUTHORIZER_LOGGER=DEBUG, authorizerAppender```
 
diff --git a/broker-list.sh b/broker-list.sh
index 73aa8220..52775034 100755
--- a/broker-list.sh
+++ b/broker-list.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 CONTAINERS=$(docker ps | grep 9092 | awk '{print $1}')
-BROKERS=$(for CONTAINER in ${CONTAINERS}; do docker port "$CONTAINER" 9092 | sed -e "s/0.0.0.0:/$HOST_IP:/g"; done)
+BROKERS=$(for CONTAINER in ${CONTAINERS}; do docker port "$CONTAINER" 9092 | sed -e "s/0.0.0.0:/$DOCKER_HOST_IP:/g"; done)
 echo "${BROKERS/$'\n'/,}"
diff --git a/docker-compose-single-broker.yml b/docker-compose-single-broker.yml
index 4d8e9f51..467e9e7c 100644
--- a/docker-compose-single-broker.yml
+++ b/docker-compose-single-broker.yml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ services:
     ports:
       - "9092:9092"
     environment:
-      KAFKA_ADVERTISED_HOST_NAME: 192.168.99.100
+      KAFKA_ADVERTISED_HOST_NAME: ${DOCKER_HOST_IP}
       KAFKA_CREATE_TOPICS: "test:1:1"
       KAFKA_ZOOKEEPER_CONNECT: zookeeper:2181
     volumes:
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 04b82c37..1ff824ce 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ services:
     ports:
       - "9092"
     environment:
-      KAFKA_ADVERTISED_HOST_NAME: 192.168.99.100
+      KAFKA_ADVERTISED_HOST_NAME: ${DOCKER_HOST_IP}
       KAFKA_ZOOKEEPER_CONNECT: zookeeper:2181
     volumes:
       - /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
diff --git a/start-console-consumer.sh b/start-console-consumer.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1d144cca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/start-console-consumer.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Use this script in a kafka shell instance to create a simple producer that reads from stdin and published to the given topic.
+
+if [[ -z "$1" ]]; then
+    echo 'Usage:' $0 '<topic_name>'
+	exit 1;
+fi
+
+$KAFKA_HOME/bin/kafka-console-consumer.sh --topic=$1 --bootstrap-server=`broker-list.sh`
diff --git a/start-console-producer.sh b/start-console-producer.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..86d1a216
--- /dev/null
+++ b/start-console-producer.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Use this script in a kafka shell instance to create a simple producer that reads from stdin and published to the given topic.
+
+if [[ -z "$1" ]]; then
+    echo 'Usage:' $0 '<topic_name>'
+	exit 1;
+fi
+
+$KAFKA_HOME/bin/kafka-console-producer.sh --topic=$1 --broker-list=`broker-list.sh`
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/start-kafka-shell.sh b/start-kafka-shell.sh
index 62663e49..d6c9f595 100755
--- a/start-kafka-shell.sh
+++ b/start-kafka-shell.sh
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-docker run --rm -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -e HOST_IP=$1 -e ZK=$2 -i -t wurstmeister/kafka /bin/bash
+docker run --rm -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -e DOCKER_HOST_IP=$DOCKER_HOST_IP -e ZK=DOCKER_HOST_IP:2181 -i -t wurstmeister/kafka /bin/bash