diff --git a/pykafka/connection.py b/pykafka/connection.py
index 5fd119288..cc751eebf 100644
--- a/pykafka/connection.py
+++ b/pykafka/connection.py
@@ -168,8 +168,9 @@ def connect(self, timeout):
                     timeout / 1000,
                     (self.source_host, self.source_port)
                 ))
-        except (self._handler.SockErr, self._handler.GaiError):
+        except (self._handler.SockErr, self._handler.GaiError) as e:
             log.info("Failed to connect to %s:%s", self.host, self.port)
+            log.info(e)
             raise SocketDisconnectedError("<broker {}:{}>".format(self.host, self.port))
         log.debug("Successfully connected to %s:%s", self.host, self.port)
 
diff --git a/pykafka/test/kafka_instance.py b/pykafka/test/kafka_instance.py
index a54397e4c..d5c0136e4 100644
--- a/pykafka/test/kafka_instance.py
+++ b/pykafka/test/kafka_instance.py
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@
 import tempfile
 import time
 
+from pkg_resources import parse_version
+
 from testinstances import utils
 from testinstances.exceptions import ProcessNotStartingError
 from testinstances.managed_instance import ManagedInstance
@@ -116,7 +118,8 @@ def delete_topic(self, topic_name):
     def flush(self):
         """Delete all topics."""
         for topic in self.list_topics():
-            if not topic.startswith(b'__'):  # leave internal topics alone
+            if topic and not topic.startswith(b'__') and \
+                    "marked for deletion" not in topic:  # leave internal topics alone
                 self.delete_topic(topic)
 
     def list_topics(self):
@@ -233,7 +236,8 @@ def _gen_ssl_certs(self):
 
         :returns: :class:`CertManager` or None upon failure
         """
-        if self._kafka_version >= "0.9":  # no SSL support in earlier versions
+        # no SSL support in earlier versions
+        if parse_version(self._kafka_version) >= parse_version("0.9"):
             try:
                 return CertManager(self._bin_dir)
             except:  # eg. because openssl or other tools not installed