diff --git a/app/logical/downloads/rewrite_strategies/base.rb b/app/logical/downloads/rewrite_strategies/base.rb
index bd17fc0ce..8550eb652 100644
--- a/app/logical/downloads/rewrite_strategies/base.rb
+++ b/app/logical/downloads/rewrite_strategies/base.rb
@@ -16,10 +16,12 @@ module Downloads
     protected
       def http_head_request(url, headers)
         uri = URI.parse(url)
-        Net::HTTP.start(uri.host, uri.port) do |http|
-          http.request_head(uri.request_uri, headers) do |res|
-            return res
-          end
+        http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
+        if uri.scheme == "https"
+          http.use_ssl = true
+        end
+        http.request_head(uri.request_uri, headers) do |res|
+          return res
         end
       end