diff --git a/make-release.sh b/make-release.sh
index 8c36edacbbf821ace31449c6fe786aa825708990..3f33b18401a9323b69b0115ed05239834d64bb40 100755
--- a/make-release.sh
+++ b/make-release.sh
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ set -e
 
 # if version is unset, will use the default experimental version from site.mk
 #VERSION=${3:-"2017.1.5~exp$(date '+%y%m%d%H%M')"}
-VERSION=${3:-"2017.1.5~exp$"}
+VERSION=${3:-"2017.1.5~exp"}
 # branch must be set to either experimental, beta or stable
 BRANCH=${2:-"stable"}
 # must point to valid ecdsa signing key created by ecdsakeygen, relative to Gluon base directory