diff --git a/.github/workflows/merge.yml b/.github/workflows/merge.yml
index 7c7878a8..f2af3e15 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/merge.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/merge.yml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ name: on-merge
 
 on:
   push:
-    branches: [ master, main ]
+    branches: [ master, main, beta/new_java_build ]
 
 permissions:
   contents: read
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ jobs:
 
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@85e6279cec87321a52edac9c87bce653a07cf6c2
-    - name: Set up JDK 8
+    - name: Set up JDK 17
       uses: actions/setup-java@3a4f6e1af504cf6a31855fa899c6aa5355ba6c12
       with:
         java-version: '17'
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 6f7c73ed..67d6830a 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
     <groupId>dev.openfeature</groupId>
     <artifactId>sdk</artifactId>
-    <version>1.14.0</version> <!--x-release-please-version -->
+    <version>1.14.1-RC</version> <!--x-release-please-version -->
 
     <properties>
         <toolchain.jdk.version>[17,)</toolchain.jdk.version>