diff --git a/lib/jekyll.rb b/lib/jekyll.rb
index 78572491..291b0d1e 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll.rb
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ require 'jekyll/command'
 
 require_all 'jekyll/commands'
 require_all 'jekyll/converters'
+require_all 'jekyll/converters/markdown'
 require_all 'jekyll/generators'
 require_all 'jekyll/tags'
 
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown.rb
index b345b88c..baeb9bf7 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown.rb
@@ -8,87 +8,23 @@ module Jekyll
 
       def setup
         return if @setup
-        case @config['markdown']
+        @parser = case @config['markdown']
           when 'redcarpet'
-            begin
-              require 'redcarpet'
-
-              @renderer ||= Class.new(Redcarpet::Render::HTML) do
-                def block_code(code, lang)
-                  lang = lang && lang.split.first || "text"
-                  output = add_code_tags(
-                    Pygments.highlight(code, :lexer => lang, :options => { :encoding => 'utf-8' }),
-                    lang
-                  )
-                end
-
-                def add_code_tags(code, lang)
-                  code = code.sub(/<pre>/,'<pre><code class="' + lang + '">')
-                  code = code.sub(/<\/pre>/,"</code></pre>")
-                end
-              end
-
-              @redcarpet_extensions = {}
-              @config['redcarpet']['extensions'].each { |e| @redcarpet_extensions[e.to_sym] = true }
-            rescue LoadError
-              STDERR.puts 'You are missing a library required for Markdown. Please run:'
-              STDERR.puts '  $ [sudo] gem install redcarpet'
-              raise FatalException.new("Missing dependency: redcarpet")
-            end
+            RedcarpetParser.new @config
           when 'kramdown'
-            begin
-              require 'kramdown'
-            rescue LoadError
-              STDERR.puts 'You are missing a library required for Markdown. Please run:'
-              STDERR.puts '  $ [sudo] gem install kramdown'
-              raise FatalException.new("Missing dependency: kramdown")
-            end
+            KramdownParser.new @config
           when 'rdiscount'
-            begin
-              require 'rdiscount'
-              @rdiscount_extensions = @config['rdiscount']['extensions'].map { |e| e.to_sym }
-            rescue LoadError
-              STDERR.puts 'You are missing a library required for Markdown. Please run:'
-              STDERR.puts '  $ [sudo] gem install rdiscount'
-              raise FatalException.new("Missing dependency: rdiscount")
-            end
+            RDiscountParser.new @config
           when 'maruku'
-            begin
-              require 'maruku'
-
-              if @config['maruku']['use_divs']
-                require 'maruku/ext/div'
-                STDERR.puts 'Maruku: Using extended syntax for div elements.'
-              end
-
-              if @config['maruku']['use_tex']
-                require 'maruku/ext/math'
-                STDERR.puts "Maruku: Using LaTeX extension. Images in `#{@config['maruku']['png_dir']}`."
-
-                # Switch off MathML output
-                MaRuKu::Globals[:html_math_output_mathml] = false
-                MaRuKu::Globals[:html_math_engine] = 'none'
-
-                # Turn on math to PNG support with blahtex
-                # Resulting PNGs stored in `images/latex`
-                MaRuKu::Globals[:html_math_output_png] = true
-                MaRuKu::Globals[:html_png_engine] =  @config['maruku']['png_engine']
-                MaRuKu::Globals[:html_png_dir] = @config['maruku']['png_dir']
-                MaRuKu::Globals[:html_png_url] = @config['maruku']['png_url']
-              end
-            rescue LoadError
-              STDERR.puts 'You are missing a library required for Markdown. Please run:'
-              STDERR.puts '  $ [sudo] gem install maruku'
-              raise FatalException.new("Missing dependency: maruku")
-            end
+            MarukuParser.new @config
           else
             STDERR.puts "Invalid Markdown processor: #{@config['markdown']}"
-            STDERR.puts "  Valid options are [ maruku | rdiscount | kramdown ]"
+            STDERR.puts "  Valid options are [ maruku | rdiscount | kramdown | redcarpet ]"
             raise FatalException.new("Invalid Markdown process: #{@config['markdown']}")
         end
         @setup = true
       end
-      
+
       def matches(ext)
         rgx = '(' + @config['markdown_ext'].gsub(',','|') +')'
         ext =~ Regexp.new(rgx, Regexp::IGNORECASE)
@@ -100,49 +36,7 @@ module Jekyll
 
       def convert(content)
         setup
-        case @config['markdown']
-          when 'redcarpet'
-            @redcarpet_extensions[:fenced_code_blocks] = !@redcarpet_extensions[:no_fenced_code_blocks]
-            @renderer.send :include, Redcarpet::Render::SmartyPants if @redcarpet_extensions[:smart]
-            markdown = Redcarpet::Markdown.new(@renderer.new(@redcarpet_extensions), @redcarpet_extensions)
-            markdown.render(content)
-          when 'kramdown'
-            # Check for use of coderay
-            if @config['kramdown']['use_coderay']
-              Kramdown::Document.new(content, {
-                :auto_ids      => @config['kramdown']['auto_ids'],
-                :footnote_nr   => @config['kramdown']['footnote_nr'],
-                :entity_output => @config['kramdown']['entity_output'],
-                :toc_levels    => @config['kramdown']['toc_levels'],
-                :smart_quotes  => @config['kramdown']['smart_quotes'],
-
-                :coderay_wrap               => @config['kramdown']['coderay']['coderay_wrap'],
-                :coderay_line_numbers       => @config['kramdown']['coderay']['coderay_line_numbers'],
-                :coderay_line_number_start  => @config['kramdown']['coderay']['coderay_line_number_start'],
-                :coderay_tab_width          => @config['kramdown']['coderay']['coderay_tab_width'],
-                :coderay_bold_every         => @config['kramdown']['coderay']['coderay_bold_every'],
-                :coderay_css                => @config['kramdown']['coderay']['coderay_css']
-              }).to_html
-            else
-              # not using coderay
-              Kramdown::Document.new(content, {
-                :auto_ids      => @config['kramdown']['auto_ids'],
-                :footnote_nr   => @config['kramdown']['footnote_nr'],
-                :entity_output => @config['kramdown']['entity_output'],
-                :toc_levels    => @config['kramdown']['toc_levels'],
-                :smart_quotes  => @config['kramdown']['smart_quotes']
-              }).to_html
-            end
-          when 'rdiscount'
-            rd = RDiscount.new(content, *@rdiscount_extensions)
-            html = rd.to_html
-            if rd.generate_toc and html.include?(@config['rdiscount']['toc_token'])
-              html.gsub!(@config['rdiscount']['toc_token'], rd.toc_content.force_encoding('utf-8'))
-            end
-            html
-          when 'maruku'
-            Maruku.new(content).to_html
-        end
+        @parser.convert(content)
       end
     end
   end
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/kramdown_parser.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/kramdown_parser.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..58857276
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/kramdown_parser.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+module Jekyll
+  module Converters
+    class Markdown
+      class KramdownParser
+        def initialize(config)
+          require 'kramdown'
+          @config = config
+        rescue LoadError
+          STDERR.puts 'You are missing a library required for Markdown. Please run:'
+          STDERR.puts '  $ [sudo] gem install kramdown'
+          raise FatalException.new("Missing dependency: kramdown")
+        end
+
+        def convert(content)
+          # Check for use of coderay
+          kramdown_configs = if @config['kramdown']['use_coderay']
+            base_kramdown_configs.merge({
+              :coderay_wrap               => @config['kramdown']['coderay']['coderay_wrap'],
+              :coderay_line_numbers       => @config['kramdown']['coderay']['coderay_line_numbers'],
+              :coderay_line_number_start  => @config['kramdown']['coderay']['coderay_line_number_start'],
+              :coderay_tab_width          => @config['kramdown']['coderay']['coderay_tab_width'],
+              :coderay_bold_every         => @config['kramdown']['coderay']['coderay_bold_every'],
+              :coderay_css                => @config['kramdown']['coderay']['coderay_css']
+            })
+          else
+            # not using coderay
+            base_kramdown_configs
+          end
+          Kramdown::Document.new(content, kramdown_configs).to_html
+        end
+
+        def base_kramdown_configs
+          {
+            :auto_ids      => @config['kramdown']['auto_ids'],
+            :footnote_nr   => @config['kramdown']['footnote_nr'],
+            :entity_output => @config['kramdown']['entity_output'],
+            :toc_levels    => @config['kramdown']['toc_levels'],
+            :smart_quotes  => @config['kramdown']['smart_quotes']
+          }
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/maruku_parser.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/maruku_parser.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..911366c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/maruku_parser.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+module Jekyll
+  module Converters
+    class Markdown
+      class MarukuParser
+        def initialize(config)
+          require 'maruku'
+          @config = config
+          if @config['maruku']['use_divs']
+            load_divs_library
+          end
+          if @config['maruku']['use_tex']
+            load_blahtext_library
+          end
+        rescue LoadError
+          STDERR.puts 'You are missing a library required for Markdown. Please run:'
+          STDERR.puts '  $ [sudo] gem install maruku'
+          raise FatalException.new("Missing dependency: maruku")
+        end
+
+        def load_divs_library
+          require 'maruku/ext/div'
+          STDERR.puts 'Maruku: Using extended syntax for div elements.'
+        end
+
+        def load_blahtext_library
+          require 'maruku/ext/math'
+          STDERR.puts "Maruku: Using LaTeX extension. Images in `#{@config['maruku']['png_dir']}`."
+
+          # Switch off MathML output
+          MaRuKu::Globals[:html_math_output_mathml] = false
+          MaRuKu::Globals[:html_math_engine] = 'none'
+
+          # Turn on math to PNG support with blahtex
+          # Resulting PNGs stored in `images/latex`
+          MaRuKu::Globals[:html_math_output_png] = true
+          MaRuKu::Globals[:html_png_engine] =  @config['maruku']['png_engine']
+          MaRuKu::Globals[:html_png_dir] = @config['maruku']['png_dir']
+          MaRuKu::Globals[:html_png_url] = @config['maruku']['png_url']
+        end
+
+        def convert(content)
+          Maruku.new(content).to_html
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/rdiscount_parser.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/rdiscount_parser.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..87b09831
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/rdiscount_parser.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+module Jekyll
+  module Converters
+    class Markdown
+      class RDiscountParser
+        def initialize(config)
+          require 'rdiscount'
+          @config = config
+          @rdiscount_extensions = @config['rdiscount']['extensions'].map { |e| e.to_sym }
+        rescue LoadError
+          STDERR.puts 'You are missing a library required for Markdown. Please run:'
+          STDERR.puts '  $ [sudo] gem install rdiscount'
+          raise FatalException.new("Missing dependency: rdiscount")
+        end
+
+        def convert(content)
+          rd = RDiscount.new(content, *@rdiscount_extensions)
+          html = rd.to_html
+          if rd.generate_toc and html.include?(@config['rdiscount']['toc_token'])
+            html.gsub!(@config['rdiscount']['toc_token'], rd.toc_content.force_encoding('utf-8'))
+          end
+          html
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..92d8aec9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown/redcarpet_parser.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+module Jekyll
+  module Converters
+    class Markdown
+      class RedcarpetParser
+        def initialize(config)
+          require 'redcarpet'
+          @config = config
+          @redcarpet_extensions = {}
+          @config['redcarpet']['extensions'].each { |e| @redcarpet_extensions[e.to_sym] = true }
+
+          @renderer ||= Class.new(Redcarpet::Render::HTML) do
+            def block_code(code, lang)
+              lang = lang && lang.split.first || "text"
+              output = add_code_tags(
+                Pygments.highlight(code, :lexer => lang, :options => { :encoding => 'utf-8' }),
+                lang
+              )
+            end
+
+            def add_code_tags(code, lang)
+              code = code.sub(/<pre>/,'<pre><code class="' + lang + '">')
+              code = code.sub(/<\/pre>/,"</code></pre>")
+            end
+          end
+        rescue LoadError
+          STDERR.puts 'You are missing a library required for Markdown. Please run:'
+          STDERR.puts '  $ [sudo] gem install redcarpet'
+          raise FatalException.new("Missing dependency: redcarpet")
+        end
+
+        def convert(content)
+          @redcarpet_extensions[:fenced_code_blocks] = !@redcarpet_extensions[:no_fenced_code_blocks]
+          @renderer.send :include, Redcarpet::Render::SmartyPants if @redcarpet_extensions[:smart]
+          markdown = Redcarpet::Markdown.new(@renderer.new(@redcarpet_extensions), @redcarpet_extensions)
+          markdown.render(content)
+        end
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end