diff --git a/config.example.toml b/config.example.toml
index 7ad4df9..800652a 100644
--- a/config.example.toml
+++ b/config.example.toml
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
 	#port = 6697
 	# Possible values: 'yes' (connect over SSL/TLS and verify certificates), 'no' (connect without SSL/TLS), and 'insecure' (connect over SSL/TLS but disable all certificate checks)
 	#ssl = 'yes'
+	# Possible values: 'inet' or 'INET' (force IPv4), 'inet6' or 'INET6' (force IPv6); if unspecified, both are used (if supported)
+	#family =
 	#nick = 'irclogbot'
 	#real = 'I am an irclog bot.'
 	# Certificate and key for SASL EXTERNAL authentication with NickServ; certfile is a string containing the path to a .pem file which has the certificate and the key, certkeyfile similarly for one containing only the key; default values are empty (None in Python) to disable authentication; the connection is terminated if authentication fails; relative paths are evaluated relative to the config file.
diff --git a/irclog.py b/irclog.py
index 98e1b70..98a4881 100644
--- a/irclog.py
+++ b/irclog.py
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ class Config(dict):
 				if not isinstance(obj['storage']['flushTime'], (int, float)) or obj['storage']['flushTime'] <= 0:
 					raise InvalidConfig('Invalid storage flushTime: must be a positive int or float')
 		if 'irc' in obj:
-			if any(x not in ('host', 'port', 'ssl', 'nick', 'real', 'certfile', 'certkeyfile') for x in obj['irc']):
+			if any(x not in ('host', 'port', 'ssl', 'family', 'nick', 'real', 'certfile', 'certkeyfile') for x in obj['irc']):
 				raise InvalidConfig('Unknown key found in irc section')
 			if 'host' in obj['irc'] and not isinstance(obj['irc']['host'], str): #TODO: Check whether it's a valid hostname
 				raise InvalidConfig('Invalid IRC host')
@@ -134,6 +134,10 @@ class Config(dict):
 				raise InvalidConfig('Invalid IRC port')
 			if 'ssl' in obj['irc'] and obj['irc']['ssl'] not in ('yes', 'no', 'insecure'):
 				raise InvalidConfig(f'Invalid IRC SSL setting: {obj["irc"]["ssl"]!r}')
+			if 'family' in obj['irc']:
+				if obj['irc']['family'] not in ('inet', 'INET', 'inet6', 'INET6'):
+					raise InvalidConfig('Invalid IRC family')
+				obj['irc']['family'] = getattr(socket, f'AF_{obj["irc"]["family"].upper()}')
 			if 'nick' in obj['irc'] and not isinstance(obj['irc']['nick'], str): #TODO: Check whether it's a valid nickname, username, etc.
 				raise InvalidConfig('Invalid IRC nick')
 			if len(IRCClientProtocol.nick_command(obj['irc']['nick'])) > 510:
@@ -259,7 +263,7 @@ class Config(dict):
 		defaults = {
 			'logging': {'level': 'INFO', 'format': '{asctime} {levelname} {name} {message}'},
 			'storage': {'path': os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(self._filename)), 'flushTime': 60},
-			'irc': {'host': 'irc.hackint.org', 'port': 6697, 'ssl': 'yes', 'nick': 'irclogbot', 'real': 'I am an irclog bot.', 'certfile': None, 'certkeyfile': None},
+			'irc': {'host': 'irc.hackint.org', 'port': 6697, 'ssl': 'yes', 'family': 0, 'nick': 'irclogbot', 'real': 'I am an irclog bot.', 'certfile': None, 'certkeyfile': None},
 			'web': {'host': '127.0.0.1', 'port': 8080, 'search': {'maxTime': 10, 'maxSize': 1048576, 'nice': 10, 'maxMemory': 52428800}},
 			'channels': obj['channels'], # _merge_dicts expects the same structure, and this is the easiest way to achieve that
 		}
@@ -708,6 +712,7 @@ class IRCClient:
 					host = self.config['irc']['host'],
 					port = self.config['irc']['port'],
 					ssl = self._get_ssl_context(),
+					family = self.config['irc']['family'],
 				))
 				# No automatic cancellation of t because it's handled manually below.
 				done, _ = await wait_cancel_pending({asyncio.create_task(sigintEvent.wait())}, paws = {t}, return_when = asyncio.FIRST_COMPLETED, timeout = 30)