diff --git a/config/initializers/elasticsearch.rb b/config/initializers/elasticsearch.rb
index 3776ec62f..63730b5b3 100644
--- a/config/initializers/elasticsearch.rb
+++ b/config/initializers/elasticsearch.rb
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
     host: ENV['ES_HOST'],
     port: '80',
     scheme: 'http',
-    request_timeout: ENV['ES_REQUEST_TIMEOUT']
+    request_timeout: ENV['ES_REQUEST_TIMEOUT'].to_i
     ) do |f|
     f.request :aws_sigv4,
       credentials: Aws::Credentials.new(ENV['AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID'], ENV['AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY']),