How to Build an Oil Tank Pig Roaster

Pork cooked in a roaster

If you don't have the money to buy an expensive gas grill, you can make a roaster out of a large oil drum. You can finish building it and have it ready to go in a single afternoon. It will work as a roaster for any kinds of meats.

Things You'll Need

• 50-gallon oil drum
• Safety goggles
• Weed burner
• Electric drill
• Heat-resistant spray paint
• Four long bolts, washers
• Small metal basket
• Grate

Instructions

1. Stand your empty 50-gallon oil drum right-side up, and remove the lid.

2. Put on your safety goggles and burn the inside of the oil drum thoroughly with your weed burner to destroy any residue that may be on the surface or inside the drum. A weed burner can be purchased from any gardening or home improvement store. If you don't want to purchase a weed burner, you can start a fire in the interior of the drum and let it burn for at least an hour. To start the fire, simply place wood kindling in the bottom of the drum and use paper or lighter fluid to start it.

3. Turn your drum upside down, so the opening is on the ground. Drill a 3/4-inch hole on the side of the drum, roughly 3 inches down from the sealed end. Move 18 inches to the side and drill another hole. Repeat this until you have worked your way around the circumference of the drum. These will be your air intake holes.

4. Turn the drum right side up, and drill 4 more 3/4-inch holes on the side of the drum, roughly 6 inches down from the top. Eyeball the holes to make sure they are more or less evenly spaced around the circumference of the drum. These holes will hold your cooking grate.

5. Coat the outside of your cooker with heat-resistant spray paint (available at any hardware store) to cover up any discoloration from the previous burning. Spray paint the lid as well.

6. Insert your long bolts in the 3/4 holes in the top of the drum, and secure them with washers. These will be the supports for your metal cooking grate.

7. Insert your small metal basket at the bottom of the drum. It should be no wider than the interior of the drum and about 5 or 6 inches tall. You will put charcoal or wood in this basket when you are ready to start cooking. Make sure the metal basket is heat- and fire-resistant.

8. Place the metal grate (available at any hardware or industrial cooking supply store) over the bolts at the top of the drum. Make sure your grate isn't larger than the width of the drum, but also make sure it's big enough to hold whatever foods you intend to put on it. You now have a cooker ready to prepare a pig.

References

• Youtube: How to Build an Oil Drum BBQ
• Youtube: How to Build a Drum Smoker