How to Build a Cooker From a 55 Gallon Drum

Recycle an old barrel into a homemade cooker.

An old 55-gallon drum can be converted into an outdoor cooker to grill and smoke your food. The shape is ideal for grilling a lot of food at once or slow smoking your food for a long time. Because of this, competitive barbecue teams often use 55-gallon drums as the basis for their cooking rigs, though they may use multiple drums in various configurations. Building one of these beasts at home will cost you a lot less than a pre-made grill of the same size.

Things You'll Need

• 55-gallon food drum (avoid drums that were used for toxic substances)
• Reciprocating saw with a metal cutting blade
• Ear plugs
• Eye protection
• Masking tape
• Tape measure
• Drill and bits
• Wrenches
• Grinder or file
• Nuts and bolts
• 3 hinges
• 2 handles
• Grill grate
• 4 sections of 1/2 inch steel tubing between 33 and 36 inches long (for legs)
• 1 section of 1 inch steel tubing 12 inches long
• Metal epoxy

Instructions

1. Lay the drum on its side and measure the diameter of the circles on either end. Find the middle of the circle and put a piece of tape there. Repeat for the other side. Take a long piece of tape and wrap it around the length of the drum connecting the two center points.

2. Put in your ear plugs and put on your eye protection. Cut the barrel in half along the tape line. Work slowly to keep the cut straight and even. Remove the top half when you're done with the cut. Grind or file the edges to make them smooth.

3. Take the piece of one-inch tubing and hold it on the top left-hand side of the top piece of the drum. Use tape to mark a circle the size of the pipe. Cut out the circle (you may need to start by drilling out a hole to get your saw in). File the edges. Use the same technique to make holes on the bottom of the bottom half of the drum. Space four holes equally across the bottom of the barrel.

4. Mix the metal epoxy components and then roll the mixture into a thin cylinder. Put the one inch diameter tube on the hole on the top half of the barrel and then press the epoxy into the seam between the barrel and the tube. Allow the epoxy to cure as per the manufacturers specifications before cooking.

5. Drill holes through the bottom of the barrel the diameter of your bolts to mount the legs. Space them evenly at the four "corners" of the barrel. Drill through the 1/2 inch tubing to join with the holes in the barrel. Thread bolts through the holes in the tubing and the barrel and tighten the nuts on them to secure the legs in place.

6. Drill holes for the hinges on the back and the handles on the front. The hinges should be evenly spaced across the back of both barrel halves and the handles should be evenly spaced across the front of the top barrel half. Bolt the hardware into place.

7. Drill two holes in each side of the bottom barrel half and thread a bolt through each hole as far as you can. Tighten nuts down so the bolts are secure. Lay the grill across the bolts sticking out from the sides.

Tips & Warnings

• Add an extra bolt per leg for a more stable barrel. Keep the one bolt per leg if you want your barrel to be more portable -- with a few quick turns of a wrench you can fold the legs up and put the barrel in the back of a truck.

References

• The Smoke Ring: Big Baby Double-Barrel Grill
• Baby Back Grill: How to Build a Grill out of a 55-Gallon Drum