British BBQ Society Forums

In the interests of safety - I don't think anyone should be recommending using a drum which has ever been used for petroleum products.

strechie, nice write up but I didn't see any mention of ensuring the barrel was free from any inflamable content, i.e. you cleaned the residue out before applying powertools or fire?

I'll tell you what, you're not wrong.

I may adjust it. I just did a quick risk analysis, looked inside, only a thin film of oil inside, was using a flap disk on the outside of the barrel so no cutting INTO the barrel just the outside lip and then cracked on.

I suppose one of the issues is finding a barrel that is suitable for the job. Whilst there are plenty of food grade ones available on ebay etc I can see why someone would use an oil barrel from a garage.

One issue I am having is finding the right size barrel and making sure its not galvanised as I have been told the chemicals used in the process to galvanise the steel can burn off at higher temperatures and result in some nastyness. I have found some tinplate drums but I am unsure if tinplate can stand higher temperatures without any issues. Any ideas folks?

I just took delivery of one of the food grade ones from eBay. Will be doing a burn-out this weekend (weather permitting) - lets see how that goes. I've heard that the orange lining inside these things is a real bugger to take off, so we'll see

May have to invest in some flap discs or wire brushes for my angle grinder.