A box barrel.

[Bubbles541]

So, then making a watertight box just got a whole lot easier I think. I could just build it so it recesses into the base bored, with silicon pressed into the joints, and have the sides held together with maybe dove tails, also sealed with silicon, and the same with the top as the bottom. Except the top will have a hole drilled for the bung.

 

[Ohio-Ed]

Actually, I was thinking of a silicone gasket, like an o-ring. Probably cut something from a sheet of silicone if you're gonna go square. I was not thinking silicone adhesive. If you use adhesive to attach the top and bottom, it is likely to crack, or cause the wood to crack.

I would certainly make the top (or bottom) removable so you can clean it.

BTW... You mentioned a 1 cubic foot box. The amount of expansion depends on a lot of factors include the cut of the lumber (quarter, flat or rift sawed, etc), but I think you could expect at least 1/4" across a 1 foot side.

 

[CvilleKevin]

good luck on the brew box project.

If the goal is how to get a decent barrel on a low budget, I believe Baybrewer has the right idea for Southern CA. Too bad no distilleries. How about tequila? That gets aged in white oak barrels a lot.

I can see the downside of a used barrel is they might be 50 bucks or less but are usually at least 50 gallons, which is a lot of cider to deal with at once. although you could get lucky and find a homebrewer selling a small one on craigslist.

If you go new, it looks like the cheapest you can get is a 5gal oak barrel shipped to you is about 200 bucks and it goes up from there, so I can see why you'd want to make something

For a small volume like 5 gal, you may not need the intrinsic structural integrity of a barrel to keep it together, but it will be tricky to keep it from warping over time with fermentation inside, humidity changes outside. Rectangular band are inherently weaker than round ones, but may be enough to do the job for 5-10 gal. It seems that evenly toasting a cubical box might be challenging. You might want to practice on a plywood one first.

+1 for pics of jimmyjet's barrels - sounds like you're close man. 3rd time's the charm

 

[Bubbles541]

Id love to get my hands on a 3 gallon barrel. But I'm pretty sure they don't make those. I'll look around fir a barrel, and I'll try to get around to making this one sometime before I go.