How to Turn a Whiskey Barrel into a Rain Barrel

Vancouver Island gets plenty of rain, just not when the garden needs it. Most of it falls between October and April, and by July a lot of island communities are on watering restrictions. A rain barrel lets you bank some of that winter and spring rain for summer. A real bourbon barrel looks a lot better doing it than a plastic drum.

Why a Bourbon Barrel Works

A full bourbon barrel is a 53-gallon (200 litre) container made to hold liquid for years. The white oak is tight-grained, the staves are pressure-fit with no glue, and the charred inside resists rot. Once the wood is wet it swells tight, and it stays that way as long as there's water in it.

Use rainwater from your roof for gardens, lawns, and washing things, not for drinking. Roof runoff picks up grit and whatever is on your shingles. For the first few fills you may also notice a faint bourbon smell, which won't bother your plants.

What You'll Need

• One full whiskey barrel
• A rain barrel spigot with a bulkhead fitting
• A downspout diverter kit or a hole in the top for the downspout
• Stainless steel mesh to screen the inlet
• A rain barrel stand or a level base of patio blocks
• Drill, hole saw sized to your fittings, and a jigsaw if you're cutting an inlet

Step 1: Swell and Check the Barrel

Before you drill anything, stand the barrel up and fill it with a hose. A barrel that's been dry for a while may weep at a few seams. That's normal. Leave it full for two or three days and the oak will swell and seal itself. If one spot is still dripping after that, mark it and rub a little food-grade barrel wax into the seam once it's dry.

Step 2: Pick the Spot and Build the Base

A full rain barrel weighs around 250 kg. Whatever it sits on needs to be level and solid: compacted gravel, patio slabs, or a stand rated for that weight. Don't set it on soft lawn, because it will lean as the ground settles.

Raise it 12 to 18 inches. Rain barrels work on gravity, so the higher the barrel, the better the flow. That height also gives you room to fit a watering can under the spigot.

Step 3: Install the Spigot

Drill the spigot hole in the side of the barrel, about 3 to 4 inches above the bottom. Sediment settles in the bottom, and leaving a little water below the spigot keeps that grit out of your hose.

Use a bulkhead-style spigot. It goes through the stave with a gasket and nut on the inside, so it clamps tight even on a curved surface. A plain threaded tap screwed into the wood will usually weep. If you can't reach inside to tighten the nut, install the spigot before you cut the top inlet, then reach in through the inlet hole.

Step 4: Make the Inlet

You have two choices:

• Diverter (our pick): a diverter fits into your downspout and sends water to the barrel through a hose until the barrel is full, then lets the rest carry on down the downspout. You only need a small hole in the top head for the hose, and overflow takes care of itself.
• Open inlet: cut a hole in the top head under the downspout and cover it with stainless mesh. You'll also need an overflow fitting near the top of the barrel with a hose that carries extra water at least a few feet away from your foundation.

Either way, screen every opening. Standing water with a gap in the lid is a mosquito nursery in a week.

Step 5: Seasonal Care

• Keep it wet. If you drain the barrel completely in a hot spell, the staves will shrink and it may weep again when it refills. Leaving a few inches in the bottom helps.
• Clean the screen a couple of times a year, especially after the fall leaf drop.
• Hard freezes: most island winters are mild, but if a deep cold snap is coming, draw the level down and open the spigot so ice can't push on the staves.
• Hoops: if a hoop starts to slide after a dry spell, tap it back down and pin it with two short screws.

How Far 200 Litres Goes

A single full barrel is about 20 to 25 watering cans. That's enough to keep a few planters and a herb bed going through a week or two of drought. A 1,000 square foot roof sheds roughly 550 litres from just 6 mm of rain, so one ordinary shower can fill it a couple of times over. Want more storage? Set two barrels side by side and link them with a short hose near the bottom.

Our full whiskey barrels are $125 with pickup by appointment in Errington. See the rain barrel conversion gear we recommend, or get in touch if you want help picking a tight barrel for the job.