It's important that the steel drum is unlined, food grade (not treated with epoxy). New drums cost up to $150, but I've found used 55-gallon drums for around $25 on Craigslist.

This has become big business. In 2009, the U.S. drum industry manufactured 21 million new 55-gallon steel drums (and another 15 million plastic ones). Roughly the same number of new steel drums is ...

Last spring, the world’s first 55-gallon steel drum to be lithographed in full color flashed down the line at Rheem Manufacturing Company’s New Orleans plant. Rheem had begun in earnest to ...