If you want to make a Barrel in Minecraft, all you’ll need are components made from wood. You can use them in place of Chests for more compact and efficient storage. Barrels can look great as decorations as well.
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What You Need to Make a Barrel
There are technically 2 ways to make a Barrel, depending on which version of Minecraft you’re playing. In the Bedrock Edition, you need to use 2 Wooden Slabs and 6 Sticks. On a Crafting Table, place 3 Sticks on the left column of slots and the other 3 on the right column. Then, Place 1 Wooden Slab on the top-middle slot and the other on the bottom-middle slot.
In the Java Edition, you just need to swap out all of the Sticks for Wooden Planks. What type of Wooden Slabs and Wooden Planks you use does not matter—you can mix and match as you like. However, the appearance of the Barrel will not change, regardless of what type of wood you use.
Where To Find Barrels
In addition to making a Barrel yourself, you can also find them in a few different ways. You can potentially find up to 3 Barrels in the cottages of Fisherman Villagers. Furthermore, in the Chests of Fisherman’s cottages, you have a 24.2% chance of finding 1 to 3 Barrels as loot.
How to Use a Barrel
Pick a spot in your base and use the Barrel while it’s in your hand to place it. Afterward, you can interact with it to open its inventory. Barrels can store 27 items—the same as a single Chest. However, you cannot make Barrels longer by placing 2 of them next to each other like you can with Chests.
Are Barrels Better to Use Than Chests?
You can place a Barrel anywhere that you can place a Chest. However, there’s a key difference in how you open Barrels. To open a Chest that has been placed, the area directly above it cannot be occupied by a block or item. Even tamed Cats that are sitting on Chests will prevent you from opening them.
The same is not true for Barrels, as you can open them under any circumstance. As long as you can reach a Barrel, you can open it! This means that you can pack your storage area with even more containers and optimize organization.
Using Barrels as Job Site Blocks
While your main reason to use Barrels is for your storage needs, they also have another function. Barrels are the job site block for Fisherman Villagers. If you need some fishing-related goods, plop down a Barrel next to an unemployed Villager. When the Villager interacts with the Barrel, they will turn into a Fisherman.
Interesting Facts About Using Barrels
- In the Bedrock Edition, Barrels can be moved with Pistons
- Flowing water doesn’t break or push a Barrel
- Lava cannot destroy a Barrel, even though fire animations still appear
- If you open or break a Barrel close to a Piglin, they will become enraged and will attack you
- You can use Barrels with both Hoppers and Droppers to move contents around through automation
