Barrel Storage

A sealed barrel for perishables

Barrel Storage is a container in ARK: Survival Evolved and ARK: Survival Ascended that greatly slows spoilage once it is sealed. The in-game text: "A small barrel to storage goods in, that can be sealed to slow spoiling of contents. Can also be used as a hidden place." The ARK Wiki calls it an upgraded Preserving Bin. The barrel comes with the Bob's Tall Tales I: Frontier Showdown DLC: without that DLC installed, the engram cannot be learned and the barrel cannot be crafted or used.

How sealing works

• Sealed to work: the barrel only does its job while sealed, and its contents cannot be viewed in that state.
• Slower spoiling: the spoil timer of food inside a sealed barrel is multiplied by 100. The wiki's example is Raw Meat, which lasts 10:00 normally and 16:40:00 in the barrel.
• Resealing: after opening it, you have to wait 5 minutes before sealing it again.
• Space: it holds 40 stacks of items.

It takes foods and food ingredients, eggs, honey and medicines, and even Wyvern Milk, which a Refrigerator will not accept. Unlike a Preserving Bin, though, it cannot turn Cooked Meats into Jerky. A charged Cryopod stored inside drains at half the usual rate, so its charge lasts twice as long. The barrel does not recharge it, but the wiki sees it as a stopgap until the Cryofridge is unlocked.

Crafting the barrel

The engram unlocks at level 23 for 9 engram points, with the Preserving Bin listed as its prerequisite. It is made in a Smithy or on an Argentavis Saddle, takes 5 seconds and gives 3.7 XP. Ingredients:

• 50 Wood (the wiki also lists Fungal Wood)
• 30 Sap
• 15 Metal Ingot (our ASE recipe and the wiki also accept Scrap Metal Ingot)

A barrel weighs 4 and they stack to 100, for a full stack weight of 400. Our records list it on 9 maps.

Damage resistance

The barrel counts as a wooden structure. Hands, stone weapons and ranged attacks without explosives do not damage it, and neither do many aggressive creatures, from the Raptor, Direwolf and Sabertooth to the Titanoboa and Thylacoleo.