Carbonating, preferrably inexpensively

Hello,
I just started brewing my first batch about three weeks ago, it was an Imperial IPA and I've since siphoned it from a primary fermentation bucket to a secondary fermentation bucket. I was planning to begin carbonating it sometime later this week, probably on Friday. I guess my curiosity is how I can best go about this is as quickly but inexpensively as possible. I know that patience is key here, but I admit, I'm a little overeager and am anxious to taste the fruits of my labor. I'm using two different plastic buckets that I bought at the local wine and brew store, I'm not sure their sizes but I know they were intended for 5 gallons of beer so perhaps they're 6.5 gallons, and I had originally intended to do the traditional carbonating for a few weeks with a priming sugar. However, I had been reading about force carbonation and was interested in that idea of speeding the process along. Is there any way to do that with the plastic buckets? I also have a keg and may have access to a CO2 pump, but it's a regular sized keg so I'm not sure if that would factor in.
If there are any other options please let me know, or if it's the case that I just need to sit on my hands and be patient (which I'm figuring it may be) then that advice would be appreciated as well.
Thanks

You'll need to carbonate in the keg or in bottles. You won't be able to in buckets because the pressure will just pop the lid off.

Welcome to homebrewing, theres a lot to learn!

Thanks, that would have been a disaster. Would it be a bad idea to use the larger keg shell I currently have? I'd like to avoid buying a Cornelius keg for now, so it sounds like that may limit me to bottling.

You probably want to just stick to bottles. The larger keg, I am assuming it is a half barrel, would have too much head space.

LeeHill43 said:

Thanks, that would have been a disaster. Would it be a bad idea to use the larger keg shell I currently have? I'd like to avoid buying a Cornelius keg for now, so it sounds like that may limit me to bottling.

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Bottle your first few batches. Its good practice and you'll be able to share your first brew that way.

An IIPA will take a while to "condition" so be aware that if you force carbonate, you will more than likely be drinking green beer even though it is carbonated.

Personally I like to condition my higher gravity brews for a couple months. In fact I will usually use natural carbonation in the keg for the higher gravity brews. Since it's your first batch it will probably be gone before it's conditioned which is the norm, often times the last glass or bottle is the best.

Brew on and welcome