New to home brewing

Hey there, I've decided I wanted to start up this hobby. I've got a 30L plastic bucket, 5 gallon carboy, a hydrometer, an airlock and some sanitizer. I think I should be good to go with my first batch. Anyways my question is I went to a home brew store by my place and the guy there said to first ferment my beer in the bucket with the top on and no means of the CO2. I asked about drilling a hole in the top and putting a bung and airlock on it and he said no, just leave the top. Now I know Im new and may not know a lot yet, but that doesnt seem right to me as I'm sure after 3-4 days in that the top will come bursting off. Just looking for what you guys thought as I'm sure youre more knowledgable about this then I am. Thanks in advance for any help.

that guy lied to you. when the yeast eats the sugar a massive amount of co2 is going to be released, and you will have an explosion of beer all over your room. You definately need an airlock

Maybe that guy is into fermenting under pressure. But that's usually done in a keg, so I don't know what he's talking about.

I've heard and read of MANY a horror story about exploding bucket lids by doing such things. AVOID! Drill your hole my friend.

Well that's exactly what I thought. It seemed like itwould be way to much pressure. So ust install the bung, or that and the airlock when I ferment in that?

Yup! Drill your hole. Place your bung. Then airlock goes into to bung. Or, you could just spring for a 6.5 gallon carboy. I like to watch my fermentations ; ) Krausens look so cool to me.

I have a transarent bucket so I can still watch and enjoy. He had no 6.5 gallon carboys at the shop.

It's all right if you leave the cover loose, but it is best to drill a bung hole and use the airlock from the get go.

Welcome to another Atlantic Canadian.

Yea, I had that happen with exploding beer. It sucked. Made a mess, lost probably 1/2 gallon of beer. I would avoid using an air lock and use a blow off tube. I had an air lock on my beer that exploded and it gummed and sealed my carboy tight, hence the explosion.