Bucket Spigot
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CanAusBrewer
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My PET fermenter has a tap about 2 inches of the bottom and the tap has am attachment that makes it draw from above. I bottle directly from my fermenter bit use hop sack for dry hop to reduce trub. I reckon if you're installing your own tap you should install it so it draws from above. I have no issues with junk ending up in my beer.
Don't stick the siphon all the way down to the bottom. Start somewhere in the middle and when you see the beer surface get near the end of the siphon keep lowering it slowly to keep it under the beer. Then when there's an inch or 3 left to go, carefully and slowly tilt the bucket / fermentor to increase the depth of the pool. As soon as you see most beer is gone and you'd risk picking up yeast, pull the siphon up. Another pair of hands really helps.
The leftover yeast can be reused as long as you keep proper sanitation.
The leftover yeast can be reused as long as you keep proper sanitation.
madscientist451
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I've been told the "bottling bucket" with a spigot is less sanitary than one without a spigot, more places for bacteria to hide, I suppose.
I use a bucket with a spigot for my primary, attach a hose and rack off to secondary carboy, its just easier for me. I do have to siphon from the secondary to another container with a spigot, but there's less yeast to worry about then. My method is a little outdated, but it works for me.
The downside, once I had the spigot shear off at the bucket for an unknown reason. A whole bucket of Fullers London Pride Porter clone
leaked all over my beer storage area and soaked into the wood floor before I discovered it. What a mess!
I use a bucket with a spigot for my primary, attach a hose and rack off to secondary carboy, its just easier for me. I do have to siphon from the secondary to another container with a spigot, but there's less yeast to worry about then. My method is a little outdated, but it works for me.
The downside, once I had the spigot shear off at the bucket for an unknown reason. A whole bucket of Fullers London Pride Porter clone
leaked all over my beer storage area and soaked into the wood floor before I discovered it. What a mess!
I have used Bottling Buckets for years as fermenters.......
I love using them as it eliminates siphoning. The one caution I would mention is you have to make sure you are really good about sanitizing the spigot - take it apart, clean, sanitize. I put it all back together under starsan water in a tub. I also put a baggie over it with rubberband during fermentation to keep dust, fruit flies, etc. out of it. I respray it with starsan before draining into keg. With a little care and attention to detail, they make great fermenters.
I love using them as it eliminates siphoning. The one caution I would mention is you have to make sure you are really good about sanitizing the spigot - take it apart, clean, sanitize. I put it all back together under starsan water in a tub. I also put a baggie over it with rubberband during fermentation to keep dust, fruit flies, etc. out of it. I respray it with starsan before draining into keg. With a little care and attention to detail, they make great fermenters.
cardfan
Member
I have spigots on most of my fermenters, its easier than a siphon and cuts down on oxygen getting into your beer during transfer. I would drill your hole a couple of inches from the bottom. I did once have a spigot that leaked a little during fermentation so make sure that it is clean and tight.
FuzzeWuzze
I Love DIY
Just buy a brewcraft 8 gallon bucket, they come with a threaded spot for a spigot already, so you can just drill out the back and screw in the spigot. Less chances of it failing. And 8 gallon buckets never need blow offs 
Just buy a crewcraft 8 gallon bucket, they come with a threaded spot for a spigot already, so you can just drill out the back and screw in the spigot. Less chances of it failing. And 8 gallon buckets never need blow offs
Nice! Every time I buy something I find out there is something better! I wonder if my Gamma lids will fit these?
FuzzeWuzze
I Love DIY
Oops fixed, brewcraft not crewcraft
They are great buckets
Trust me you don't need gamma lids on these things. Imagine the hardest lid you have ever had to deal with and multiply it by two to get how tough the brewcraft lids are. Once you use them a bit its easier but the first few times take some serious mashing
They are great buckets
Trust me you don't need gamma lids on these things. Imagine the hardest lid you have ever had to deal with and multiply it by two to get how tough the brewcraft lids are. Once you use them a bit its easier but the first few times take some serious mashing
CanAusBrewer
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Nope not necessary. Mine just has an attachment that fits into the tap on the inside. It's just a one inch piece of cylindrical hollow plastic that is sealed except for a slit along its length. You install it to face up. The fermenter it's made by Copper Tun. Might not be available in the states but I'm sure similar products exist.
The spigot on my Cooper's Micro brew FV has that slotted press-in cylinder thing. I use the red & white Italian spigots on my other fermenter & bottling bucket I built. The one on the Midwest shorty bucket is about 2" off the bottom, measured from the center-line of the mounting hole. I also use a washer cut out of this thin brown rubber material I found at Lowe's. It goes on the inside of the mounting lug first, before the white seal & lock lug.
The spigot now takes less turns/pressure to seal real well with the new seal in place. Only cost a couple bucks to get enough material & razor knife to make plenty of'em. I like how the Italian spigot has the recess on the end of the spout to fit 3/8" tubing to it for racking,etc. But as stated, always remove it & clean/sanitize it & all it's parts before cleaning the mounting hole & re-installing wet with Starsan after every use. Then their are no sanitation issues with them.
The spigot now takes less turns/pressure to seal real well with the new seal in place. Only cost a couple bucks to get enough material & razor knife to make plenty of'em. I like how the Italian spigot has the recess on the end of the spout to fit 3/8" tubing to it for racking,etc. But as stated, always remove it & clean/sanitize it & all it's parts before cleaning the mounting hole & re-installing wet with Starsan after every use. Then their are no sanitation issues with them.
I am not sure if this is the reason for your incident or not, but one thing you need to do with bottling buckets is to put the spigot in so that it is slightly sideways. If you put it in like normal(straight up and down verically) the spigot is actually too long to set the bucket on the floor - so, if the bucket is full, and resting on the floor all the weight will be applied to that spigot - that could make it break off.
Like I said, if you do this, make sure you turn the spigot about 15-20 degrees so that it won't contact the ground when set on the floor.
I turn mine sideways all the time, whether full or empty. Just a good habit to get into imo. Haven't broken one yet, & the one on the bottling bucket is some 4 years old now! 
I use spigots on all my primary buckets. They are easy to clean so I have no worries there. I would caution not to use the spigot for sampling or gravity readings, because then you will never get clean before bottling.
I take hydrometer samples from mine all the time. That's one of the reasons I use them. Just spray Starsan on & in the spout before & after the sample. And before racking to secondary or bottling bucket. And cleaning/sanitizing after every use to keep them clean. Doing these things, I've never had any issues.
brewbama
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I use spigots in my primaries with the William's inverted back nut installed. It keeps trub out of the valve. http://www.williamsbrewing.com/INVERT-TUBE-BACKNUT-P179C104.aspx
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The spigot on my Cooper's Micro brew FV has that slotted press-in cylinder thing. I use the red & white Italian spigots on my other fermenter & bottling bucket I built. The one on the Midwest shorty bucket is about 2" off the bottom, measured from the center-line of the mounting hole. I also use a washer cut out of this thin brown rubber material I found at Lowe's. It goes on the inside of the mounting lug first, before the white seal & lock lug.
The spigot now takes less turns/pressure to seal real well with the new seal in place. Only cost a couple bucks to get enough material & razor knife to make plenty of'em. I like how the Italian spigot has the recess on the end of the spout to fit 3/8" tubing to it for racking,etc. But as stated, always remove it & clean/sanitize it & all it's parts before cleaning the mounting hole & re-installing wet with Starsan after every use. Then their are no sanitation issues with them.
I like this "washer" idea...... I have been using two of the white washer/seals that come with the spigot - one inside/one outside. I have found that you want the "wide" end of the washer against the bucket on both the inside and outside. Your homemade one looks a little thinner and maybe like it would seal a bit better.
After assembling my spigots I have learned to put a couple gallons of starsan in the bucket and let it sit on the counter for a few minutes to make sure it is not leaking. Too loose or even too tight can cause minor leaks......if I notice it is, I just readjust the nut until it stops. Then dump the starsan back in the tub make sure the bucket is good and sanitized - spigot sanitized inside and out.... and can be confident it won't leak beer.
brewbama
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I take hydrometer samples from mine all the time. That's one of the reasons I use them. Just spray Starsan on & in the spout before & after the sample. And before racking to secondary or bottling bucket. And cleaning/sanitizing after every use to keep them clean. Doing these things, I've never had any issues.
i do the same thing. Just remember to remove the air lock so it doesn't suck the weeks old liquid into your beer.
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That brown rubber material came from the lawn & garden section of Lowe's. On the end-cap of the isle where the bulk tubing is. Being thinner, it really makes the other seals snug up far more easily. I think it's because of the thinness of the material in combination with the regular lug seals pressing on it. Besides the fact that I made it wider than the stock seals to begin with. It's so much easier now to seal up when tightening the lugs. It does seem to lessen the effects of the stock seals squeezing out of place. And yeah, definitely remember to pop the center piece out of the airlock. Nevermind how I learned to remember that!
I take hydrometer samples from mine all the time. That's one of the reasons I use them. Just spray Starsan on & in the spout before & after the sample. And before racking to secondary or bottling bucket. And cleaning/sanitizing after every use to keep them clean. Doing these things, I've never had any issues.
I don't go overboard on taking gravity samples...... I could see the "potential" for problems if a lot of samples were taken over the course of weeks...... each time, introduces an opportunity to not get clean enough, etc...
But, I do also take gravity samples from mine - following the same protocol of unionrdr....... Generally though, I just take a sample 1-2 days before I plan to keg simply to make sure that final gravity has been reached and that the beer tastes good. I don't "rush" many of my ferments though - 14-20 days is pretty common for me (and usually 1.040-1.065 beers), so I am usually pretty confident that fermentation is complete in that time.
The "spray bottle" of starsan is a must..... very handy for spraying out the spigots if you use them.
Hahahahaha +1 to unionrdr and brewbama....... take that airlock off before opening the spigot. May have done that a time or two myself
