Bottling Bucket as Secondary?

Hey guys,

Is it safe to use a Bottling Bucket with Spigot (fully disassembled and sanitized) as a Secondary Fermenter? My Better Bottle is only 5G which normally is fine, but I'll be racking into Secondary on 4lbs of Strawberries and the 5G will not be big enough. My Bottling Bucket is the same as my Primary Bucket at 6.5G, but with the Spigot on the bottom.

Has anyone had a problem with spigots leaking / allowing outside bugs in over a three week conditioning / settling period?

After the three weeks in Secondary I was going to rack into my Better Bottle for a two day cold crash prior to bottling.

Thanks for your thoughts!

There are a lot of threads on this if you search "secondary in bottling bucket" or something like that.

I personally don't feel comfortable using a bottling bucket as a secondary. What I would do if I were you is just add the fruit to the primary, and when you want too just transfer over to your 5 gallon better bottle, with maybe just a bit more fruit to make sure you don't lose any of the flavor.

Others might have some other ideas that will be better though

I'm just concerned that the primary trub may start fermenting the fruit, which I would like to avoid.

Will also search, thanks.

Hmm, with my homebrew kit, the bottling bucket AND the primary fermenter had a spigot at the bottom. The only difference in them is that one had a lid and the other didn't! I've used it for 4 batches now and haven't had a single problem. I actually just picked up another lid so I am now using my bottling bucket as another fermenter. It surely makes it easy to transfer to secondary or to just bottle as you don't even need a siphon now!

Good to hear. My primary bucket doesn't have a spigot, and I was hoping to just pick up a second lid, perhaps cut a blowoff hole in it for a 1" blowoff tube.

No leaks or anything?

I have a spigot in all of my buckets. I keep things clean and sanitary. Spigot makes transferring tons easier. I have never had a problem with a primary or secondary having a spigot.

Another cheap option for a secondary: Walmart has 5 gallon food-grade plastic buckets for $3.50 with the lid here (#2 HDPE, available in the hardware section). These make great secondaries. Drill a hole with a 1/2" spade bit in the lid and pick up a bucket grommet and extra airlock from your LHBS. You now have a secondary (or primary for 2-4 gallon batches) for around $5.