Yeah . . . secondary is absolutely unnecessary. However, I suggest that if you go to a single fermentation, you do it in glass so that you can see your beer. I think that folks use the plastic buckets for primary fermentation because primary is so messy and the buckets are easier to clean that glass carboys.
That being said, Charlie Papazian suggests that if you rack to a secondary vessel, you will make better beer - that is, provided that your brewing practice is adequately sanitary as to prevent any infections as a result of your handling of the beer.
I use a secondary as a clearing tank. I wait until all fermentation has stopped. Then I rack to a glass carboy to let it sit, bulk age, and clear up. Once the ale is clear, I rack to a bucket and bottle it. Lately, I have been using Nottingham yeast a lot, and I am thinking about eliminating the secondary. I brewed on Saturday evening - this ale has fermented out from 1.059 to 1.008 already :rockin: . It will probably clear up in the next few days and be ready to bottle in about another week. I see no reason to secondary this stuff.
Anyway . . . my $.02.
Back to your ????. If you are using a bottling bucket for secondary, I suggest not doing a secondary at all. As the beer clears up, you will get some additional sediment. Obviously, you won't want to bottle this stuff, so you will rack off of it again before you bottle. If you are using your bottling bucket as secomdary, you will have a logistics problem of racking out and then back in in order to bottle. If you don't have a glass carboy, don't bother with a secondary. Let it sit for another two weeks and then bottle it.
