Ruuning out of vessels to finish my brewing in and I have 2 extra 6 gallon bottling buckets with lids. Can these be used effectively as primaries for a 3-4 week fermentation cycle? Just not sure about air movement through the tapper.
I don't see why not. But what are you going to use for bottling in the mean time?
Perhaps rack one of your other beers to the bottling bucket as a "secondary" to free up a primary, wait a few weeks then just bottle out of the bucket?
We are moving in 5 weeks so my brewing and bottling will have to be done within the next 4 weeks, otherwise I would just wait. Our first baby is expected to arrive in just under 8 weeks so I think this might be the best weekend for brewing for the next several months.
I wouldn't want to bottle directly from it. I'd think you run the risk of getting some pretty yeasty bottles, especially if a ton drops out of suspension from the batch. I dunno though, since I've never tried it.
I would make sure to sanitize the bejeebus out of the spigot as that is going to be a place for nasties to hide in. And I would also leak test it beforehand. There are a few posts on here where others have used bottling buckets and due to leakages or accidental valve opening lost a batch of beer on the floor.
I've only ever used buckets with spigots. And I also have pretty clear beer so long as I've been careful not to drain the trub. I put the bucket in a larger slop bucket I get pretty cheap in case of a leak. I also sanitize the spigot before racking or bottling. Never had any problems.