hole for airlock bung

[kangzizhe]

I just started to home brewing, I got couple 6.5 gal bucket from local homebrew store, but there isn't any hole for airlock on the lid. Right now I just leave the lid on loosely, but I still wanna drill a hole for airlock bung, not the small gromment hole, because I wanna be able to use the hole for wing thief without open the lid (it is really tight).
My questions are, what's the size of the hole (should be the same with carboy opening), my measurement was 1-3/4 inch. And is there any good way to do it?

 

[MindenMan]

There are many different sizes of bungs. I suggest you go buy one and then you will know what size to drill the hole. A 1-3/4" bung hole in a plastic lid may not be a good idea, unless you are Cornholio. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

[Hello]

I think I've stumbled on posts where people talk about open fermentation. I just feel this is not really how things need to be done. The lid should have had a hole drilled, at least every LHBS I've been to have both lids (hole and no hole).

Anyway, the hole on my fermentation buckets are hovering around the diameter of a nickel, or slightly larger. If you want to use a wine thief then sure, drill the hole bigger and for a 1 3/4" hole, a hole saw would work best.

There are many different sizes of bungs. I suggest you go buy one and then you will know what size to drill the hole. A 1-3/4" bung hole in a plastic lid may not be a good idea, unless you are Cornholio. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

How come? Just wondering if there is a structural type of reason there.

 

[kangzizhe]

Thank you for the reply. The bung I have is the universal one that will fit on any 6.5 gal carboy.

 

[kangzizhe]

I drilled 1-3/4 inch hole on the lid yesterday, put my airlock on there, watch the bubble coming out of it. It was fun.
But there was a new problem, my bucket is 6.5 Gal (23L), I guess there isn't enough head space for foaming, so some foam came out from the airlock, and made a mess. Now I just leave the lid on loosely.