Custom plastic fermenter and bottling buckets

Hey Fellas,

I've searched the forums and havent found much on this topic. Right now I am brewing 1 gallon batched and just finished up bottling Northern Brewer "off the topper" Imperial IPA. MY kit included 1 gallon carboy, which when it came to pitching the yeast and siphoning in and out of the carboy, i just wasn't a huge fan through the smaller carboy opening at the top. so this my question below would mainly be for personal preference.

my question:
If i am looking to save space before getting into 5 gallon batches. Would it be possible to acquire (2) 2 gal or even 3.5 gal food grade buckets and drill the holes that would accommodate a spigot for bottling bucket and the other bucket a hole for and airlock/blow off tube in my fermenter?

I'm sure this might have been done but looking to see if there has been any experiences on a smaller scale than 5 gallon buckets or if there might be a specific quality of bucket i would need to get to make this work. I have not had good experience with the auto siphon that came with my kit so looking for ways to minimize the need to utilize it.

Thank you in advance! Happy Brewing.

 

Awesome, thanks for the tips!
I am planning on taking my current auto siphon to my local brew store. I have tested it out with water and seems to work kind of when it wants to. All the videos i've seen, make it look effortless.

 

what!! That's pretty much what i am looking to make. I knew someone on here would be able to point me in a good direction. Have you used this type of fermenter before? Just wondering if bottling wand will work with this.

 

I would primarily use the speidel for as a bottling bucket and use the tubing/bottling wand dimensions Crcostel recommended.

For fermenting I will just either have to practice my siphon skills with water more or make a smaller 2-3 gal primary fermentation bucket with a wider air tight top instead of the narrow carboy. The idea of being able to clip the siphon to the lip of the bucket seems more appealing.

I will probably stick to doing smaller batches for 6 months and learn more about all-grain and BIAB and build from there. Also its saves me tons of space for now just trying to get my rig setup consistent before i begin my next batch. I could also keep my smaller vessels handy in the event i get experienced enough and want to make a quick experimental recipe without having to make a large quantity.

 

I thought about this as well. Just get a bigger bottling bucket even though its just a couple gallons, i will be eventually upgrading to larger batches. plus its cheaper.

 

I ended up getting a 2 gallon primary fermentation bucket. My buddy also had a Mr. Beer kit laying around his house never opened, Freebie!

For bottling I went with a 3 gallon bottling bucket w/spigot to attached hose and wand.

Also, brother in law gave me his pretty new radar type thermometer,shoots a little "beam" and gives a digital reading.. anyone else use these before to check temp of water?