Ozwald wrote:Duzdisluk Infektid wrote:Are there other plastic buckets with spigots that just use a thru hole and secure with a nylon nut and I/O rubber washers? I would think that would be prefferable as you then have the ability to dispose of/replace the female end of the fitting. And another thing...every time you remove and replace these fittings, the rubber washer(s) get scratched all to hell too.
That's precisely what I'm using. If you can't find a bucket without a nut molded, just get a regular fermentation-suitable bucket & drill the hole yourself (just be sure to leave ~1/4" of plastic between the bottom of the hole & the bottom of the bucket). As for the spigots, I was using these:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/bottling-spigot-for-bottling-bucket.html. I find they tend to leak internally (where the red & clear parts meet) & can potentially cause an infection even on their first use. Not a high likelihood, but it is possible. The more you open/close them, the higher the probability. Regardless of how good of shape they look, I automatically pitch them after their 2nd use. I'm now using something that looks like these:
http://morebeer.com/view_product/16592/102270/Spigot_For_Bucket. I can't comment if they're exactly the same, but from the picture they appear to be the same or at least very close.
Some other tips, I don't recommend doing the ferment in a bucket with a spigot. If you do, by no means should you use that spigot like the bucket is a conical. Do not take gravity samples from it or open it for any reason beyond transferring to the bottling bucket/secondary. When you do the transfer, do not open & close it multiple times such as taking a gravity sample, closing it & then doing your transfer; set up your transfer & open it only once. No matter how high quality the spigot, there will be beer/break that works it's way between the two moving parts. While you can disassemble the two parts from each other for cleaning purposes, it has nearly the same effect as opening & closing the spigot multiple times.
There are going to be a lot of people out there who have done the exact opposite of what I've said with no ill results. I'm not saying that a spigot will get you an infection every time, or even that it's a high probability. But it can happen - and I've had it happen to me before really taking a close look at my spigots. It's something to look at when you're getting 'mysterious' infections that don't seem to be caused by typical sources. For a part that only costs a few bucks, it's worth it (to me) to remove that potential from the equation.
