In this article, I will show you how to make this honey bucket.

Honey buckets can easily cost you between $50 and $80 each. You should be able to make this one for less than $15.

You will need a 5 gallon food grade bucket and lid. One of my local home centers carry them for about $10.

This set of six buckets can be purchased from Amazon for $40.

Six 5 Gallon Food Grade Buckets

You will also need a honey gate for each honey bucket you wish to make.

I purchased these two as a set from Amazon for less than $10.

Two Honey Gates

You will need an electric drill.

You can use one like this monster corded drill.

Dewalt Corded Drill

Or one like this small cordless drill.

DEKO Cordless Electric Drill

Important - The drill must have a reverse function.

You will need a 1-3/4” hole saw with removable blade.

Bimetal 1-3/4” Hole Saw

Please note that the 1-3/4” hole saw is used to accommodate the honey gates above. If you choose other gates you will have to purchase another hole saw to match.

Place a mark two inches from the bottom edge as shown here.

Important

The 2” inch measurement is based on the 1/4” lip my bucket has from the inside bottom of the bucket. If your bucket has a larger lip you will need to increase the measurement. IE if your lip is 1/2” then you need to make a mark 2-1/4” from the bottom edge.

Note that you can use a flashlight to help determine the lip.

The reason this is important is because you need clearance for the inside nut on the honey gate. It needs to clear the inside bottom of the bucket.

Remove the blade from the hole saw and place the drill in the forward/clockwise direction.

Drill a hole at the marked point.

Reinstall the blade on the hole saw and place the drill in reverse/counterclockwise.

Insert the pilot bit and drill the hole. While in reverse the blade will cut a smoother hole.

Press firmly and run the drill pretty fast until it cuts through.

If you have a deburr tool, use it to remove the burrs. If you don’t have a deburr tool, you can use a knife making a scraping action. You can even use your finger nail.

Insert the honey gate into the hole. Make sure the silicon gasket is on the gate before inserting into the hole.

Screw the nut onto threads on the inside. Screw them tight by hand.

Note that as you tighten the nut the round bucket will deform flat as it its tightened. This is normal.

Note that I don’t use the included washers on the honey gate. They have a tendency to get between the cap and the base of the gate. This will cause the gate to leak.

Place the bucket/s on a table.

Close the gate and tighten the wing nut. Make sure the hinge screw is tight as well.

Fill each bucket with enough water to completely cover the gate nut.

Let the buckets sit for 24 hours. Look to see if any of the gates have leaked. If they have, remove the gate and make sure there is no debris on the outside of the hole.

To help the gate cap gasket last a long time, add a very small amount of this food grade lube.

You can get some here:

Food Grade Lubricant