plastic bucket for fermenter?

Getting out my rod and reel and fishing for more information. What does the bucket look like, does it have a secure top? Is there a hole in the top to put a paint stirrer threw? How many gallons is it? If there is a hole in the top how big is it? It might could be stoppered and an air lock or blow off tube attached that way.
Not saying food grade I don't know about. Could be it would give off a plastic taste or worse into your fermenting.

You might could use it as a primary fermenter but it is best to go with glass for secondary and bulk aging. I'm looking to buy a 3 gallon carboy to use as my primary then rack into the I think their 1.3 gallon wine jugs I use for secondary. The three gallon I looked at with stopper, Airlock, and blowoff tube was only $18.00 I think a 1 gallon with stopper and airlock is less than ten dollars. Depends on the Homebrew store.
Hope some of this ramble helps and try to give a bit more detail and some one else might know more.
Tarot.

What kind of plastic is it? Is there a recycling symbol with a number on it? Since it's made for mixing paint and not for containing food, I doubt it will work for mead...

Greetings!

My husband is a beekeeper and uses 5 gallon buckets to store honey. If you have a local supermarket with a bakery, they have 5 gallon buckets that their frosting comes in, so they are food grade. Ask them if you could have one. Our local store has given us many of them. They come with a nice tight lid so all you need is to drill a hole in the top for your airlock and you're in business with no money needed. Hope you can get one. I wouldn't use the bucket you have if it doesn't say it's food grade.

The bucket will work for mead just like any other bucket will, the problem is that you're going to have plastic bucket flavored mead. Food grade plastic is what you need. Please don't try to cut corners by using a plastic container that is not food rated, you'll be VERY disappointed, and we'll keep tooling on you about it until you get something appropriate for meadmaking.

A lot of people are tight on cash, I've found myself in the same situation more than once in my life. But, there are some things that do not bear cutting corners, mead making is one of them. Sure you can go and get a plastic one gallon milk jug, and ballon, some bread yeast and Costco honey and make a passable mead. But don't expect that it will be great, or even good if you don't put in the time, use appropriate equipment and give it the time it needs to develop. This is not an inexpensive hobby, nor is it one that you will be able to get instant gratification.

Bottom line is that you can't make great mead from bad ingredients and equipment.

Oskaar <--- Steps off soapbox

Food grade plastics are; HDPE, PP, and polycarbonate.

There's a list of plastics Here with the symbols used and a discription of each. Look at the mark on the bottom of the bucket, then deside whether or not it's suitable for fermentation.

Dmntd