Best deal you've gotten on brewing gear?

I'm pretty frugal (out of necessity), so once I made the switch to all-grain, and then kegging, I needed to find all my gear as cheap as possible. I've found some KILLER deals before on craigslist and felt the need to share, and hear what other people have found before!

My first big score was finding 5 antique glass carboys for 5 bucks a piece, needless to say, I bought everything they had. They were pretty nasty but I was able to clean them to a shine.

Yesterday I got the best deal I've ever seen. I found 12 corny kegs (mixed pin and ball lock) for $100 bucks. They are crusty, dirty, and full of old soda syrup, but I almost fainted when I found the deal. The guy was super late to show up, but lo and behold he came through and I now have more cornys than I know what to do with, a "problem" I never thought I would ever have before.

So what sweet deals have other people found?!?

I got my already converted mlt and hlt for $20, from a guy who had no idea what they were.

I picked up a complete beginners kit along with an brown ale extract kit for $5 at an estate sale last year.

The DME was concrete, the LME was prehopped John Bull and the hops were cheesy. But I got a wine thief, extra fermenter, extra auto siphon, extra hydrometer, some tubing and a bunch of assorted smaller crap and additives. I thinking I started grinning like an idiot when the guy at the estate sale quoted me the price.

I brewed the kit and it didnt get below 1020 with a 1L starter of WLP 002.

I got a steal, literally. A beer fest left some (a ton) of stuff and a year later when no one claimed the goods they were mine to take since no one at my place of business had a need for them, here is what I got for free:

-2 Tap Jockey Box
-2 Faucets (with shanks)
-20lb CO2 tank with regulator
-Lots of air and beer line (replaced the beer line)
-2 keg couplers

Needless to say my keg fridge was built for very little money and I made the switch to kegging way earlier than I thought I would...

Not gear but ingredients. I bought about 200lbs of grain(Including 10 homer buckets) and 6-8lbs of hops off a fellow homebrewer who was switching everything up for about 60 bucks.

I found 25 ball lock kegs full of syrup and 6 20# CO2 bottles for $250 on craigslist. Guy had them listed as stainless soda cans (no pics) and I found them searching 'stainless'. His ad was over a week old when I called and he said I was the first one to call. I'm sure if he would have listed them properly they would have been gone in 1 day. He had bought a truck at auction from a bankrupt carnival vendor and these were some of the goodies inside.

Helped a buddy move a ton of heavy furniture into his new house recently. He had a beautiful chest freezer in his garage and was going on and on about what a pain it was going to be in his smaller garage. I told him I would take care of it if he wanted. He said "its all yours brother!" :rockin:

I got a keggle, burner, and immersable cooler for $80 Can Funds...not bad for our 2nd set of gear

I found a 30 gallon stainless kettle in a salvage yard scrap metal pile. The operator sold it to me for $5.

A friend of mine ran a bar. I was getting some bottles from him when I first started. he took me to the basement to get the bottles and said - "could you ever use something like these?" 8 Corny kegs....... Said they had been in the basement forever... and I could have them if I wanted them. 8 kegs for free. That is about as good a deal on kegs as you can get

Bench capper for $8 from resale shop

Braufessor said:

A friend of mine ran a bar. I was getting some bottles from him when I first started. he took me to the basement to get the bottles and said - "could you ever use something like these?" 8 Corny kegs....... Said they had been in the basement forever... and I could have them if I wanted them. 8 kegs for free. That is about as good a deal on kegs as you can get

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You win!

I found a small malting company that supplies breweries in Saskatchewan with grain, I got 4 25kg sacks of 2 row for $100 I just had to order it 24hrs ahead of time for a small order, that was a good deal, should keep me brewing for a couple months lol

Free: Complete advanced brew kit: buckets, 2-5gal glass carboys, 6gal glass carboy, carboy brushes for days, hydrometers(4), additives, hose, another beginner full setup, carboy, chest freezer, moonshine still, 8oz of moonshine, 24 pack of homebrew, and much more. FREE!

I work in people's garages daily and if I see ANYTHING home brew related I inquire! 90% of the time I'm told they "used to home brew" and they end up giving my their equipment.

I have a widow on the radar right now that MIGHT be hooking me up with a FREE burner, pot and propane tank in the next little while.

I got a nice burner, 8 gal turkey fryer aluminum pot and propane tank for 30 bucks. Got the tank filled for 8 bucks and started brewing in the backyard like a champ. lol.

Two weeks ago I got a six gallon glass carboy, six gallon bucket, 7.9 gallon bucket,bottling bucket, two 3/8 auto-siphon, two 3/8 bottling wands (time to make a sour), two hydromoters, thermometer, stoppers, air locks, two case of 22oz bottles, 3.5 # bag of caps and a capper. The guy was asking 20 but a gave him 30.00.

Then last week my budy came over saw my kegs (ball lock) and said he believed his brother had about 20 kegs in storage. I asked how much and he said if there still there for free. Figers crossed.

Two 10 gallon blichmann boilermakers and a therminator for $300. A guy was down sizing to 1 gallon batches and sold off his old equipment cheap.

20lb CO2 tank and 6 cornies. Price: $0

60 qt stainless kettle and stir paddle for $30, sold the paddle for $15



Clean well running 55 year old Frigidaire, free on C'list

Trying to gauge the deal I just got... 2 corny kegs, a 20#lb co2 tank (about half full), auto siphon brand new, and a half case of blue ez-swing cap bottles for $140. Thoughts?

hefe811 said:

Trying to gauge the deal I just got... 2 corny kegs, a 20#lb co2 tank (about half full), auto siphon brand new, and a half case of blue ez-swing cap bottles for $140. Thoughts?

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You did ok but not really a steal.


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Good enough for me!