A friend had some old brewing equipment...

Well, he offered to sell it to me. I have yet to make my first brew, and I've already ordered all my equipment...but you can never have too much, right?

He stopped brewing 10-15 years ago. All his stuff has been sitting in storage since then. He brought his stuff to me at work today, and told me to bring it home and check it out and see if I wanted any of it. This is by no means a huge score, just wanted your opinions on old brewing gear...

He has 2 plastic buckets. One looks like it has seen better days, the other looks to be in good condition. Both have lids, neither has a spigot. They are #2 plastic. However they were made though, left some hard unclean edges on the inside of the buckets. I imagine it could be sanded down and cleaned...but I don't know that a bucket is worth that effort when I can get a new one instead. The one in nice condition also smells...stale. I'm not sure how else to describe it.

There is also a 5gal glass carboy. Looks in good shape, just a little dusty.

Two plastic 3-piece airlocks. some damage to them, cracks and such, but other than that...they are fine.

Old Hydrometer. Is there any worries about old ones? seems okay to me, however I already have one...I guess a backup wouldn't be bad

Metal Wing capper and a bunch of crown caps. One or two caps look rusted, but the rest are fine. Capper is in good condition.

Also has an old racking cane, and siphon tube, but those are discolored, and I would replace them anyway.

Well, my opinion is, the glass carboy looks nice, and I wouldn't mind having a second capper. No idea about the caps and airlocks, are they worth salvaging? Are there any issues with old Hydrometers, and should I want a backup anyway?

So...what do you guys think, any of this stuff worth having, and if so, whats a fair price? Thanks for your help!

I think having the spare hydrometer might be nice, but a new one is less then $10, so not much value there. The plastic buckets don't sound usable...racking cane, siphon tube and all that also don't sound worth anything... I think you'd be buying a carboy and a capper basically... so maybe $15-$20 is all I'd want to pay.

I would say take the glass carboy, the capper w/caps, and the hydrometer. Maybe post a pic of the the hydrometer on here. I wouldn't bother with the buckets or discolored racking canes and definitely not the tubing. It's too cheap.

IrregularPulse said:

I would say take the glass carboy, the capper w/caps, and the hydrometer. Maybe post a pic of the the hydrometer on here. I wouldn't bother with the buckets or discolored racking canes and definitely not the tubing. It's too cheap.

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+1 Pick up the hydrometer and store it. When you break your new one it will be nice to have a spare so you can finish up the project.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the advice!

The Hydrometer seems to be calibrated, but the capper slips a lot. I'm not sure I'm going to keep that.

I think I'll offer him $20 for the Hydrometer, caps, and carboy.

lol

this reminds me of when I was first starting too

I'd say it's worth NADA.

If you already have your equipment, the only stuff that sounds remotely nice to have would be the bottle capper and glass carboy. I'd say $20 for the pair would be generous.

Everything else you have to question to some degree -- pails are bad, any scratches mean they will be near impossible to sanitize without heat (which you can't do to plastic, so they are screwed). Hydrometer you never know if it's reliable. All tubing and siphons should be replaced after this much time. Airlocks are like 50 cents new. I wouldn't pay a nickel for a worn one.

I'd just give the stuff back to him, haha.

I would keep it all but not give him much for it. Everyone says not to take the buckets but IMHO I can never have to many of those. When/if you go all grain they work great for mixing your grain in and collecting the crushed grain coming out of the grain mill. Also they can be use for wash water and a bunch of stuff.

Stevorino said:

If you already have your equipment, the only stuff that sounds remotely nice to have would be the bottle capper and glass carboy. I'd say $20 for the pair would be generous.

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For sure, I agree with you on all points except that...well, getting stuff where I live is rediculously expensive. And while $20 for a used Carboy might be too much for you, its a great deal here where brand new, one would cost me around $40 after shipping.

I wasn't planning on getting one right away, but if the price was right, I would. However, its all moot now, I talked to the guy today and he wants to sell it all together. I passed on it all...its really not worth it.

Thanks again for the advice

Yep, I'd take it all and give as little as he'd take. The buckets might not be good for brewing, but might be useful for storing stuff. The carboy and hydrometer and capper should be fine, but pitch the rest. It's too cheap to risk having problems or infections.