Recommendations Without Breaking The Bank

[OakIslandBrewery]

There's a lot of folks out there selling their equipment, including here on this site. Just be cautious about what you are buying and the costs. An item used going for 100 bucks might seem like a good deal but with some searching you might find the new items marked down. Contact a local brew club and see if there's people there selling items, even consider trading. A few home brews go a long ways in the trade department.

 

[seatazzz]

+1 to what @OakIslandBrewery said above. Another sometimes overlooked place to find used equipment is a small brewpub/taproom; many of these guys started out as homebrewers, and as they've expanded, their original equipment might be gathering dust in a back room. Sometimes used for small test batches, but if they're successful might want to part with their old stuff for cheap. That's how I got a lot of my equipment (also a great mentor).