Used brew kit worth the price?

[Mwoods44]

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum. I've been brewing with my friend and I'm looking to get my own brew kit now. I have the opportunity to buy some used equipment from a guy, just not sure if it's worth the price. Any advice would be great!

For $400 He has 2 5gal glass carboys
1 6gal glass carboy
1 30qt (might be 32) kettle
1 burner with propane tanks
1 spoon
1 bottle rack
1 bottle filler
1 bottle jet cleaner
2 hydrometers
1 car boy drying stand
1 copper wort cooler
1 brand new 10 gallon mash tun

All fittings for kettle and mashtun or cam locks

 

[civilbrando]

Just do the math on how much it would cost you to buy it all new and see if it's worth it to you.

I enjoyed brewing with a basic kit and they working my way up buying/making equipment that I wanted/needed most but that's just me.

Propane tanks are expensive though. So how many is he including?

IMO I would offer $300 and then hopefully make a deal at $350.

 

[Schumed]

Just do the math ...looks like $200 worth of stuff to me if you built your own chiller and mash tun ...I would payoff than $300


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[h22lude]

2 5gal glass carboys - used for secondary, not needed
1 6gal glass carboy - obviously good to have
1 30qt (might be 32) kettle - if Blichmann this is a good deal. If not, you can get 10 gallons one for $40 on Amazon
1 burner with propane tanks - Again if Blichmann it is good. If not, $50 on Amazon
1 spoon - cheap buy anywhere
1 bottle rack - good to have but needed
1 bottle filler - cheap buy anywhere
1 bottle jet cleaner - another good to have but not needed item
2 hydrometers - needed but not expensive to buy new
1 car boy drying stand - yet another good to have but not needed item
1 copper wort cooler - great to have for full boils but can be made for $60
1 brand new 10 gallon mash tun - needed for AG but can also be made new for under $100

Summarize, if the few items I listed are Blichmann, go for it. If not, I wouldn't do it. That's just me though.

Edit: I did it quickly on NB. 3 carboys, kettle, burner and 10 gallon mash tun with everything is $400. So you are getting a chiller and the other stuff for free which isn't bad but I like new stuff and I also liked building my chiller and mash tun

 

[Hopper5000]

That seems like a pretty good deal to me. The first 4 items new would be about 400 bucks so seems legit. I would try to barter him down but 400 is a solid deal.

 

[Mwoods44]

Ok thanks for the quick responses, appreciate it. Hes pretty set at 400 but gonna try to meet in the middle of my offer which was 300. We'll see how it goes!

 

[Nightstrife]

You can always resell what you don't use/need of course tailoring it to fit your needs

 

[h22lude]

That seems like a pretty good deal to me. The first 4 items new would be about 400 bucks so seems legit. I would try to barter him down but 400 is a solid deal.

It all depends on what they are. A 7.5 gallon Boilermaker goes for $300+. A Blichmann floor burner goes for $150+. If he is selling those two items, I would jump all over it. However, you can buy a cheapo 8 gallon stock pot for $42 and a SQ14 for $50 on Amazon. Those used I wouldn't pay more than $50 for.

For me, the only upside to buying this guys used stuff is you get it all at once. I personally would rather spend a little more money for new stuff and build my own (when possible).

 

[jekeane]

seems high to me

 

[brewkinger]

my offer which was 300. We'll see how it goes!

And that is as high as I would go.
Any more than that and you can have the "necessary" portion of that list for new and depending on your DIY skills you can have the rest of it for pretty cheap.


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[Dan]

If I was going to spend $400 I'd do something like this.

$69 Brewing kit free shipping in mainland USA
http://morebeer.com/products/personal-home-brewery-kit-1-standard.html

$138 Plate Chiller
http://brewhardware.com/plate-chiller/131-platechiller

$34 Refractometer
http://brewhardware.com/measurement-devices/refractometer-72

$49 SQ-14 free shipping
http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-Single-Burner-Patio/dp/B0009JXYQ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395710726&sr=8-1&keywords=sq-14


$85 11G Stainless Brewpot free shipping
http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-1044-44-Quart-Stainless-Steel/dp/B000VXHKMC/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1395710845&sr=8-7&keywords=10+stainless+steel+kettle

$15 Brew in a Bag free shipping
http://www.amazon.com/Brew-In-Bag-Straining-26/dp/B00E5M8E6G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395711007&sr=8-1&keywords=brew+in+a+bag

All that adds up to $390. You could always make your own mashtun later. The brew in a bag method would work for now and you'd have some nice equpiment. I really don't like glass carboys.

 

[cubalz]

Sounds really high to me. There are a ton of used kits for sale on Craig's List all of the time for much cheaper.

 

[BigFloyd]

I'd not raise your offer from $300. I'm guessing that he wants the cash more than the gear that's sitting around collecting dust.

Unless you're planning on doing brews that see long-term aging or fruit additions, the smaller secondary carboys aren't very useful. Plenty of skilled brewers don't bother with secondaries at all for most batches.

Get a 10 gallon or larger kettle. The 30qt is kind of marginal at best.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Too much money IMHO. I wouldn't take the three glass carboys for free, but that's just my opinion.

 

[BigFloyd]

Too much money IMHO. I wouldn't take the three glass carboys for free, but that's just my opinion.

Wait a sec, they're pretty handy for saving up a large amount of spare pocket change.

 

[ja09]

Sounds high to me too. If it's a quality kettle and burner then it might be worth it, otherwise probably not.

Find out exactly what kettle and burner so we can all stop guessing

 

[unionrdr]

I'm getting the feeling he wants top dollar,brand new price for equipment that wasn't worth that much to start with. Hoping some noob that doesn't know any better will jump on it. Being used,it's actually worth about half that if average brand items. See if he knows what brand the stuff is.

 

[ja09]

Unless you're planning on doing brews that see long-term aging or fruit additions, the smaller secondary carboys aren't very useful.

Not totally true. I rarely secondary but find all kinds of uses for mine... whether it's cider, sour, extra couple gallons to experiment with... they're full a lot. Plus they're really nice to have for extended bulk aging of big beers with minimal head space.