What's The Best Deal You've Gotten on brewing Equipment?

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Plastic Brewkettle

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So this question hasn't been asked since 2014 it seems. What's the best deal you've gotten on brewing equipment and, separately, what's the best thing you've gotten for free? I just got 2 - 6.5 gallon glass carboys for $50. I got a copper wort chiller coil for free pretty recently.
 
my mom bought me most of my begginer stuff in 96....buddy got me one of my kegs for my birthday...boss gave me a mini fridge and 1/2 barrel keg...

my copper IC at first was free too, i was doing some odd jobs on a ranch, and there was about 15' of copper tubing on the floor of the horse stall, i asked if i could have it, they said yes! i was so on it.... with S.O.S. pads! worked well, but i ended up adding another 25'-50', what ever, as a second ring around it....

one deal i very recently got, from this sites for sale forum. 2 pin lock kegs for $100 shipping included, and the guy threw in some fre QDs to hook them up, barbs, flare nuts and all!


edit: wait i almost forgot, @Jaybird had a giveaway competition i won, so i got a bottle opener for free (a nice one that screws onto the wall), a book about hops...and other misc items....
 
I don't get good deals on brewing equipment where I live (the Czech Republic) but the ingredients are cheap here. I pay around $1.50 per kilo on grains and that price is usually on the high end. Also that's not a bulk price that's for buying a single KG. And of course saaz hops are cheap here too :)
 
@rburrelli The guy I bought them from said he had one break while moving it. I can't imagine the mess. I guess the key is to be mindful of that at all times. I like watching the fermentation process, so I'll accept the risk.
 
I live about 3 miles from the Bayou Classic main office and they have a store that is only open on Fridays. I went in one day wasting time and saw they had a scratch and dent section. I came across a 10 gallon stainless kettle that was missing the shut off valve that was marked at $40 I believe. The guy running the store said that it was one of the prototypes for their brew kettles and he just dug it out of a storage room a few days earlier. He sold it to me for $10 and I bought the shut off valve for $15. Still use the kettle to this day and I don't think I will ever top that deal.
 
@rburrelli The guy I bought them from said he had one break while moving it. I can't imagine the mess. I guess the key is to be mindful of that at all times. I like watching the fermentation process, so I'll accept the risk.

I like watching the fermentation too. I use Fermzilla all-rounders. My best deal was probably getting one of those for $45 on sale last year.
 
15 Corny Kegs...for free. Yep, for free. My wife saw the kegs sitting outside in back of a gas station. We stopped and asked the attendant if they wanted to get rid of them. He said "Yes".
We did not ask twice, as he said we could haul them off.
 
I'm often wowed by the generosity of the homebrewing community. I've picked up a bunch of stuff from various on-line sources (FB Marketplace, Offer-Up, Craigslist), and in most cases, the sellers weren't looking to make a killing, just clear out some equipment and help out a fellow brewer. I've been a casual brewer for years, but only recently started brewing in ernest and upping my equipment game. Some deals I got:

Guy nearby selling a grain mill for $50. Pretty good deal, but when I went to pick it up, we started chatting, and he says, "do you need an aerator?" I figured he meant that little plastic thingy that sprays the wort into the fermenter. I said sure. He hands me an oxygenator: SS stone the end of a stainless tube and oxygen bottle regulator ($60 setup new). Free of charge.

Blichmann Thermonator plate chiller: $30! Another FB listing. It was about an hour drive to his house, but worth it. He also wanted an honest opinion about his beer, so he sent me home with a sample, in a Grolsch bottle. So, hey... free fliptop bottle. (Beer was good)

I told this one in the "What came in the mail" thread:
Offer-Up listing for a couple of ball valves and handful of camlock fittings for $20. Listing said "I have more, let me know what you need." So I mention a couple more fittings and he says he has them. I asked how much, he said still $20. Deal. Then a big box (much bigger than expected) shows up in the mail. More ball valves and ton of camlock stuff. Had to be close to $150 worth!

Keggle with false bottom, diptube, whirlpool return, sight glass and ball valves. $50.

Three corny kegs: 2 ball-lock and one pin-lock that was converted to ball: $20 (total, not each) from the co-owner of a new brewery that opened nearby.

I love this community!
 
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Oh, one more.
Buddy was moving and he gave me his beer fridge. It was a good-sized mini fridge with no freezer compartment. I put a wood collar on the front to fit a carboy, so I now have a fermentation chamber.
Oh, did I mention when he gave it to me, it was fully stocked with craft beer from all over the region?
 
A few years ago I wanted to get into brewing and my place of employment had an ads section internally. Someone sold me two 5 gallon glass carboys, 5 gallon brew bucket, 5 gallon bottling bucket, 2 cases of bottles, wort chiller, and just about anything else you'd need to brew beer for $100. He got it for Christmas and used it twice and then put it in a closet. He even gave me Star San and anything else he had laying around. I've since gravitated to making mead but all the equipment works for that too!
 
Gas for grass!
(I'm assuming you're talking about lawn care)
Uhmmmm...hops! Yeah hops! And...its cousin is completely legal here...I have a friend wanting me to brew him and his wife a batch using their botanicals...likely a DIPA...man - it will be a double barrelled shotgun for sure!
 
I got a call one day from a local tavern who's Coca-Cola rep told them that the company was moving to bagged syrup and ... "toss all of your kegs in the dumpster." Ten pin-locks free. The bar later decided to get completely out of the draught business and sold me their 1/2 bbl. Beverage-Air kegerator for $100. New & still wrapped 5 gal. kegging system free from a local recycling center, 20# CO2 tank from a local vending company for $20. Pays to keep your name out there.
 
Quite some years ago I found a 10 gallon square Coleman rolling cooler at Ross Dress For Less, the only one I ever saw there. I don't remember the exact price, but it was about half of what other stores were charging. I converted it to a mash tun and used it for several years.
 
$10 for a 20lb co2 tank. Was buying some cornies from a friend of a friend, saw the tank sitting by his shed, asked how much...$10. Those things go for at least $100 on CL and offerup. Big score. Got a 2nd one when we bought our kegerator a couple of years ago, guy threw it in for free. I've got gas for months....refills at our local shop are $28, and one tank lasts me almost 9 months (I brew a LOT).
 
last year I received a call from a friend of my sons who works for the local cable company. he was on a service call and noticed a bunch of brewing equipment next to the back door and when he asked the guy informed him that he was not going to brew anymore and was throwing it all away. I ended up with a burner, 10 gal mash tun, swing top bottles and 2 glass carboys, all for free.
 
Several years ago I picked up a couple boxes of misc. brew gear for $25 off Craigslist from someone who got out of the hobby. It included 40 or so Grolsch swingtops, several cases of 12 oz bottles in a copper IC (nice prechiller for lagers), several plastic buckets & lids, some various hardware, and some carboys.

I think I only bought 1 carboy retail. The rest I had came from Craigslist. Now I ferment in ss and rarely use carboys, except for long-term aging.

I have about all the gear I need now, but still surf CL once in a while in case I see a bargain on something I might want a second of. But bargains on CL are getting few and far between. Seems so many people are trying to get almost new prices for their used gear.
 
I just picked up a 5# steel CO2 tank partially full with regulator, and empty 5# CO2 tank, an empty 2.5# CO2 tank, Corny keg, plastic fermenter, spoon, container of PBW for $65 - talked him down from $75 since the tanks were all out of date. I also found out that my local beer store fills 2.5# tanks for under $4 and doesn't look at the hydro date.
 
I just picked up a 5# steel CO2 tank partially full with regulator, and empty 5# CO2 tank, an empty 2.5# CO2 tank, Corny keg, plastic fermenter, spoon, container of PBW for $65 - talked him down from $75 since the tanks were all out of date. I also found out that my local beer store fills 2.5# tanks for under $4 and doesn't look at the hydro date.

I picked up two 5lb aluminum co2 tanks a couple days ago for $20, both were out of date. Took them to my local airgas store, they exchanged them without looking at the dates. Both tanks I got in exchange were hydro tested this month, one of them is a Kegco branded tank. (sales guy told me anything they have under 50lbs is filled with food grade gas)

Traded a new in the box PS5 for my Grainfather G30 connect.

Got my Spikes CF10 loaded with add ons for $700.

I‘ve picked up 8 corny kegs over the last week or so for a total of $250.. just over $30/keg. Up to 10 kegs now.. just gotta fill the rest of them up! 😎
 
Last year I found an add on Offer-Up for a guy selling corny kegs and a bunch of random stuff that was moving out of state. He ended up giving me I think 8 kegs (all good shape), 3 5lb CO2 tanks, 4 plastic crates full of swing top bottles (had to be close to 60 of them), and a bunch of misc parts and fittings.. all for less than 100 bucks. We chatted for quite a while and he ended up trying to just give it all to me for free, but I gave him more than asking because that was too generous. You definitely don't meet people like that around here too often.
 
My company offers yearly health incentives, earn up to 600 bucks a year for talking to a couple health consultants and taking some surveys, basically pays for my brewing equipment. So I guess all my stuff is pretty much free.

Cheers
 
Spike got me with a 20% off conical sale a couple months ago . That absorbed a few accessories i needed. Stressing about the big purchase and more equipment, but it sure looks pretty.
 
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Last year I bought a new 12 gallon Speidel stainless steel fermenter from an online brew shop for 94€.
Probably available for less somewhere else but the list price on the Speidel website is 256€
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Best second hand deal I got when starting out was a set of stuff from someone who used to make wine and gave it up.
25 L 1800 W electric preserver cooker like the one below.
2 x 30L Speidel plastic fermenters, a wine corker and a 15 liter pot for 50€
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Screenshot 2022-01-24 133757.png
I used the cooker for a few years as a one vessel BIAB system for 5 gallon batches.
The fermemters were a bit old looking so I didn't put any finished beer in there.
I still use them for storing grain and can fit 3/4 of a 55lb sack in each.
 
I scored a Neslab RTE-111 recirculating water bath on eBay for $90 shipped. It's got a 2 gallon reservoir and 500 Watt cooling capacity. I use it as a glycol chiller.

I have a similar unit from VWR and it's got heating, cooling and circulator pump. The drag is that the compressor never shuts off but rather it cycles the heater to hold it at the set temp precisely. If I keep it I'll have to hack the wiring and put in a separate controller.
 
My best score to date is 100 ball lock corny kegs for $5 each. I responded to a Craigslist ad for "pepsi soda kegs several available" and when I got there the guy opened up a garage door with a bay full of them. It's funny that at the time I thought I was nuts for buying 100 and now I'm pissed I didn't take them all (probably 400 in total).
 
My best score to date is 100 ball lock corny kegs for $5 each. I responded to a Craigslist ad for "pepsi soda kegs several available" and when I got there the guy opened up a garage door with a bay full of them. It's funny that at the time I thought I was nuts for buying 100 and now I'm pissed I didn't take them all (probably 400 in total).

I just picked up 5 corny kegs off Craigslist today for $25 each. And I thought I got a good deal!
 
For $150, I got a 5 tap keezer which could fit 6 kegs so I drilled another hole. With it, I got 6 corny kegs, a 6 output manifold, a 2 gauge gas manifold, 10 gal CO2 tank with regulator and a bunch of extra parts including about 50 keg gaskets, and sanke hookup. I replaced all the shanks and taps with stainless steel and replaced all the lines, but otherwise it has been my best score.
 
I got my new Blichmann Glycol Chiller for $100 less than the real price. Keg Factory had the old price listed and when I asked them they honored it! I was happy!

John
 
All ten of my 5 gallon corny kegs were purchased used for $20 each or less, and they're all in better shape than the used deals I see online.

Paid $100 for a 3 gallon corny keg, full 5lb CO2 tank, regulator, and copper chiller.

Paid $40 for a dual SS-coil jockeybox, a CO2 regulator, and three sanke couplers - all in great shape. I went there expecting to pay $40 for just the jockeybox which was a steal, then he showed me the regulator and couplers


The only free thing I ever got was a small chest freezer, and it didn't work.
 
Only free things I got were from the same brew shop.
In 2013 they threw in 100g of cones of a new hop called Belma to try out.
I used them in the mash hop for a Stone Enjoy By clone as I don't like cones in the boil or dry hop.

End of 2020 I got a pack of London ESB dry yeast for free that was 2 months past its used by date.
Still have it in the fridge.
 
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