How Much Would You Spend?

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How much would you spend on one single piece of brewing equipment

  • less than 100

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 100-200

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 200-500

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 500-1000

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • over 1000

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I would sell my first born

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0

Hoops

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I would spend well over $1000 which I intend to do in a few years by geting a cold room.
Also looking a few hundred for a stainless steel conical fermenter and everything else to go with it (temp control).
However by far my best HB investment is my temp controlled fermenting fridge which I picked up for $110.
 
I'm fairly tight, but $1-200 on one single piece would probably see me out. All up I've spent more over the years, but SWMBO would probably get a bit stroppy if I spent much over $200 on any one thing. Even got my fridge for free :D

Shawn.
 
i spend in the 100-200 category.

But depending upon what it is and how much i need it - depends upon what i will spend.
 
I would spend 500 - 1000 possibly more but it would have to be a very special piece of gear that significantly changed my brewing in terms of time saved or quality of beer. This is a single piece of gear here ... I have spent well in excess of this in the past 12mnths on kegs & AG gear.
 
I try to keep all purchases under $500.
That way I can easily justify the purchase to myself.

The two question I ask before I make a purchase are:

1. Will it enable me to make better beer
2. Will it make my brewing experience more enjoyable/easier/less hassle

If I get a yes from both, easy to justify. If I don't then I have to ask why do I really want that new gadget/shiney piece of kit ......

The most expensive items so far have been my grain mill (~$300) and my 1100 fermentation chest freezer (~$400 from memory).

Beers,
Doc
 
I always try and relate everything back to golf (of witch I'm not a big fan). I tell myself "my new brewery in its entirety was still cheaper than a good set of golf clubs!"
So brewing is a very cheap hobby/pastime in my opinion...
& I'd rather make beer than spend 4-5 hours playing 18 holes on a Sunday morning...

Asher for now....
 
good poll.i seriously contemplated/sent/recieved pricing on more beers B3 brew sculpture.only around 5 grand then plus freight (about $800).was trying to justify it in my head as a reward for living so remote for 23 years.got the LOOK from the wife so quickly forgot about that idea.
biggest purchase has been my grain mill but am always looking at costly purchases.
my recent ones have been spare fridge,extra keg and getting grain to this remote place.

cheers
big d
 
I've spent over $200 on a number items including a Valley Mill, March pump, convoluted copper CFC. Kegging system has cost a fair bit. But I'm like Asher I relate it back to other hobbies. With all the money I've spent it's still not as much as one good MTB.

Another way to appease the troubled mind is to consider how much you spend on beer if you bought it from the bottle shop. A 500ml bottle of an English ale will cost about $7, so an 18ltr keg of your Best Bitter would cost about $250. When you look at it like that you're well in front. Or so I keep telling myself :p !

Cheers
MAH
 
I would rather spend money on indgredients than equipment. Sure it would be nice to have stuff that makes the brew day easy but I'm more of a drinker than a tinkerer :blink:

Having said that, the most I have spent on brewing equipment at any one time was $140. This was for two 18 litre kegs plus surplus fittings, HLT, boiler, immersion chiller and two 3 ring burners. :)

C&B
TDA
 
THE DRUNK ARAB said:
Having said that, the most I have spent on brewing equipment at any one time was $140. This was for two 18 litre kegs plus surplus fittings, HLT, boiler, immersion chiller and two 3 ring burners. :)
That's it, it's official - I hate you TDA :p Nobody should get a bargain like that and not be Scottish.

I don't have a predetermined limit, but for political reasons I try and keep purchases under $80.

Why political? $80 seems to slip under the budgetary radar. Anything above that, questions are raised in the house!
 
My BC mill $165. Kegging gear about $350 but in various payments, including gas. I shop around for the absolute best bargains I can find and then usually go this way, that gives me some piece of mind. If I factored in my time and put a $$ value on it everything would cost me a fortune :rolleyes:. I wouldn't say I'm a big spender, I think I'm an accumulative spender in that it all adds up to a lot of money but I'm unlikely to throw it all out in one big hit.

I'm thinking about making some pretty major purchases soon though such as a march pump, 2 or 3 3" bimetal thermometers, steel for a new two tier set up, perhaps a PID controller. Also planning to buy up to 4 new taps with shanks from the states for a new fridge I plan on getting to replace the chest freezer. Ahh...where does it end?

I think at heart I'm a tight arse. But I keep justifying my purchases as life long investments as brew gear generally doesn't wear out. Over the course of one's life time you would probably spend much more on tattslotto tickets or newspapers that you would on brewing gear.

What a great hobby. ;)

Cheers, Justin
 
Justin

I know exatly what you mean by accumulaive spender. I was recently doing an inventory of my house to make sure my insuance was adequate. I decided to add up the value of all my brew related gear, and fell off my chair when I looked at the total. $2768 :eek: !

Sounds a lot but when you add up EVERYTHING, you would be surprised. Scary thing is this is only the brew gear and doesn't include grain, hops or yeast.

Cheers
MAH
 
Some great replies to this thread.
Iam in the 200-500 bracket. but all that said as most people know most of my stuff i paid $0.00 for being most of it some how found its way to my brewery after it all fell of the back of a truck.
Most expensive piece of gear would be the dual digi temp controller at around $2000 new, i paid a total of $0 for it. :D
I'll admit nearly every spare cent i have goes into buying stuff for this hobby/obsession.
I like bigd's idea of justifying money spent because of the saccrifice of living in the sticks for half his life time.
I have no guilt when i comes to spending money or even drinking/sampling a lot.
Iam a single father raising a young daughter on my own and as a reward for a job well done i indulge in what ever i can.

I really have been lucky scoring some great brew gear such as my cool room with digi temp control which also cost me $0. :D


anyway the next bits of gear i will buy will be a march pump and a PH meter.
After that i have everything i could possibly need. So from there the only thing left to do is build/buy a pro brewery. B)

Cheers Jayse (living for beer) :chug: :chug:
 
Hey jayse, how are you going to get the pump and pH meter for $0? ;) :p I wouldn't mind one either :D.

Cheers. justin
 
Some serious justification if I go over the $200 mark
 
200-500 would be tops, and as most have said, that only if it was something that was a definite improvement/step up. But so saying, it is my vice, so it's pretty guilt free for me.

Most expensive to date is an old Coke fridge at 450, but when I can get 4 kegs, 3 cubes, 2 fermenters, a tray of glasses, spare hops, 20 odd yeast starters PLUS about 2 dozen king browns in it, I reckon well worth it. That's what I'm telling SWMBO anyway.

In a perfect world, it would be SS, automated heaven...
 
The most I've spent is $600 in one go, that included mashing equipment and ingedients. I wont list the items, no good deals to report :(
I've only started out with mashing, having done a lot of kit brews and then short period of partial mash/extract.
Now it seems the wish list is endless.
 
Maybe two polls could have given a more accurate result.

The first poll as it stands;
"How much would you spend on one single piece of brewing equipment?"

And the second one;
"How much are you allowed or able to spend on one piece of brewing equipment"

I am very lucky as my wife is very supportive of my hobby - after all it keeps me outa' the pub!
I think most people are sensible when it comes to any purchase and the decision is nearly allways made with cost as a factor.
As with anything, the dream of something bigger and better provides stimulation and at the same time satisfaction is felt by achieving the desired result using equipment that may not be the biggest and the best.
All things into consideration, each individual takes his /her hobby to a sustainable and enjoyable level and brewing is no exception.
BTW I didnt vote in the poll as I really couldn't honestly say what I would be prepared to spend if I considered that I really needed a single item of equipment.
It would take a lot of justification at my level in this hobby to spend $1000.00
Just my thoughts.
Cheers,
 
I'll sell my first born whenever it pops out. Save even more in the long run that way.
 

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