He Shoots, He Scores!

Today on SlickDeals.net I saw that someone had spotted the full Mr. Beer Premium Brewing Kit at their local Sears as a clearance item for 50% off.  This is the exact same kit I purchased months ago and contains everything you need to get started except (a) water, (b) a stovetop, (c) a spoon, and (d) a refrigerator.

Interestingly enough, though I don't need another kit - after all I have already purchased two and have a third fermentation keg now for the long-term Christmas Stout brew - my son had indicated that he might want to get a kit for my ex- as a Mother's Day or Birthday gift down the road.

I went online to Sears.com to see if my local Bloomington store had any in stock.  Yup, they sure did.  The only thing was that online it was showing as $44.99.  There was no guarantee that the deal I saw was going on at all Sears stores nationwide or if it was only at the one store that the poster had visited.  Oh, what the heck, it's only another 10 minutes tacked-on to my 40-minute commute.....

Yes.  My store not only had four of them, but they were also on clearance for the same $25 price.

I bought two.

The kits include a fermentation keg (normally $15 online, though MRB has them on sale right now for $10), a standard refill kit (West Coast Pale Ale + Booster + Yeast + Cleanser, $16 online), 8 one-liter PET bottles ($14 online), plus instructions.  Heck, the bottles and the refill alone are well worth the $25 price of admission, so getting a spare fermenter (which makes my 4th) in the deal makes this a no-brainer.  Having extra bottles on hand will be nice in case I decide to give some beer away to a friend or take some to a tailgate - while I'd certainly like the bottle back it wouldn't cramp my style if I lost it.  And considering that the only real risk to using the PET bottles and fermenter during the brewing cycle is the unsavory side-effects that can happen if any of the surfaces that come in contact with the beer get scratched (hello bacteria!), having extras around just cannot hurt one bit!

As far as the 2nd kit goes - well, I can talk to my ex- discreetly to see whether she'd be interested in it as a gift.  If not (which I suspect) I can hang on to it to give to a "friend-to-be-named-later".  Or, if any of my Bloomington or Dayton peeps want it and have already tried/failed to get a kit on their own, I'm certain we can work something out.