lets check into this… are you sure? 800 came to mind… probably 1000 as it cost me like 250 a couple years back.
well, price also depends on popularity. The 600w an/or 800w arent too popular, so they can both be MORE than a 1000. But $250 sounds about right for either a 600/800 or a 1000. You can get similar results with both, but a 1000 has a bit better canopy penetration and a few more lumens. The more lumens, the stronger/thicker the coffee.
i just got really confused really quick :ugh: what are you guys talking about
brewing coffee
:reloading
it’s a 1000w i called my buddy that’s using it. 
OH everything seems so clear now.
Haha, I’m the BALLAST KING in SW Pa, we got’s em cheaper than anyone else does in the area.
Coffee makers come in two varieties, high pressure sodium and metal halide. 250, 400 and 1000W are the most common, but certainly not the only sizes.
HPS is the pinker light of the two…ever see those parking lot lights that look sorta pink or orangish? HPS. Makes your coffee beans bigger during flowering as it mimics the autumnal or harvest light better. Pink light promotes better flowering.
Metal Halide, on the other hand, is bluer in it’s range and supports the vegetative leafy growth of your coffee beans.
The real slick operations clone under warm white fluoro, grow under MH and finish undeR HPS.
I used to be quite a coffee bean grower in my day, but the law caught up with me and I met my wife shortly thereafter, the rest as they say, is history…
i wonder if the electric companys flags you when they see your light bill go up and down when you change light cycles when growing coffee? does anyone know?
it all depends. a 1000W hps ran on an 12/12 cycle will hit you for about 30 bucks a month. That wont raise any flags. Now, if you have 2 1000w hps, and a couple 400w MH’s on an 18/6 cycle, plus all your ventilation, ozone generator or carbon filter (coffee gets pretty stinky in its last stages of growth), heating or cooling devices as well as humidifiers/dehumidifyers, plus air or water pumps if you are doing a hydro setup (wither DWC or Ebb/Flow) then yeah that could raise an eyebrow or two. All depends on how much you want to invest. The better the environment, the better the coffee.
do they care that you grow coffee?
that just means more money for them.
you are a man of much wisdom.
its easy to get paranoid when youre doing shady shit and drinking coffee at the same time.
well, if someone throws up 10 1000w HPS’s in their garage or basement, and all of the sudden their electric bill quadruples, it will get attention.
The average coffee grower who is just trying to provide coffee for themselves and their friend’s java enjoyment, this will not be an issue.
werd
yeah… i tried growing coffee in middle school… i was jumpy as hell about every move i made… must’ve been the caffeine…
More like much passion. The passion came first, the wisdom came as I followed my passion. I love coffee, both literal and figurative, but the law says that I must drink Manhattans as opposed to figurative coffee, so I’ve adapated. Sucks but I’ve already martyr’d myself for the cause.
Best is a friend of mine who set his system up thanks to generous donations from PAT. His entire system is PAT donated, heh heh. Right down to the CO2 system. Shouldn’t suprise anyone, gold busses don’t happen without ALOT of coffee…
haha nice thread diversion…
when brewing coffee for the first time we tried to use halogens :ugh: so i gave in and got hps… the difference is so beyond night and day it was sickening… that’s what got me into it… mainly because you could dictate the way the coffee grows and how you want to grow it.
we’ve done a couple variations in college (best time to attempt such a thing) using 12/12 16/8 and even 18/4… we tried 8" - 32" direct light / reflections … water / water + mineals… it was a good past time… i think IT kept me out of trouble (oddly enough) because i was so caught up in day to day brewing and whatnot that i would come to my dorm and culture the beans daily. little water here, little reflection there, ambient heat is set correctly, ect. ect… i have a lot of pictures of the growth of the beans…
now a days my bud uses the HPS still for coffee… works excellent and he has his pattern down right… i’d love to experiment, just need to find the right location with setup…
(btw, when electronics were an issue (electric bill) my buddy transported to his ‘cabin’ and we used a gas generator! hahaha )
I would like to sample some home brewed coffee sometime 
I consider myself a bit of a connessuer (spelling?). Alot of the people I know brew their coffee outdoors, so the brewing season comes and goes but there is quite a difference in the beans from outdoor/indoor. I enjoy each very much.
my friend tried that… western pa is not forgiving… while picking the coffee, i had thought he missed the beans and grabbed some dirt.
The soil out here in the cut must be pretty good for coffee or something. I have sampled some very tastey beans in the past. Some Vietnamese beans from 2 harvestings ago were yummy yummy. I like fresh outdoors, it always has a much stronger smell to me. Alot more earthy. But can’t go wrong with a good hydro setup either. Deer seem to like coffee also, which is another hazard for outdoors. 
A very rewarding passion. :bigthumb: