Hi Chizek,
One of the operational advantages of the glass column system that we produce is that each plate section on our 8" diameter is only about 4" tall. So if you have a ceiling height limitation this can help you get a higher plate count if needed.
Also the cool factor is pretty much off the chain if you are planing to do tours or teach a distilling class out of your distillery.
Heat transfer is also quite good with the glass.
The down side is that the glass chimneys are,,,,,glass. And as such they do need to be handled accordingly. The glass chimney thickness is quite substantial with a wall thickness of nearly 3/8" thick. Its just that you can't drop them on a concrete floor and expect a good outcome if you see my meaning.
Also, if we assume that a distiller can get a months worth of service life out of the plates within, the column will still have to be disassembled for cleaning. This can certainly be more labor intensive than our SS Modular Tee System since threaded rods are used to hold the entire system together. Cleaning can be particularly daunting on rum beer batches that are well known for foam up. In this case we would recommend one or two of our standard tee assemblies mounted closest to the kettle with the CrystalDragon mounted on top of the tee. This way the first (and /or second) plate can easily be removed for cleaning while the remainder of the plates within the CrystalDragon remain assembled. Hope I said that clearly?
I can not really speak to Scott's concerns with the glass system that he had in service. I would need to see the system up close to have any kind of qualified opinion.Our glass columns can produce as much as the stainless systems we sell. Our gasket system does not leak. We are not in jepardy of going out of business. We have customers with award winning products on the shelf.
Good luck.