Jump to content

My experience with Corson Distilling


Hollow Spirits

Recommended Posts

Well we ordered our 400 gallon distilling system from Corson Distilling over a year ago...  and to no ones surprise... no still.  Due to legal proceedings taking place I cannot comment in detail.  But if you have already ordered from them... get a lawyer now.  If you haven't ordered yet and are considering going with Corson, make sure to read the ADI comments and re-read them so that you are up to speed on what to expect (or not expect).  Unfortunately, ADI had taken down the comments about Corson when we were doing our research.  Feel free to email me for information.  I will share the facts of what we have experienced.  I am also including the link below to an article in the Idaho Statesman which really sheds light on the business practices and dangers associated with the products if you haven't been convinced by the comments posted in ADI.

Donna@HollowSpirits.com

http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/business/article187541748.html

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, I know....it was my still. Unfortunately, we cannot comment too much because of legal proceedings. What I will say is that Josh Corson and one of his welders showed up about an hour after it happened and ended up correcting/band-aiding SOME OF the manufacturing and design issues. Since then, we have continued to dump money into this still to get it to operate properly and still have several thousand dollars left to spend to get to 100%. We have been so disappointed that we are actually bringing in another still to install as a fail-safe, just in case this one ends up crapping out all together....which at this point seems inevitable.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

That is going to rust out unless it is taken care of before use.  Also it is absolutely unsanitary.  Here's a fix for it.  Someone needs to take a rotary burr and grind the slag down, then sand as smooth as possible and then coat liberally with Bradford Derustit Wonder Gel.  The gel has hydrofluoric acid in it and it will take all of the ferrous metal off of the surface https://www.derustit.com/products/wonder_gel.php  Rinse the gel off in 20 minutes, then you will be good to go. 

Please see one of our column sections below.  The piece was purged when welded, then sanded and then polished.   It takes time and money (purging with argon can be expensive) to do it right, but it takes a great deal more time to fix it if you do it wrong.  

 

P4240009.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have equipment in over 270 distilleries.   i have 23 employees and over 14,000 square ft of shop and warehouse space. We had a customer who brought us a still with lots of sugaring on the back side of the welds that another wanna be still builder built.  We did what I described above and that tank has been in use for over 5 years with no issues.  So with that in mind I made the above description of the fix.  However I am not a welder.  I am a still designer who cannot weld or fabricate a lick.    I just had one of my supervisors who has over 30 years experience come in and look at the picture and he said just what you did.  He said that the ones that we fixed here just had a little sugaring on the back side and that the weld in the pic is way beyond that.  I apologize, i should have had one of my welders look at the pic before I gave out any info. 

With that being said, we have very high standards here.  I recently sold equipment to a guy who was a welding inspector for Boeing for over 20 years and he said that our work is some of the best that he has ever seen.  He went on and on about it.  What do you think about the work in the pic that I posted?  Do you polish out to that extent? When we do stainless to stainless you cannot usually see where the welds are at all.  They look just like the surrounding metal.  We do a root pass and a cap pass on every tig weld.  Keep in mind that the welds in the picture are stainless to copper which is even harder.  That piece is tig welded, not tig brazed like the Corson copper to stainless welds appear to be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

2 hours ago, Steve Saunders said:

 That work is beautiful.  

Thank you Steve.  Your work is really nice.  We purge everything here.  My customer that had the still with the sugaring had a very tight budget.  He could not afford to pay us for cutting everything apart and rebuilding it which is what my shop supervisor originally suggested.  After looking everything over my supervisor said that we could simply clean up the welds.  He said the welds had some sugaring but it wasn't that bad.  We did that to good effect and it saved my customer a lot of money on a still that he had paid very little for to begin with and it is still in operation as far as I know. 

 

Also, my welding supervisors tell me that the root and cap pass depends on the application.  They also said that any of our welds can be polished out completely inside and out.   We do outstanding work here and lots of it .  We are very well known for our quality and price.  We are the opposite of Corson.  We have lots of positive reviews and no negative ones that I have ever seen.  The proof is in our stills.  I have sold over $12,000,000.00 in distillery equipment without any of the horrible reviews that Corson has.  I have fixed some of their problems and I have sold several of their customers stills, either because they had never received their still from Corson or because the still that they purchased from Corson did not work. I have a lot of work done over seas to my specs as well and all of it is far far better than any of the work that I have seen from Corson.  Compare my reviews below to the reviews of Corson and you can see how bad they really are comparatively.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And still ADI takes their advertising....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On ‎4‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 7:35 AM, AK2 said:

Hollow Spirits,

Thank you for posting.  I can not comment for the same reasons the rest of you can not comment.  The words I wish to express are not meant for public.

 

Adam

AK2, I appreciate your post. 

I can only imagine how many former and current Corson customers would like to post but can't for various reasons.  While the welding conversation was educational and helpful it originated because of the discussion around why the Corson still blew up.  There are distilleries out there still experiencing negative and often irreparable damage to their businesses due to Corson's business practices. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can speak directly to the quality of Corson welds. They are terrible, not water tight and put you directly in the line of explosion hazards. I spent two weeks cutting apart and rebuilding a Corson Still in Texas a year ago to make it "safe" to operate and was hilarious just how bad the welds were. Water and steam leaks all over the place. Pinholes in many welds and Corson refused to fix them. 

Its a damn shame to see their advertising on ADI or Artisan Spirit Mag when these organizations both know that Corson is selling dangerous equipment.

  • Thumbs up 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

I'm only a contractor, and can't comment anymore due to my customers best interests. A company that threatens legal action, instead of defending their quality when faced with proof of poor manufacturing is on the brink of failure.  It's a shame, because a lot of people would love to invest in American equipment, and think they are with this outfit, but a simple Google of import records reveals all.  And companies like Still Dragon, who straight up distribute import systems, have very nice products.  Leaks?  Non issue.  Contamination?  No.  Finish?  Impeccible.  That's how bad it is.

  • Thumbs up 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...