akerth

First off, I am new on this site, however I have watched these threads and perused manufacturers sites for years as I have developed my business plan: My post title is the preface to my questions: 1. Why does it seem that all of the sudden there is an influx of Chinese made boilers and other still equipment on the market. If you look on Alibaba you can find hundreds of resellers and manufacturers with the exact products that some of the garage shop distillery design and fabrication houses in the US are selling these days. 2. Who is using these items commercially? are they producing award winning product? OR are they just a way for enterprising individuals to import a substandard, low quality product from China and sell it to starry eyed entrepreneurs or hobbyists looking for an inexpensive way to go commercial? I mean no disrespect to the people who are trying to make a living and have a legitimate product capable of producing high quality spirits, but that said: I live in Portland, Oregon, travel to Southern CA every month and have toured 30+ distilleries in the last 3 years and not a single one of these successful award winning distilleries has one of these designs. I see primarily Holstien and Carl, and a few customs that are almost identical clones to the Carl and Holstien stills. these are very high quality and expensive units, but the results seam to speak for themselves. Anyhow, I in the process of ordering my equipment, I have quotes and package pricing from both Carl and Kothe (Holstien) and am leaning that direction, however it isn't too late to prove to me that these other items are decent and worth a look. There is one member on this forum that is selling a 60 gallon still package for roughly $35-$40K that is based on one of these Chinese boilers and the supporting accessories that would be worth a look if there were some end users that have excellent results to boast about. Would love to hear everyone's thoughts