I have bought a few items from this Chinese company and they have been decent quality. Snooping around they have some great prices on homebrew items. Might be worth checking out!
nice, good to know as i might do a full upgrade at some point (or if i win the lottery).
I have their soft serve ice cream machine and pizza oven and so far, both are good quality. Customer service is pretty good too. That said, it is chinese. And the direction interpretations can be a little befuddling at times. But if you are competent you can figure it out pretty quickly
Wow… it’s like Temu for middle aged men ;D
The Water Distillers look exactly like the one I have, but the prices are half what I paid. I can vouch for the quality on them, assuming they’re just rebadged version of what I have.
I’m in the market for a new regulator, so I might spring for theirs.
That’s very funny! I can see the pop-up ads now. So long cheap shoes and cheap women’s shirts over fake boobs- hello shiny stainless stuff!
It’s amazing how much stuff they make. I have a soft serve ice cream maker and a pizza oven, both commercial quality. They aren’t perfect, but they are pretty damn sweet for the price and so far have given me no problems.
I was surprised when I saw homebrew equipment on there. If I was in the market for equipment I would try it out based on my previous purchases.
While we “celebrate” the lower prices, how many of these items are stolen intellectual property/ideas?
I’d rather pay going price and get good quality vs having some cheap Chinese junk that I’ll need to purchase again. What am I saving if I need to purchase the same item more than once?
As consumers we MUST get out of the mindset of saving pennies and then spending dollars.
Hear hear!
I mean, it’s a pump-----a fermenter-----a mash basket. Not necessarily an iPhone X. 
The stuff I have bought is basic equipment, nothing too fancy. Anyone who owns any form of technology–your phone or computer, for instance, is using technology “stolen” from other “innovators”. I certainly hope you don’t own an Android (iPhone ripoff).
I love my soft serve ice cream maker and I assure you there is zero guilt when I’m enjoying my salted carmel/praline swirl.
I would have no guilt from the ice cream maker, per se, either, except for the guilty pleasure of the salted caramel and praline swirl! Definitely not within my dietary restrictions from the doctor! Enjoy the homemade goodies, Keith!
The meat slicer is always tempting. Always wanted once since I watch the Seinfeld episode where Kramer had a meat slicer
[quote=“majorvices, post:9, topic:33146, username:majorvices”]
Cheap metals? Not really stainless, etc, etc, etc. What if the supposedly food grade pump contained lead? What if the pump fails due to the liquid temp going thru it?
I also enjoy model trains. Horrified to discover one of my MTH K4 Torpedo trains is falling apart. I search online and find this isn’t limited to only this train as this problem also applied to Lionel, Williams, etc. There are also known issues with paint failing, wheels falling apart, parts crumbling, etc. One of the problems is known as “zinc rot”.
What does the above paragraph have to do with brewing? We may encounter the same or similar problem with our brewing equipment.
You are right. I will remove the post and throw the items I bought from them in the dumpster where they belong. lol
That said, You are kidding yourself if you don’t think most of the Stainless Steel you use on a daily basis doesn’t come from China–even the products you like and use that aren’t model trains (perhaps the mixer bowl you beat your eggs in every morning). Regardless, I realized when I posted this that some people would be sensitive to it. It is just a post to give homebrewers other options. You don’t have to like it or use it or buy anything from this company. I have had good luck ordering items from this company. They are quality products. That’s the only message I am offering here.
I have a 300 foot pipe inspection camera of theirs that I’ve used to inspect water wells. It was under $700 and is a pretty useful tool at a fraction of the cost of other options on the market.
No doubt many of the “American” brands we buy every day are also made inexpensively overseas. Why not cut out the middle man and save youself some cash? Frankly, I’ve bought many, many inexpensive overseas-made items from discount sites over the years. The quality control and customer service is surprisingly good on most of these items. For the ones that aren’t, I’m generally paying pennies on the dollar and I choose what I’m willing to risk.
that sounds incredibly cool, if i was a millionaire (or the 2023 equivalent of this phrase - uh 10s millionaire?) i would buy stuff like this just to enjoy playing with.
i wont say im an expert on all things steel/metal related, but the “made in china” thing is very interesting and ive refrained from chiming in since i think people have their viewpoints, however from what i do - once steel products get mixed in in storage/transit/sorting they can extremely easily have their origin lost or faked. i know a major company that is absolutely using steel components that are claimed to be made in usa/north america and they are definitely not. and yet their buildings arent falling down.
the chinese products do have to conform to the same standards if they are assigned certain grades. i personally have no safety/health concern problem with using made in china metals and metal products, and in fact i’d rather use an all steel drinking container made in china than a plastic one made in the US/canada for example.
the reason for their cost savings nowadays (i think they definitely got away with BS products from the 80s to maybe 2010s) is lower labour costs, scale/govt investment for massive companies, lower infrastructure/safety requirements, really strong logistics and existing sales networks.
I worked in a building once that was built for the US Navy and was required to have rebar made in the US. The contractor used rebar made in Mexico, and partway through construction the Navy found out. They made them tear down all the concrete and build it again with real American rebar. I don’t know that the building was any better, but it sure was behind schedule and the contractor lost a lot of money. To this day I don’t know how the Navy figured out where the rebar came from.
exactly, its a matter of insurance, regulations and things like that.
this company just states “every component must be made in north america” since it has to do with safety and infrastructure.
i doubt they did some kind of chemical analysis of the rebar (but maybe?), but likely someone just knew and spilled the beans somehow.
This, I’m sure, was entirely about complying with US defense procurement laws and regulations. The DoD has entire agencies devoted to auditing contacts.
I have no doubts of the source of many, or all, of the things we purchase. Nor am I fooling myself into believing something that is not. We all know communist China production standards (ha, ha, ha) are woefully lacking. We all should know they steal intellectual property and ideas.
In regards to the model trains, I mentioned in a prior post, the zinc was sworn/was contracted as uncontaminated/pure. However, after many problems happened, research was done, it was determined the zinc wasn’t as pure as promised. The zinc and other metals were contaminated with anything they threw in. Problem is either lack of quality assurance or deception.
OK, here’s a scenario. I contract with the commies to make me type 316 SS fermenters. They swear on their Mao books it’s type 316 SS. I receive a certificate attesting to the purity of the type 316 SS. I ask about lead in the fermenter. “No, no lead” and they give me a piece of paper attesting to the promise of no lead. They basically kiss my rear making all sorts of promises as they want the contract. I foolishly sign the contract.
Receive the fermenters. Sell them to homebrewers touting the 316 SS. After a while I’m hearing of problems with the SS. Now what? Legal action against a commie company? Right… Don’t do business with them again? They could probably care less. What about everyone whom bought, whom now has the defective SS fermenter? My business reputation is shot.