by Shano592 » Wed Nov 25, 2020 8:04 pm
I'm going to bump this thread...
Moving house this week, I finally had to dismantle the Gin Genie Mk11 into storage mode. Where I am now is temporary, so it sits in a long-span rack, along with the coffee roasting gear. The updated boiler has 2x FSD 2400W stainless, weld-free elements that run really nicely, and are great in concert. One sits at about 10 litres from the bottom, while the other is at about 25 litres. 50 litres boils up in under an hour, and I generally shut down the upper one after reflux.
With the 2 elements, I have had to run the still across 2 circuits in the house. No biggie to date, as the house I was looking after actually had 5 power circuits, so there was never a shortage of choice. For each boiler, I would run a separate cable from the house or garage, to the back shed. This has served me really well, as I can pack the whole thing down, with no evidence that I was ever there... (The back shed is a double garage, but is un-powered)
Now, to packing down. The last thing I grabbed upon packing away the whole shebang, was the power lead that had been in use since the Gin Genie Mk1 came to life. Pushing 21-2200W through a domestic extension 10A lead over many hours at a time over many months, had it's cost. The lead - upon inspection - was torched. Both ends had clear connection plugs, so you could see very plainly how badly charred the insides were. At each end was a single affected connector, and it was black, going right back into the plug. The house is fitted with an RCD, and I never left things unattended. In fact, a lot of pizzas were consumed, watching and measuring...
I can't be 100% certain, but I cannot imagine that this lead would have gone too much longer without some kind of catastrophic failure... most likely going down/up in flames.
Check ALL of your equipment regularly, ladies and laddies! Your assembly is only as good as your worst component.
FWIW, I ended with around 4500cc @ 92% from the last run, so I have a little in reserve until the Gin Genie Mk11 is back in action... That's on top of the 3L of gin, the 5L rum barrel, 2 more bottles of rum, 5 bottles of mulberry wine, 5L of 15% ABV ginger beer, plus a little more vodka... Christmas is sorted.