Just because your alligator clip is not in the water does not mean it will not oxidize. It is connected to positive voltage, which creates metal ions on its surface which will allow it to react with the oxygen in the air, and the OH ions which are present even in distilled water.
Thanks Kephra, that was my concern, stuff dropping in. Insulating tape seems to work but not a long-term fix. I chose bullion locally (no GST??) since Au wire ex UK was more expensive.
So far all good but unsure of mg since scale dodgy. 5 runs, 500ml/0.5A/60V/20mins produces perfectly clear ruby-red colloidal gold smelling/tasting slightly of cinnamon. Scale 'says' ingot now 940g so 'guess' @ 12g/batch from colour? Hopefully 10mg scale arrives soon so I can be more sure. (If it works!)
While emptying my 50ml brown dropper-bottle (that had golden syrup reducer in) to make some more cinnamon tincture the dropper tube had a nice white, fuzzy blob in it with green areas. I'm having success with cinnamon for Colloidal Silver & colloidal gold so happy with that.
Thanks for all the advice. tony