C41/BW chemical storage...

[DavidKM]

Just wanted to let people know who develop film at home a better way to store your chemicals. I buy Tetenal C41 in large quantity and make up anywhere from 500ml to 1L at a time. I also do this with Ilford BW chems. Buy bulk to save is always a good idea. I've read this and many other sites on what to do with the remainder and how long it lasts. Keeping air out with Tetenal Protectant Spray, marbles, collapsable bottles, old soda bottles rolled up to squeeze the air out, etc, etc, etc...

I work in research and have also worked extensively with food/chemical storage for manufacturing. I am quite aware of plastics for chemical storage and non-permeable oxygen barriers. I have found that alcohol flask work perfectly for chemicals that need to be stored long term with no air contamination. These types of flasks are used to smuggle alcohol onto cruise ships/concerts. They are puncture resistant, non-permeable barriers that are easy to label, fill, and dispense from. You can even reuse them but I only do once or twice before replacing them. You'll need a funnel and a marker but they store nicely, cap tightly and you can see right through them to see if you chems have gone bad on you. Once filled you can carefully squeeze all the air out, tighten the cap and they stay that way until opened again. When you get to the last aliquot just add a little water and pour out into you dilution. Easy !!!

I've just opened one from 3 years ago and developed 8 rolls perfectly. Hope this helps save some money for all you home developers. Cheers, David...

 

[MartinP]

Presumably "alcohol flask" means something specific in American-English, but I have no idea what you are talking about. Perhaps a photo would be helpful?

 

[DavidKM]

My alcohol flask are bag flasks used for sneaking alcohol onto cruise ships. Any internet search should find them easily. I got mine on Amazon and are froma company called RumRunner although there are many producers of this product.

 

[MartinP]

Thank you. Flexible bottles or drinking-bladders (for the largest sizes)! In Europe at least, some manufacturers sell chemistry in small volumes using similar containers, made from the foil-lined version of the plastic. The clear plastic ones are often sold as multi-use collapsible drinking bottles, for hiking or packed-lunch use.

 

[DavidKM]

The foil lined version are much thinner but should provide an adequate non-permeable oxygen barrier. These flask are made of HDPE suitable for alcohol and chemical storage are much thicker... for storing my chems I prefer the thicker versions for puncture resistance, ensuring no accidents. I also like to be able to see what going on inside . I've noticed when the chems go off they tend to get cloudy and/or change colors with precipitates.

 

[Cholentpot]

I use 1 liter Seltzer bottles. I've never had an issue.

 

[Michael Guzzi]

I have had an experience where one of these (foil lined) collapsed and poured my C-41 dev all over my other chems... took a while to clean up. I never really figured out what exactly happened. So I'm a little wary of these.