Developer storage

cliveh · Mar 19, 2012

How do you store developer? The best way I have ever heard of and not my idea, was to take an empty wine box and with a flat bladed knife, remove the tap. Wash it out, fill with developer and replace tap. If you also reverse the box, it is easier to label and may stop you drinking developer, thinking it may be wine. If you squeeze bag when dispensing, it is an oxidation proof method and you even get a spring loaded tap to stop you wasting any.

Brian C. Miller · Mar 19, 2012

Instead of going to all that trouble, why not just use a Platypus water bladder? They they are made from Nylon/Polyethylene, and available clear for water and opaque for wine, and in various sizes.

Robert Ridyard · Mar 19, 2012

I store D-76 in 250 ml brown bottles that I bought from a pharmacy. (The bottles that are used for prescription syrups and whatnot.) I use D-76 at 1:1, which means one bottle per roll of film.

Mike Wilde · Mar 19, 2012

I'm with Robert some times - I use old yeast bottles, which hold 220ml, and have a good gasketted laquer coated screw on lid. I use them for d76 and go 1:1 for 440mL, which is the least amount I will develop a film with using this method.

Then when I have larger amounts I use up to 3.8L amber glass jugs, and gas top them with Nitrogen whenever I open them to pour some liquid off.

Store all in my basement, which stays near 18C year round, and either in the darkroom or laundry room which is usually dark or dim.

Edwardv · Mar 19, 2012

I use coated amber bottles to store my developers. The reason I use coated bottles is if I drop the bottles the plastic coating keeps the chemistry intact.

Bob-D659 · Mar 19, 2012

2 liter soda bottles, wash out well and you can squeeze the air out as well. RA4 paper developer lasts a very long time, and the price of the bottles is right.

fotch · Mar 20, 2012

I purchased a bunch of 250ml Amber Glass Large Mouth Bottle to be able to mix up Xtol (20 bottles)
or D76 (16 bottles) and store the solution in these smaller bottles with no air so it would last longer.
Then I could use one shot or 1:1.

Robert Ley · Mar 23, 2012

I have started to use old beer bottles. I used to do home brewing and I still have the bottles, caps and caper. I will mix up a five ltr batch of xtol and decant it to 12oz bottles. If I use more than one bottle and there is any left I use one of those rubber wine stoppers with a suction pump so it gets most of the air out. I have some 16oz bottles as well so I can get just under 2 six packs per batch of xtol. So far so good.

andrew.roos · Mar 24, 2012

Like Robert I store my ID-11 stock solution in individual 250ml bottles, so each bottle makes 500ml at 1:1 for one-shot use.

TonyR · Mar 25, 2012

Hi everone

I'm with Cliveh - both film and print developers keep for a very long time..I've kept Xtol and MG developers for at least 12 months in 2 litre or 4 litre wine casks (of course I will always test them after an extended period before use). The bladder collapsing keeps virtually all the air out until it is empty - I have used bottles of various sorts in the past, but very hard to keep air out unless they are filled to the brim.
For film I use Beutler as a two part developer - Part A and B are in separate bladders containing 2 litres each, but contained in one cask box (4 litre size) withone 'tap' on each side. Label each side 'Beutler A' and 'Beutler B' and date it and it's ready to go.

Cheers
Tony

Developer storage

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency