faster chunky grain lith question

I've done a couple printing sessions with Arista powder A/B and Arista RC VC Semi-Matte (czech probably Foma). It seems like it takes about 4 prints before I get that nice chunky grain in the shadows that I really like. I'm using it 1:1:14 +1 old brown. The old brown seems to help with the color but not the grain. Any suggestions on how to speed this up a bit? If nothing else I can throw some sheets of fogged paper in when I'm setting up, but that doesn't seem like a sustainable solution, nor does not getting the prints I want until an hour into the session. Any help?

Oh yeah sorry if lith isn't "alt" I get the feeling that sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't.

Might try more old brown. I try to use about 25% old brown in Rollei developer (500 ml for 2 liters of total solution) I don't know how Arista powder works, but that small amount of old brown may be the culprit.

Will give that a whirl in just a few!

Yeah, 25% if not even more. I think the idea is to have plenty of semiquinone in weakened developer, so your highlights are still smooth while the shadows are going infectious.

Yes, consider it alt. Materials and methods that are being used for other than the intended purposes. Basically graphic arts film developers used to get unusual tones and textures out of monochrome papers. Sounds alt to me.

Last night I used 750ml in 3.5L of working solution, it seemed to work much better. I did throw a fogged piece of 11x14 in for 15min while setting up my chems just for good measure. Thanks so much for the help!