HC-110 - New Bottle, Brown Gunk

[bvy]

Just back from New York City today. I bought a bottle of HC-110 this morning at their superstore (they won't ship it), and now that I'm back home (in Pittsburgh) I'm noticing that there's some brown gunk in a bottom corner of this brands new bottle. It's dated 2016. There are no dents or leaks in the bottle, and it feels inflated like it hasn't been opened. The gunk doesn't move when I slosh the liquid around. Any ideas what this could be? The liquid is yellow like I would expect. Thanks.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I have not used HC-110 so I cannot speak from experience. Shake the bottle well for several minutes to see if the sludge goes back into solution. If not call the superstore and ask what can be/should be done.

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Could be settling. Try a test strip in the dev and make sure it will behave as expected.

 

[MattKing]

The older HC-110 would do this sometimes for me. It never amounted to much "gunk" and it never seemed to make any difference to the developer's response.

I don't have any of the new, one litre bottles of Tetenal manufactured HC-110 yet, so I cannot say anything about that.

 

[bvy]

(My 1000th post!)

Thanks. Maybe I'll try it and see what happens. Here's a picture...

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

I wouldn't worry about it. Maybe don't shake it?

 

[Kevin Harding]

One of the best photographers I know insists that HC-110 isn't good until it's "aged" to the colour of a deep mud. I think you're probably fine. Mine's dark orange right now, so partway there....

 

[Richard S. (rich815)]

I have about 5-6 unopened bottles of HC-110 I hoarded from B&H when rumors of it being discontinued due to the order # changing for the new bottles. I'll check those and see if I see anything similar. That said I've had opened bottles that have gotten more than few years old with crystals forming in the syrup and going a deep, deep orange-brown before. Used it all. Worked fine.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

I would personally suggest that you do not agitate the bottle. Leave the gunk in the corners where it cannot do any harm. Once it is distributed in the syrup it will take months to settle out again. Run a test roll but I think everything will be OK..

 

[bvy]

Thanks again. I didn't shake it, but did slosh it around just a bit. Whatever it is, it's pretty well stuck to the bottom.

I tried developing a sheet of 4x5 T-Max 400 this evening -- something exposed a few months ago, but not terribly critical. It looks pretty good. I tried dilution B -- 2ml syrup + 62ml of water, and agitated on a motor base for 7.5 minutes at 68F.

The film has pink/purple edges which I think is another problem. This is expired but always frozen T-Max (the old emulsion). I'm thinking maybe my fixer is pooped... ?

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

I've used opened bottles of hc-110 concentrate that went brownish and it still works fine. That stuff is bullet proof.

 

[Kevin Harding]

Pinky-purple edges makes me think fixer exhaustion / pooped, as you put it.

 

[tokam]

The bottle of HC-110 I am currently using, about 70% full, has an expiry date of 2010-10. It is a light honey colour and seems to be working properly. I always top off the bottle with Protectan gas at each use. My 'new', unopened bottle has an expiry date of 2014-06 ans is a light straw colour. This developer has a very long storage life in its syrup form. It's not my regular choice of developer as I'm currently using replenished XTOL. With this intermittent use in mind, I expect to finish these bottles in 10 yrs plus time and I'm confident that they will still be working fine.