Homebrew wetting agent?

Rudeofus · Apr 10, 2019

This page tells me that Tesco does have 2.5l canisters with DI water. So does probably every other large drug store in the UK. It's not only used for steam irons, but also as cooling water in vehicles with combustion engines.

GLS · Apr 10, 2019

Rudeofus said:
This page tells me that Tesco does have 2.5l canisters with DI water. So does probably every other large drug store in the UK. It's not only used for steam irons, but also as cooling water in vehicles with combustion engines.

I can confirm they do stock it, even in the smaller stores. I have bought several of those myself in the past.

Agulliver · Apr 10, 2019

Nope definitely not round here. Believe me, I've looked. Not that I actually have space to keep two of the bottles around. There was a time when I fancied making up my developer using distilled water, as they recently started chlorinating the tap water so much that I can smell the chlorine. None of the chemists would sell me distilled or deionised water, and none of the big superstores (2x Tesco, 1x Sainsburys, 1x Asda in town) sell it either. I'm sure you can special order it from their websites, but that's hardly the point.

Rudeofus · Apr 11, 2019

If storage of 5l of deionized water is already an issue, you could still try using regular tap water and boil it. Maybe descale the water cooker before you do that, and maybe repeat the process with a clean water cooker until most of the lime scale is gone.

A short update regarding Isopropanol: I went out and bought a bottle from a regular hardware store. I mixed 30ml Isopropanol and 30 ml Formalin 20% into 1 liter of DI water to make a final rinse for E6 film. I rewashed my latest film strips, had them in this new final rinse for several minutes, then dried the film strips. The result is a lot better than what I had with Ilfotol+Formalin, but there are still drying marks on my film. I then took a glass plate and put some IPA on it and let the IPA evaporate. There was a visible residue left behind on my glass plate, which tells me, that the IPA I got from a hardware store is not clean enough. Will see now what my chem supplier has to offer.

Anon Ymous · Apr 11, 2019

Rudi, check your pharmacy for IPA, mine doesn't leave any residue. It's about double the price compared to technical grade, but probably worth it. About a year back, I mixed 250ml deionised water with 50ml IPA. To this I added 10 drops of Photoflo 600, roughly 0,5ml. This is very effective and I've used it many times. I always check it before use, but I've never seen anything growing in there. It has quite high IPA concentration anyway (17%), which is a disinfectant. I guess it's about time to discard it, although it looks fine and still smells strongly of IPA.

Steve Goldstein · Apr 11, 2019

Rudi, in the US we have a huge industrial supply company (McMaster-Carr) that sells 99% IPA. Perhaps you can find a similar supplier in your area? You should have a look at McMaster's web site - it's amazing what they carry, and is a stunningly well-done site. http://www.mcmaster.com

GLS · Apr 11, 2019

Rudeofus said:
A short update regarding Isopropanol: I went out and bought a bottle from a regular hardware store. I mixed 30ml Isopropanol and 30 ml Formalin 20% into 1 liter of DI water to make a final rinse for E6 film. I rewashed my latest film strips, had them in this new final rinse for several minutes, then dried the film strips. The result is a lot better than what I had with Ilfotol+Formalin, but there are still drying marks on my film. I then took a glass plate and put some IPA on it and let the IPA evaporate. There was a visible residue left behind on my glass plate, which tells me, that the IPA I got from a hardware store is not clean enough. Will see now what my chem supplier has to offer.

Amazon sell 99.9% grade IPA:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SHL-BRAND-...5&s=gateway&sprefix=isopropyl+,aps,154&sr=8-3

MattKing · Apr 11, 2019

IIRC Costco US sells 99% IPA in their Bellingham store.

Rudeofus · Apr 11, 2019

Sure, I have found a source of better/purer IPA myself by now. Mainly posted this to warn future home brewers from using randomly sourced IPA. Will hopefully get 99% IPA in a week or two (Easter holidays mean I'll be out of town), and will keep you posted on my results.

@GLS : Since you kind of came up with this IPA + water formula: which purity grade of IPA have you used ?

GLS · Apr 12, 2019

Rudeofus said:
@GLS : Since you kind of came up with this IPA + water formula: which purity grade of IPA have you used ?

99.9% grade

The very one I linked to in fact. I could get similar grade from work, but only in 2.5 litre glass Winchesters, which are less convenient to store at home. I'm sure 99% grade will work very well too.

Rudeofus · Apr 25, 2019

I final two freshly developed rolls of film yesterday evening with 1/2 l of deionized water and about 10 ml of 99% pure Isopropanol. The results look very promising, as in "I've never had as clean film strips after processing as these ones". Thanks to all who helped me get to this point!

GLS · Apr 25, 2019

Rudeofus said:
I final two freshly developed rolls of film yesterday evening with 1/2 l of deionized water and about 10 ml of 99% pure Isopropanol. The results look very promising, as in "I've never had as clean film strips after processing as these ones". Thanks to all who helped me get to this point!

Good to hear!

FYI with the last roll I developed I upped the fraction of IPA to 5% and it gave even better results: pristine negatives which also dried quickly, and with minimal curling (on a PET base). I think I will standardise on this mixture from now on.

Homebrew wetting agent?

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