How to clean Coca-Cola bottles?

[PhilBurton]

I have some Coca-cola bottles in convenient sizes for B&W chemistry. What do I need to do to get rid of any residual soda?

 

[Mike Lopez]

I would cycle some boiling water through it a couple times. Then you're probably good.

 

[eli griggs]

Just use some hot water plus a few drops of Dawn dish detergent, and a table spoon of baking soda to remove any sticky cola residue and shake until clean, releasing the cap, if on to relieve pressure from the hot water.

When clean looking, dump the mix into your next sticky bottle and flush the first completely, in warm or cool water.

The baking soda will assist the Dawn in cleaning, and bring the solution to a neutral ph, just be sure your rinse is good.

Then do the next bottle, as the soapy mix will do several.

IMO.

 

[mshchem]

Just rinse them out. Everything in Coke is soluble in water. Don't pick up a bottle of C-41 bleach and take a swig

 

[BrianShaw]

Thank you for using Coca Cola bottles, not Pepsi.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

Unless you have Japanese wide-mouth bottles I had seen some years ago (although smaller capacity), doesn't it bother you to have a container that pours so slowly and is equally inconvenient to fill back? Sure, I'm not answering your question, but good stuff is not a lot of dough.

US Plastic Corporation and of course there a lot of choices past that link of any kind one chooses.

 

[Anon Ymous]

Unless you have Japanese wide-mouth bottles I had seen some years ago (although smaller capacity), doesn't it bother you to have a container that pours so slowly and is equally inconvenient to fill back? Sure, I'm not answering your question, but good stuff is not a lot of dough.

US Plastic Corporation and of course there a lot of choices past that link of any kind one chooses.

You don't have to pour directly from the bottle. A beaker, or a volumetric cylinder is more convenient and it's certainly easier to take a temperature reading from. And why spend even a modest amount of money when you can do just as well with something you already have, comes free and is proven to be airtight?

To the OP, I rinse them with water, with a single drop of detergent. The detergent is probably an overkill, but makes me feel better. Remove any existing labels, there should be no ambiguity about the contents. I use paper stickers and mark them with a permanent marker.

 

[eli griggs]

An alternative, though with small mouths, are Hydrogen Peroxide bottles, from the small to quart size at the pharmacy or dollar stores, to the larger gallon plus sizes used by hair salons, bought from local beauty supply houses.

All you need to do with these is rinse with water ,once, as H2O2 is so close to H2O, and the brown bottles are great at protecting developers, etc., And do no cost nearly as much as what a camera supply house/store will charge you.

I dare say in litter or quart sizes, H2O2 sell for less, full of product, than empty "darkroom bottles", so this, IMO, is the best, quick option, and Walmarts are everywhere in a pinch.

Cheers.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

You don't have to pour directly from the bottle. A beaker, or a volumetric cylinder is more convenient and it's certainly easier to take a temperature reading from. And why spend even a modest amount of money when you can do just as well with something you already have, comes free and is proven to be airtight?

To the OP, I rinse them with water, with a single drop of detergent. The detergent is probably an overkill, but makes me feel better. Remove any existing labels, there should be no ambiguity about the contents. I use paper stickers and mark them with a permanent marker.

There is a reason some chemicals are stored in amber or dark bottles. I won't even comment on the pouring part, one can make it easy on himself or choose whatever pleases his fancy. And what is the difference between "free" flimsy container not meant for the job vs. few dollars spent on purpose made and far more convenient one? It's a near life time investment too.

 

[Anon Ymous]

There is a reason some chemicals are stored in amber or dark bottles. I won't even comment on the pouring part, one can make it easy on himself or choose whatever pleases his fancy. And what is the difference between "free" flimsy container not meant for the job vs. few dollars spent on purpose made and far more convenient one? It's a near life time investment too.

I don't store my chemicals by the window sill. Name one chemical that you use that is sensitive to typical room light. And what if you need 300ml of developer but the bottle is a 1000ml one? Do you still pour from it? Don't you ever use a beaker? And the "flimsy" bottles have caused me zero problems in all these years. There's a practically endless supply and they don't even have to be reused indefinitely.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

I don't store my chemicals by the window sill. Name one chemical that you use that is sensitive to typical room light. And what if you need 300ml of developer but the bottle is a 1000ml one? Do you still pour from it? Don't you ever use a beaker? And the "flimsy" bottles have caused me zero problems in all these years. There's a practically endless supply and they don't even have to be reused indefinitely.

I have no idea what your problem is. Seems like you have never used a wide mouth, try it. Dark bottle is news to you too, that's fine. I'm just passing on tried and tested true for ages bits of information.

 

[Anon Ymous]

I have no idea what your problem is. Seems like you have never used a wide mouth, try it. Dark bottle is news to you too, that's fine. I'm just passing on tried and tested true for ages bits of information.

Yeah, whatever, but you failed to answer one question I had.

 

[AgX]

And why spend even a modest amount of money when you can do just as well with something you already have, comes free and is proven to be airtight?

Well, there is that rule in lab practice never to put a chemical in any kind of beverage bottle. (Though I know a photochemistry research lab that just did that. for the reason above.)

 

[Deleted member 88956]

Yeah, whatever, but you failed to answer one question I had.

Which one? Does it matter where you pour or how you do it? Wide mouth has no competition from narrow caps, it's a night and day comparison no matter where that liquid is going.

To me going into analog photography and spending perhaps $30 on a full set of high quality chemical containers is no brainer.

 

[relistan]

More "don't ever do that" gatekeeping on this forum, who'd have guessed?

@PhilBurton as someone said everything is water soluble, just rinse them out vigorously a few times and you will be good to go. I store C-41 chems in old coke bottles and while I don't advise keeping them this long, I have 3 year old C-41 chems that still work great and that have been stored this way. A nice thing about these bottles is that (other than being free), they are very flexible and tough and you can squeeze all the air out of them to seal them. The newer bottles with the seal-in-cap work very well for this.

I just store mine in a cardboard box. Light problem solved.

For the record I also have Kalt accordion bottles and Datatainer 1/2 gallon bottles. I mix XTOL in 5L wiper fluid bottles. They are all good for different things.

 

[Anon Ymous]

Which one? Does it matter where you pour or how you do it? Wide mouth has no competition from narrow caps, it's a night and day comparison no matter where that liquid is going.

To me going into analog photography and spending perhaps $30 on a full set of high quality chemical containers is no brainer.

If you were pouring from the bottle directly to the tank, it would take a little bit longer, which may matter a tiny bit, but for the vast majority of cases doesn't matter at all. I really fail to see what the fuss is all about. You can use a funnel to fill back the bottles and it takes no time.

@AgX As I said, remove the old labels and mark them clearly. They're just too good to pass. Besides, I'm the only one that uses my "lab" and don't drink or eat anything while being there.

 

[Donald Qualls]

@Anon Ymous The first time I processed sheet film during the restart of my darkroom, I poured the developer directly from a 2L soda bottle into the Yankee Agitank (that tank wants about 1.3L for 9x12 cm film, 1.6+ for 4x5) and got "tide marks" which I've always understood are related to too-slow filling. Since then, I pour from the bottle into a graduated pitcher (I've got four in 2L size, sized specifically for the Yankee tank), and from the pitcher into the tank. The other advantage of the pitcher is it's broad enough to catch the pour-out from the tank -- even the Yankee -- without making a mess. Doesn't keep me from using the very economical beverage bottles.

To OP: @PhilBurton I don't worry much about rinsing bottles. I buy generic club soda at my local grocery -- comes in 1L bottles for 79 cents -- or when I need a 2L I get generic substitutes for soda in that size for 69 cents.

 

[grain elevator]

A quick rinse is all that's needed, you seem to be greatly underestimating the solubility of soda and greatly overestimating how fussy the b&w chemistry is if to think that could be a problem. For stop and fix, probably probably even any rinsing is unnecessary, they're acidic anyway.
I too like soda bottles, for three reasons: 1. cheap, 2. pretty impermeable, especially the lids seem much more trustworthy to me than those on the bottles photo chems typically come in, 3. you can squeeze them so no air is in a partly filled bottle.

 

[AgX]

@AgX As I said, remove the old labels and mark them clearly. They're just too good to pass. Besides, I'm the only one that uses my "lab" and don't drink or eat anything while being there.

This issues comes up again and again. You know your place and I kow mine, but we do not know the place of the OP or of others.
Moreover one should not overlook rare constellations were for instance children might show up. But this applies the same for any chemicals in a household.

(And I even remember a sign in the research lab of Agfa in Wolfen warning to drink within the lab.)

 

[relistan]

Moreover one should not overlook rare constellations were for instance children might show up. But this applies the same for any chemicals in a household.

This is a good point. I label all my bottles "XXX POISON XXX" on all sides. I've also made sure my kids are clear on what is happening there. People should take appropriate precautions.

 

[Donald Qualls]

(And I even remember a sign in the research lab of Agfa in Wolfen warning to drink within the lab.)

That's been a standard safety rule in every chemical lab I can recall seeing: "No food or drink" or something equivalent. Even if you don't accidentally pick up the wrong container, who's to say something didn't get splashed a bit and put something toxic on your brownie or into your coffee mug?

For my own darkroom, it's a separate room that, in theory, I can lock either from inside or from outside; further, if there's a child in my house, it's an underage burglar.

 

[relistan]

further, if there's a child in my house, it's an underage burglar.

This made me laugh out loud

 

[jp498]

I used to use soda bottles in my home darkroom. Labeled of course... They were much cleaner than the purpose bottles in school photo labs and other people's darkrooms. The silver buildup and staining on some of the purpose made darkroom bottles gets nasty, especially in the brown plastic ones you can't see inside. I don't think the accordion bottles are any more rugged than a plastic soda bottle. I mostly used 1L bottles, and I built a floor standing wine rack to store the soda bottles in. I was using D76 at the time and a gallon of stock was 4 1L bottles filled to the top with no air. Lasted great. Those were the top row in my wine rack. 2nd row was dektol and stop, 3rd row was fixer, then toners and various chemicals, etc... If the bottles got dirty, I'd just rinse and recycle them rather then worry about floaties affecting my film.

Since then, I've moved to juice bottles Labeled on the bottle and the cap. They are a little more rugged still and have a wider mouth so pouring is easier.

To clean a soda/juice bottle, I just filled it with warm water and let it sit overnight.

 

[PhilBurton]

I used to use soda bottles in my home darkroom. Labeled of course... They were much cleaner than the purpose bottles in school photo labs and other people's darkrooms. The silver buildup and staining on some of the purpose made darkroom bottles gets nasty, especially in the brown plastic ones you can't see inside. I don't think the accordion bottles are any more rugged than a plastic soda bottle. I mostly used 1L bottles, and I built a floor standing wine rack to store the soda bottles in. I was using D76 at the time and a gallon of stock was 4 1L bottles filled to the top with no air. Lasted great. Those were the top row in my wine rack. 2nd row was dektol and stop, 3rd row was fixer, then toners and various chemicals, etc... If the bottles got dirty, I'd just rinse and recycle them rather then worry about floaties affecting my film.

Since then, I've moved to juice bottles Labeled on the bottle and the cap. They are a little more rugged still and have a wider mouth so pouring is easier.

To clean a soda/juice bottle, I just filled it with warm water and let it sit overnight.

Thanks to all who responded. I had NO IDEA that my question would generate such controversy. But this is photrio.

There are no children in this house. In between B&W film development sessions in my second bathroom, my "Chief Operating Officer" requires that I put away all bottles and other labware. I plan to use a cardboard "book box" for this purpose.

Although I still have my Omega B-22 enlarger, I don't have any plans (or room) for printing. I plan to scan all my processed negatives.

 

[MattKing]

I use Clamato Juice Bottles - wish they came with plastic cap liners rather than paper ones:

You can't tell from the picture, but they have a handhold built into the bottle, and they are made of much heavier plastic than most pop (soda) bottles.
I take the labels off of course.
It helps that I like the drink!
It comes in different flavours, and each flavour has a different cap, so if you buy a selection, your darkroom bottles can be colour coded.
1.89 litres (64 oz.) is a great size for 111x14 trays.
The square shape (on the bottom) stands stable on a surface and the bottles fit well together in a medium size plastic tote - which is important for those of us with temporary darkrooms. They are also reasonably short, so they fit into shelves with low clearance and into the aforementioned tote.
The cap is mid-sized - holds a large funnel securely, and is easy to pour directly into if speed isn't necessary.
The shape, the size, the material, the size of the opening and the built in hand hold make them better for my use than anything I have found from a bottle supplier. They would be perfect if I could find better cap liners for them.