Ilford mix quantities

[Papa Tango]

In part of my move away from the teat of the Big Yellow Dog, and to check out the claims of increased performance, I have bought my first box of Ilford ID-11. Imagine my surprise when reading the instructions that it makes 5 liters of stock solution.

My metric conversion logic is poor, but this is about 1 1/2 gallons. I really dont need a half gallon jug of developer lying about, nor either one aging. Looks like I will weigh it out and split out what is necessary for 3.75 liters. What sort of deal is this mix quantity meant for?

 

[Wayne]

Divvying up pre-mixed dry chemicals into smaller amounts is a gamble, or so I hear. You can never be sure you are getting all the chemicals in equal amounts, so I've never tried it myself. Xtol also comes in 5-liter packs, in case you're thinking of trying that. :0

 

[Craig]

ID-11 also come in packs to make 1 litre. Ilford advises against splitting out larger packs into smaller quantities. 3.78 litres is a US gallon, 4.54 litres makes an Imperial gallon.

 

[Papa Tango]

ID-11 also come in packs to make 1 litre. Ilford advises against splitting out larger packs into smaller quantities. 3.78 litres is a US gallon, 4.54 litres makes an Imperial gallon.

And neither size container will hold the mix... One liter mix quantities is not very cost efficient. Although I like Ilford products, in chemistry they sure are not marketing to convenience or standard chemical storage container systems. If the goal is to get us to consume more product than we are going to use in about 4 months (don't like to use stock older than that) then their marketing plan seems a success!

 

[Lachlan Young]

Why not mix it yourself - D76 is easy to mix - see here, and it's cheap!

Good luck with your experiments!

Lachlan

 

[Papa Tango]

Basement Chemistry

Lachlan, got that in Anchell's book on the shelf too. May get into that some day just for fun. Got it mixed, tossing it back and forth what seemed like a 1000 times between two gallon jugs. Now have 1 gallon stock, 1/2 gallon 1:1, and a small quantity thrown down the drain...

Sitting here at the desk looking at my digital camera, it is becoming clearer why my friends laugh at me over this wet stuff...

 

[Bob F.]

I split up the stock 5 litres into two 2 litre and one 1 litre fizzy pop bottles filled right to the top. I've had ID-11 that lasted happily for 14 months in the 2 litre bottle before I got around to using it. Ilford say 6 months in full bottles, but they also say 4 month in a deep tank with floating lid, so more than that is quite reasonable. The only snag is mixing all that liquid: I have a small bucket that I reserve for the single purpose of mixing lots of developer...

Cheers, Bob.

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

Why not mix it yourself - D76 is easy to mix - see here, and it's cheap!

Good luck with your experiments!

Lachlan

Yes Lachlan, and the D-76 recipe is also posted (along with many others) in the Apug Chemical Recipes
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[Ronald Moravec]

Mix it as it were a gallon in the container of your choice. After it cools, add 800ml of the gallon stock to 200ml (CC`s) of water and store in a one liter container. Then fill 4 more the same way.

These are good for 6 months.

 

[Papa Tango]

The Jury is In

Well, I used the mix tonight, and am sold. Ran a batch of Tri-X Pro, Bergger 200, and FP-4. Rated at 280, 160, and 100 respectively; standard recommended dev times at 68F. Comparing side by side with similar negs run in fresh D-76 another time, I like the results better. Sometimes the easiest way is not always the best way...