Keeping Ilford Multigrade Paper Developer

[Bob King]

Hi

I have acquired an unopened container of Ilford Multigrade Paper Developer. I had a look at the spec sheets from Ilford who state that an unopened container has a shelf life of 2 years unopened and the concentrate will only last 6 months when opened.

Does anyone have any ideas about extending the life of the concentrate when opened? Is it possible to freeze concentrate for storage? Would I be better off with a powder developer such as Bromophen?

Your insights are welcome!

Cheers, Bob

 

[GM Bennett]

Hi, Bob -

I've used Ilford (and Agfa) MG paper developer that's *much* older than that with good results. I keep it cool and dark, but otherwise no special treatment. I'm sure that others will suggest the same thing: try it out and see how it works!

Cheers, Graham

Hi

I have acquired an unopened container of Ilford Multigrade Paper Developer. I had a look at the spec sheets from Ilford who state that an unopened container has a shelf life of 2 years unopened and the concentrate will only last 6 months when opened.

Does anyone have any ideas about extending the life of the concentrate when opened? Is it possible to freeze concentrate for storage? Would I be better off with a powder developer such as Bromophen?

Your insights are welcome!

Cheers, Bob

 

[pentaxuser]

Bob. There are several options:1. Use an inert gas such as contained in " Protectan" to eliminate the air in the container
2. Decant all the developer into an empty wine bag which comes in a box. If it is 5 ltrs you'll need 2 bags and boxes. As the developer is poured out via the tap as was the wine, the bag simply deflates and no air gets.
If you have a 1 ltr box then unless you do very few prints you'll easily use up 1 ltr in the (in my opinion very conservative) time limits laid down by the manufacturers. This is especially true if you develop in trays where at 1+9 you use a 100ml ( one tenth of the container) each time you have a printing session. In open trays you might manage 2 consecutive night of printing only. So 10/20 sessions and the developer is finished. If you only have evenings for printing then unless yoiu are much faster than me you might do 8-10 prints per session and 36 negs will take up to 200-300 mls of developer.

So 3x 36 frame films and the developer is used up.

Overall I wouldn't worry about developer going bad unless your throughput of prints is very low. With a Nova Quad developer( trays upright) developer usage is much more economical than trays and you might with low volumes of prints reach the end of developer life before finishing it but you won't waste much.

pentaxuser

 

[Kevin Caulfield]

Depending on where in Australia you are and where you bought the developer, it could even be nearly a year old when you bought it. It does last a lot longer when opened than the nominal six months. Once it has noticeably darkened it is pretty much expired, but hopefully it will be be nearly empty by then.

 

[OMU]

Hi;
I keept mine in a room in the basement (14 Cin the winter and 20 C in summer) and in the dark. It lasted atleast two yeras with no problem.
- OM

 

[reellis67]

I still have half of a 500ml bottle that I bought before I started using Ansco 130 and it still develops paper fairly well (years and years ago). It worked great, with no special treatment, stored in it's original bottle in the bathroom/darkroom for well over a year after the time that I opened it. I may try it again now that you mentioned it just to see - it must be 3 years old now...

- Randy

 

[Martin Aislabie]

I just decant my 5L Bottle into 10 0.5L Bottles

I fill them almost to the cap and then keep them in the dark

As the dev ages it darkens - so I then have to guess how dark is still usable

The thing I notice about old dev is that when first used it has plenty of "go" but has a much shorter tray life and can handle fewer prints

I don't know how much the price difference is with you Bob - but if I have to throw away my last Litre of decanted Dev then I am still ahead money wise that buying individual Litre Bottles

I have had 0.5L bottles of decanted MG Dev for more than 2 years and used without problems - but would not use it for anythging serious - but for test prints its fine.

Martin

 

[Shangheye]

I was about to create a thread along the same subject today, but I guess this is fate. I have a bottle (5l) which is now visibly gone off colour...very light brown. I have used it for about 6 months . On that basis should I throw it away? K

 

[Wishy]

No point throwing it away. You might as well use some to do a test print and see if its ok. You can always make another print if its totally gone. After 6 months i'd expect there is plenty of life in it though!

 

[Martin Aislabie]

I was about to create a thread along the same subject today, but I guess this is fate. I have a bottle (5l) which is now visibly gone off colour...very light brown. I have used it for about 6 months . On that basis should I throw it away? K

Use it and use it up reasonably quickly

Keep an eye on its activity

Don't store mixed dev - use fresh each print session

Watch its colour in the tray - it will darken sooner than normal

Don't use it for anything significant - but it will be fine for contact & test prints

The real question is not how long you have had it but how old is the dev from when it was made and under what conditions it has been stored

Decant the remainder into smaller bottles with little to no air pockets and do so without splashing it around (oxygenating it) as much as possible.

I have used fairly stale looking dev quite successfully for test & contact prints

Martin