Ruined Ansco 130 during mixing?

I recently purchased 4 liters worth of Asco 130 from Photographers formulary and mixed according to instructions. Distilled water temp of 125F (or within a 2 degree margin up or down) and every chemical was dissolved before moving on to the next one.

The first liter, once settled, came out looking like how it should - a tea colored liquid. The second liter seemed very cloudy and I assumed it just needed to settle so I poured it into the same container as the first and kept going. The final two I mixed even more vigorously

The next day I checked on the four liters and there’s a thick layer of white sediment(?) at the bottom and the liquid itself doesn’t look correct. When I try to stir it up the entire jug becomes cloudy

I’m not sure what went wrong because i was very careful about following instructions precisely. I’m wondering if the water temp was too cool or too hot? The entire mixing process takes about 10 minutes (stirring until each chemical dissolves) so you would have to factor a temp drop by the end

Also maybe I’m stirring too vigorously? I really had to stir quite a bit after certain chemicals to get it looking fully dissolved

Anyone else have a similar experience mixing this developer?

Did you buy 4 1-liter kits or 1 4-Liter kit? If you bought the 4 liter kit then you mix it all up in one batch then divide into 1 liter bottles. If you did not add the pinch of sodium sulfite before the Metol it makes it harder to dissolve. I made 8 liters over a year ago in one batch and divided it with a friend. My remaining half of the stock is still tea colored even in a partially filled plastic jug.

I've never had problems with the 4 litre batches. Mix in a dedicated pail, with a drill powered paddle/mixer. Always comes out looking like weak tea. But yeah, four 1 litre kits, or 1- 4 litre ?

Wonder if somewhere along the way, a bag go dumped in the incorrect order ? Worth sending an email, or phone call to PF about this.

canuhead said:

I've never had problems with the 4 litre batches. Mix in a dedicated pail, with a drill powered paddle/mixer. Always comes out looking like weak tea. But yeah, four 1 litre kits, or 1- 4 litre ?

Wonder if somewhere along the way, a bag go dumped in the incorrect order ? Worth sending an email, or phone call to PF about this.

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Yea i made the mistake of ordering 4 1-liter kits and that definitely didn't help the situation

Just ordered a 4-liter kit this time because this batch is definitely ruined

I doubt anything was mixed in the incorrect order because I always laid out the bags according to instructions and was very careful - used a paddle mixer by hand

I added the pinch of sodium sulfite as instructed but seems a bit of a vague unit of measurement....maybe my understanding of a pinch wasn't enough?

About how long were you stirring between each chemical? At exactly 125F i had to really intensely stir certain chemicals to get them fully dissolved, wondering if I was introducing too much oxygen?

I will definitely send them an email but they haven't responded to my last inquiry so I figured I'd get a better response on here

I always call them and get quick answer. But I have never had issues mixing the 130. My pinch has always seamed small but never an issue.

cjbecker said:

I always call them and get quick answer. But I have never had issues mixing the 130. My pinch has always seamed small but never an issue.

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Good to know! Are you typically starting the mixing @ 125F or go a little higher to account for cool down by the time the last one or two bags are mixed?

I feel like i'm over thinking this but i don't want to ruin another batch - how do you determine when a specific chemical is dissolved? In certain cases i would mix a chemical in that would make the water look cloudy - i didn't feel any sediment at the bottom but i would keep mixing for even an extra minute or more because i knew the final consistency is very clear/tea colored

I always start at 125F and just let to cool from there while I mix. I just pore the chems in slowing as I stir, seams to dissolve easily.

Yea my workflow was the same, not sure what went wrong

Thanks for the info!

Just a quick update

Purchased a 4L kit of Photographers formulary 130 developer and attempted the mixing process again

Only change to workflow was a slightly slower pour of each chemical into the water and a dramatic decrease in the stirring intensity - constant multi-directional stirring but not overly vigorous

The batch came out perfectly, slight tea color but a clear liquid and no residue/sediment

I think my mistake was stirring so intensely that the liquid was rapidly swirling in the container and too much oxygen introduced? Also I was stirring for almost a minute between each packet of chems and maybe the water temp dropped too low during all that (considering a smaller volume of liquid will cool down quicker than a larger volume)

Also I used a bigger container for mixing 4L kit vs 1L kit - i noticed when pouring into the smaller container that some of each chemical would get stuck to the sides of the beaker just above the water level and also onto the stirring wand itself

Maybe that caused some issues as well? With chemicals (that should have been fully dissolved before mixing the next) being re-introduced into the water throughout the process

I filled up an amber glass 1gallon jug with the batch to the rim and will purchase another 4L kit and divide that one into 1L bottles so that I have enough to avoid mixing for a little while because I still don't feel any level of comfort with the process

Thanks again to everyone for the tips

-Justin