Shelf life of Ilford MG developer

[Tony-S]

I have an unopened bottle of MG developer that's probably 5 years old. As far as I can tell, the foil is still sealed. Assuming it is still sealed, does anyone know the shelf life?

 

[Tom Kershaw]

It may work fine. I've recently used up some old containers of developer and found that using a dilution of 1+4 worked well, whereas the developer at 1+9 didn't really do anything.

 

[Ian Grant]

It's not what it was since the switch from Phenidone to Dimezone and Ilford's suppliers have changed but that's regional.

According to US sources Phenidone has a short shelf life as a powder or in solution but Kodak's Dimezone (a phenidone variant) has a long shelf and solution life. My pwn limited experience is Phenidone made 1961 is a good as todays Phenidone and newer Dimezone based Ilford developers definotely have a shorter storage life. I mix my PQ print developers to Ilford's commercial strength using Phenidone and they have a longer shelf life than the new Dimezone based versions.

Ian

 

[Tom Kershaw]

It's not what it was since the switch from Phenidone to Dimezone and Ilford's suppliers have changed but that's regional.

What is the advantage of Dimezone? I've never had a problem with the longevity of developers mixed by myself with Phenidone.

 

[kevs]

I have an unopened bottle of MG developer that's probably 5 years old. As far as I can tell, the foil is still sealed. Assuming it is still sealed, does anyone know the shelf life?

Ilford say it keeps two years in an unopened bottle (see the pdf linked at https://www.ilfordphoto.com/multigrade-developer-product), but that's over-caution. It should be fine, I've had an opened half-bottle of concentrate stored for about three years and it's still good. Check the colour or shine a bright light through the bottle; if it looks like white wine it will be good. If the dev has darkened to a light brown sherry colour, it's partly oxidised but might be still okay. If it's dark brown, it's probably best to chuck it. The best way to find out is to make a print with it.

[EDIT]; I checked my MG stock after writing this post. I'm glad I did: it had oxidised to the colour of sherry or weak tea but I expect it will still work fine. Those Ilford chem bottles don't seal properly so if you want to keep the dev long-term after opening, decant it into an airtight bottle (fizzy pop etc) or other airtight container and squeeze out the air.

 

[mshchem]

When Ilford fell on hard times in 2004, I bought 12, 5 L boxes of Bromophen (powder) it's still going strong. Best investment I've ever made. If the bottle is still sealed and there's no solids, color is normal should ge fine.
I wouldn't recommend storing any chemical for 15 years, at the time I thought Bromophen was gone for good.

 

[Ian Grant]

What is the advantage of Dimezone? I've never had a problem with the longevity of developers mixed by myself with Phenidone.

Price in bulk, Ilford switched to Dimezone for liquid developers when Champion made their chemistry.

Ian

 

[Bikerider]

If the foil seal is intact then the shelf life will be v-e-r-y long.

So long as the colour is very very pale cream it will be OK, only when it discolours to a dark yellow shade will it be next to useless.​

I have just opened one that is at least 3 years old and the contents are the same colour as I have always seen it to be. It also works very well. Now it is open I have decanted the contents into 1 x 500cc glass bottle and the remainder into 100cc bottles. Each small bottle is enough for quite a long session in an evening and even then with luck it can be used the next day as well. (So long as it is stored in a glass bottle or the original thick plastic bottle it came in.

The estimated use by date printed onto the bottle has a built in fail safe buffer just in case the chemicals are used after the date and that will absolve them (Ilford) from any liability if they go wrong. As I and others have found the use by dates are shorter than actual reality.

 

[tezzasmall]

There was a similar thread about this recently, to which I contributed.

I have just finished a 5 litre container of Ilford MG developer, and it was good to the end, 10 (TEN) years after purchase.

To get to this length of time though, I decanted the 5L into 1 litre chemical bottles, immediately upon receipt. The bottles are made of the same stuff the developer came in.

After each use, the bottle was topped up with Tetenal Protectan; it's not cheap but does the job brilliantly.

The biggest saving though, is knowing that a 5L canister of the developer, costs about the same as two 1L sized bottles.

I also bought a 5L bottle of fixer at the same time and did exactly as I have with the developer. Only a little has 'sulphured out' at the bottom of the bottle, so I still got a very good deal out of it.

Terry S