shelf life of unopened Tetenal Colortec E-6 concentrates

[destroya]

im thinking about buying two or three of the 5l kits before freestyle runs out. just expecting a huge price increase when the size shrinks to the 2.5L kit, I hope Im wrong though. anyway...

I searched but could not find a post that states the expected life of unopened bottles. life span when opened and mixed is in the manual i have from a recent kit and there are many posts on that subject. but hoping the unopened bottles could last a year or two as I only shoot 3-60 rolls of slide film a year.

thanks

john

 

[mshchem]

I have split the 5 L kits, stored concentrates in full bottles and used for over a year. I think that if you plan to use it in say 2 to 3 years you might want to take the chance. I'm no expert but I think this stuff keeps pretty well.

I just disposed of 3 Ilfochrome kits that I kept for 10 years, dumbest investment I ever made. If I would have used it I would have been a genius.
Best, Mike

 

[Rudeofus]

In my experience Tetenal's BX2 component is the first one to go bad, and fortunately for us it does it in a pretty obvious way. I don't know about unopened bottles, but once they are open you can expect BX2 to go bad within a year. CD1 and CD2 are the next ones to go bad. FD will lose activity gradually, i.e. your slides will be darker and darker unless you adjust FD time.