Tween 20 Question

I could probably just call Bostick and Sullivan and ask them but I will ask here first.
I have used a little bit of tween 20 in the past at the 10% strength. It was very old and a hand me down from another photographer. It definitely helped make smoother prints but I had a problem with sparkles left on the surface of the paper that stayed even after washing and drying. I heated the bottle of tween up and gave it a good shaking and then I used hot developer for my platinum print and the sparkles went away.
I have two questions now. I just ordered a 50% solution of tween from B&S and I know I will need to dilute it for using for 8x10 and smaller prints. Is there anything to worry about other than just using some distilled water?

Also is the sparkles problem I had with the old stuff due to age or is it a problem inherent in Tween? Is there another way to avoid it?

Thanks for the help
Dennis Purdy

Dennis, not an answer to your question but just wanted to mention for the records; you can use Ilford's wetting agent Ilfotol too w/o any adverse effects. It's similar -> a non-ionic surfactant. I was using it 2-3 drops into 10ml coating solution - but that depends much on paper...

Thank you Loris, I will look into that.
Dennis

I use it almost on every paper. One to two drops on 8x10s and up to 4 drops on 8x20's or 14x12 prints. they say to be careful it will lower the DMax if you use to much. I don't measure my DMax's so I can't tell you.

mike a