Dark Ilford Multigrade

[Moto-Uno]

I've noticed that my Ilford Multigrade paper developer has turned
quite dark.It's been kept in a nearly full sealed container and used on no where near the number of sheets developed that they say it can handle.It's only about 4 weeks old and I've gotten rather muddy prints that are taking about double the normal time to develop. Temp has been around 20 degrees celcius for storage and
dark. The answer may sound rather obvious,but is this typical? And the water here is very low in minerals etc. Any one with experience using longer lived paper developers?

 

[ChrisN]

You are talking about developer mixed to working strength? 1+9?

I'd toss the developer after two sessions on consecutive days, even if I've only developed a dozen prints.

You might want to test your paper too if you haven't already. If it's fogged that will certainly give muddy prints.

 

[sepiareverb]

Tray strength developers generally do not last more than 12 to 24 hours no matter the capacity. Moersch ECO 4812 does have a very long storage life at tray strength, I've had it work fine after sitting in a (full) plastic gallon water jug for three months. This is the only developer I've ever known to be capable of this.

Here for Ilford on Multigrade developer working solution life (p.5, 24 hours).

 

[Moto-Uno]

Thank you gentlemen for getting back to me. I thought I'd read the entire working sheet by Ilford a number of times and (thought) I'd remembered it being a month or more,this memory stuff is a tenuous thing.
Than ks again,Peter