I love the smell of Caffenol in the morning!

[sreed2006]

My latest venture in Caffenol: Efke R100, Yashica 124 with newly installed flocking.

Caffenol-CL: 1400 ml distilled water, 56 g cheapest instant coffee I could find, 1.4 g potassium bromide, 14 g Vitamin C powder, 22.4 g Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda. 20 C, one minute initial agitation, 3 inversions at 25 minutes, stop with water at 50 minutes.


A Swing by sreed2006, on Flickr

 

[mmartin09]

Are you mixing a full liter or a smaller amount? If the latter, what are the exact measurements you are using? What restrainer are you using and in what quantity? Distilled water or no?

If I had to guess I'd be thinking there's too much restrainer in the mix, but that's not the only possibility.

For my "most successful" attempt, I reduced the amount to a 600ml solution (for 2 rolls of 35mm). I used the Caffenol-C-H-rs recipe, with the following measurements (measured with a gram scale):

600ml Distilled water
Washing Soda (Arm and Hammer Super): 18g
Vitamin C: 9.6g
Potassium Bromide: .6g
Coffee (Maxwell House Instant): 24g

But from what I've been reading, maybe I should be adding more soda instead of reducing it?

 

[burancap]

Sid, that looks great! I have some Efke 25 sitting around that I have been waiting to use. Any thoughts on adapting your stand to that?

 

[burancap]

Sorry about that, I just ran your numbers and it is the stock mix with 1.0 g/l KBr. Basically what I run, but a bit longer. I was thinking I might want to reduce time for ISO 25 though?

 

[sreed2006]

Don't get me to lying.

I pulled 50 minutes for stand time out of the air, as well as the 3 inversions half-way.

I know that Efke 100 and Efke 25 do not develop the same way, so some stand-time adjustment is probably necessary, but I cannot hazard a guess as to how much. If you have good results, let us know - I have several rolls of Efke 25 both in 120 and 135.

 

[john neal]

Jeff,

Great results with the red filter - I would be very happy with results like that!

On the Tri-X question - is Maxwell House cheap enough? By that I mean, it is a mid-range product that has (possibly) been more refined than the really cheap coffee recommended for film use. Could be a little short on the active ingredients? Only a thought - I tried Nescafé once and had similar problems. Going to the cheapest, least refined stuff I could find (Aldi) gave much better results.

 

[mmartin09]

Jeff,

Great results with the red filter - I would be very happy with results like that!

On the Tri-X question - is Maxwell House cheap enough? By that I mean, it is a mid-range product that has (possibly) been more refined than the really cheap coffee recommended for film use. Could be a little short on the active ingredients? Only a thought - I tried Nescafé once and had similar problems. Going to the cheapest, least refined stuff I could find (Aldi) gave much better results.

Maybe that is the case with Maxwell House. It was the cheapest Wal-Mart had in instant coffee (cheaper than the nescafe). Would it make sense to try to increase the amount of coffee in the recipe? Along these lines, is there a brand of coffee that is proven to work that is readily available from somewhere online, like maybe Amazon?

 

[burancap]

The coffee component is interesting. Like everything else, there seems to be a good bit of variability. I originally bought Pilon instant espresso. While cheap, it was also assumed to be strong. After my initial failures, I actually went to Nescafe on the other side of the spectrum and had success. Of course that was also part of my reformulation and move to stand processing. I think I would like to try the Pilon again.

 

[john neal]

Maybe that is the case with Maxwell House. It was the cheapest Wal-Mart had in instant coffee (cheaper than the nescafe). Would it make sense to try to increase the amount of coffee in the recipe? Along these lines, is there a brand of coffee that is proven to work that is readily available from somewhere online, like maybe Amazon?

Good question. Unfortunately, there are so many differences around the world - in Europe, I think the cheapest brands from Lidl or Aldi are the recommended ones. I know nothing of brands in the US (sorry) - [edit] Jeff just commented on the one he is using while I was typing

Do you have any convenience stores that import real cheap stuff from eastern Europe? If so, I would give that a try. Alternatively, maybe increase the amount of what you have and see what happens. Assuming you are using good washing soda and vit-C it's about the only variable.
[edit #2] just a thought, you don't have a water softener in your incoming do you? That could upset the chemistry, possibly??

 

[burancap]

maybe Jeff can comment on the one he is using?

I will try and list my ingredients -that is half the battle!

 

[burancap]

My current functioning ingredients. All ingredients will last for dozens, likely hundreds of rolls, except the coffee. My guess is maybe 20 rolls from that?

Coffee (Nescafe Classic): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...d_t=201&pf_rd_p=1535523722&pf_rd_i=B003G2JISO

Washing Soda (Arm & Hammer): http://www.amazon.com/Church-03020-...8&qid=1411480875&sr=1-1&keywords=washing+soda

Vitamin C (Vitamin Shoppe): http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/p/c-1000-powder-1000-mg-8-oz-powder/vs-1056#.VCF71Bb1a70

KBr (Freestyle - Formulary): http://www.freestylephoto.biz/100930-Formulary-Potassium-Bromide-1lb

Fixer (Freestyle - Kodafix): http://www.freestylephoto.biz/1464080-Kodak-Kodafix-to-Make-1-Gallon

Scale (American Weigh .01g): http://www.amazon.com/American-Weig...im_hpc_22?ie=UTF8&refRID=0NQJ3R0HQ1PANWX4P4RV

 

[mmartin09]

My current functioning ingredients. All ingredients will last for dozens, likely hundreds of rolls, except the coffee. My guess is maybe 20 rolls from that?

Coffee (Nescafe Classic): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...d_t=201&pf_rd_p=1535523722&pf_rd_i=B003G2JISO

Washing Soda (Arm & Hammer): http://www.amazon.com/Church-03020-...8&qid=1411480875&sr=1-1&keywords=washing+soda

Vitamin C (Vitamin Shoppe): http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/p/c-1000-powder-1000-mg-8-oz-powder/vs-1056#.VCF71Bb1a70

KBr (Freestyle - Formulary): http://www.freestylephoto.biz/100930-Formulary-Potassium-Bromide-1lb

Fixer (Freestyle - Kodafix): http://www.freestylephoto.biz/1464080-Kodak-Kodafix-to-Make-1-Gallon

Scale (American Weigh .01g): http://www.amazon.com/American-Weig...im_hpc_22?ie=UTF8&refRID=0NQJ3R0HQ1PANWX4P4RV

Thank you, sir!

 

[mmartin09]

I figured out what part of my problem might be. I heated up some of my soda in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 and I lost 8.5% of my weight. I'm going to try adding that much soda to the recipe.

 

[john neal]

Well, that would certainly affect the Ph of the solution. Do let us know how you get on.

Good luck 🙂

[edit] just a thought - you didn't heat your soda on an aluminum plate? Just thinking about conversion to aluminum oxide, which is inert....

 

[__jc]

On the Tri-X question - is Maxwell House cheap enough? By that I mean, it is a mid-range product that has (possibly) been more refined than the really cheap coffee recommended for film use. Could be a little short on the active ingredients? Only a thought - I tried Nescafé once and had similar problems. Going to the cheapest, least refined stuff I could find (Aldi) gave much better results.

Hi John,

I'm using Maxwell House mixed as per the standard recipe from the internet for Caffenol C-L (16 g/l washing soda, 10 g/l Vitamin-C, 40 g/l instant coffee, 1.5 g/l potassium bromide)
and it works really well. It certainly beats the alternative use to which I'd have to put the can I bought.

 

[burancap]

I figured out what part of my problem might be. I heated up some of my soda in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 and I lost 8.5% of my weight. I'm going to try adding that much soda to the recipe.

Again, there is that uncertainty. Using the same soda, I was under the impression that the threshold between determining an- and deca- hydrous was much higher. Ugh. I just use mine as anhydrous and measure the prescribed standard amounts.

My personal, early experience, is that KBr is important (better than salt) and that measurement is critical, especially with such small relative content in the mix. Once I went to a .01g scale, I was genuinely surprised how much error could exist!

 

[02Pilot]

Yes, even a slight variance in the KBr will make a big difference. To minimize error, I've got a bottle of premixed KBr solution 1g/10ml; with a syringe I can measure more precisely and consistently than I can with raw powder.

 

[john neal]

Hi John,

I'm using Maxwell House mixed as per the standard recipe from the internet for Caffenol C-L (16 g/l washing soda, 10 g/l Vitamin-C, 40 g/l instant coffee, 1.5 g/l potassium bromide)
and it works really well. It certainly beats the alternative use to which I'd have to put the can I bought.

Interesting how these things vary, I had no success with MAxwell House or Nescafe, while the dirt cheap ones from Germany work a treat.

I have also sometimes had better results with no salt than with, but have not tried KBr as yet.

I think my soda was a bit too "wet" on occasions. I cannot get Arm & Hammer locally and the only one readily available seems to come from different sources. Perhaps I should try heating it to remove some of the water?

Some of the results here are outstanding, I have a way to go.

 

[burancap]

I had a run today and I used my existing successful semi stand. I found and bought some generic instant coffee and it worked just as well as the Nescafe. It seemed a bit thicker, almost syrupy, but all was good!

I also ran my first roll of Arista 100 EDU, which is rumored to be Fomapan. I think I might like it better! One interesting thing was that I ran the EDU and my earlier Premium together. The EDU negative was clean and spotless. The Premium again had a few small white specks, so it may well be bad film that causes the phenomenon (at least it would seem to definitely be a possible cause now). This seems to support such claims out on the 'net. I will try to get some samples up to flickr in the next day or so.