Which container for 5 liters of developer?

[zerobuttons]

Which container would you guys use for mixing up and storing the developer stock solution in, if you had to mix up a 5 liter portion of Ilford ID-11 ?

I have doubts whether or not the materials usual 5 liter plastic containers are made of, will stand for the pH of the stock solution. I have seen containers in PE, HDPE and PFA.

 

[ljosha]

I use 1L brown glass bottles for storing 5L of XTOL stock. This way you keep the most of your developer air-tight. Since I use about 1L of stock during one developing session it makes a perfect sense for me.

I mix in a plastic 5L can.

 

[Roger Hicks]

A plastic bucket is fine for mixing, followed, as Ijosha says, by 5x 1 l. (or 10x 0.5 l) glass bottles; you can even use clear bottles if they are stored in the dark. Multople smaller bottles means less oxidation.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[sunsworth]

For Xtol I used to buy a 5 litre container of distilled/de-ionised water and mix the developer in that. Once mixed I'd decant into smaller bottles. I was using a lot of film so I used 1 litre bottles. If you don't use much film use smaller bottles.

When you are filling the bottles fill them right up to the very top.

 

[Austerby]

The first time I had to use a bucket, as Roger suggests. I then kept hold of a 5l water bottle that we had used and now mix in that, transferring to smaller plastic drinks bottles as recommended. I find green plastic carbonated drinks bottles to be an excellent source - typically previously containing ginger ale mixer in 1l sizes they are carefully marked up and stored sensibly so I don't accidentally pour ID-11 into my Moscow Mules of an evening....

 

[ItsReallyDarren]

I use 5 1liter bottles that came with carbonated beverages inside. Fill it up to the top and place a little saran wrap to seal it in.

 

[Trius]

Spent (and well rinsed) box wine containers are PERFECT -- it is how I store my Xtol for months. I recently used Xtol that hadn't been touched in at least three months (probably close to five), and it was fine.

There's another thread here somewhere on how to work with the containers.

 

[craygc]

A bucket to mix it:; with a 5lt marking (I put) on it

To store 5 lts I have found 10 of these bottles to be the best yet...

 

[zerobuttons]

Thank you for all your answers. It´s good to know that the ordinary 5 liter containers will stand for at least the mixing. I think I´ll go with the 1 liter brown glass container solution for storage.

sunsworth´s idea about mixing in a 5 liter container with distilled water was not bad at all.....

 

[venchka]

The same discussion is brewing at the Large Format Photography Forum.

Plastic bucket with liter graduations. Cheap.

These are refillable. You will need two. Or 1 and a 1.2 liter bottle.

http://www.survivalsolutions.com/store/product41.html

I've been using the wine containers that Earl (Trius) turned me on to. They are one time use for me. I can never get the spigot out to re-fill. They do keep Xtol for a long time. My longest time so far was 9-10 months.

Good luck!

 

[varjag]

I use a plastic 5L gasoline canister. Those do not react or dissolve easily with mild organics.

 

[Chuck Albertson]

Kodak used to sell (and for all I know, they still do---check their catalog) empty 5-liter plastic jugs for storing E-6 chemistry. I bought a couple of them for a few bucks each, and use them on a rota basis for storing stock Xtol.

 

[fidget]

I store stock ID11 in the plastic fizzy drinks bottles too. They are easy to compress the air out of so storing without air in the bottle.
I've stored part filled (but airless) bottles in a dark and coolish place for as much as 8 months and had no problems.

 

[wontonny]

I use wine bottles with the corks replaced with vacuum sealing tops. Mine are 750mL each, so I need 7 bottles.

 

[Seele]

Ilford used to sell their developed already packed in those "Chateau Cardboard" boxes here, and you could get empty ones especially sold for the purpose. As the solution is used the bag inside collapses, rather than letting air in to fill the space, so no chance of oxidation.

 

[imush]

This held me back from Xtol for a long time. Not only it is a question of storage, I wouldn't get through 5L before it goes bad. So I now get Fomadon Excel equivalent in 1L packs from Freestyle.