Topic: HC110 dregs?

[Indofunk]

I'm nearing the end of my 1L bottle of HC110 (US concentrate). I bought it at least a year ago, and there's maybe 1/2" at the bottom. I just noticed that when I tilt it to the side, some of the concentrate "sticks" to the bottom. There's maybe 1/4" of goop at the bottom that doesn't want to move, and it looks like jelly. If I leave the bottle tilted for a minute, the goop begrudgingly starts to peel off the bottom.

My initial thought is that this is a sort of liquid precipitate and that it's super-concentrated HC110. Which makes me wonder if even the stuff right above it, that's not stuck to the bottom, is also over concentrated, sort of like a concentration gradient. Should I just discard it and buy a new bottle? HC110 is cheap enough, even for me

Side note: I finally got around to buying a few brown glass bottles to decant the HC110 into, so maybe I won't have this problem with the next bottle?

[Francois]

I don't know. Mine is starting to be the color of mucus and it's still working... though for how long?

[Indofunk]

Mucus comes in many different colors, you'll have to be more specific

[Ezzie]

I recently finished off a bottle that was opened two years ago, needless to say, no longer light golden in colour, more a reddish brown colour. I added 20% to the development time and it actually turned out rather well. I have also been gifted a bottle of ancient HC-110 (unopened) that has the colour of an Italian red table wine. I may even try it out on a leader or similar. I also got gifted two bottles of AGFA Rodinal, also age unknown. Have more faith in them being usable.

[Francois]

The rodinal should be good.
The hc110 might also prove to be surprising. I can't wait to know how it's going to be.
Thing is, hc110 doesn't contain any water when they make it, so the chances of seeing it oxidize are much lower. It kinda explains why it keeps good for much longer than powdered developers.

I wonder if it would be possible to use propylene glycol as a dilution medium instead of water for d76?

[SLVR]

Here's how I do my HC110 to save life.

I buy a 1L bottle at a time. I have 3 bottles that I decant into. 1 500ml and 2 250ml bottles. One 250 ml bottle is a "working" bottle and this is the bottle that I don't do anything with, I don't add marbles or anything like that.

When the working bottle gets low it does start to change color. It does start to turn more amber. The fresh concentrate looks almost fluorescent yellow.

I've never experienced this gelatinous membrane you speak of.

[Indofunk]

Here's how I do my HC110 to save life.

I buy a 1L bottle at a time. I have 3 bottles that I decant into. 1 500ml and 2 250ml bottles. One 250 ml bottle is a "working" bottle and this is the bottle that I don't do anything with, I don't add marbles or anything like that.

When the working bottle gets low it does start to change color. It does start to turn more amber. The fresh concentrate looks almost fluorescent yellow.

I've never experienced this gelatinous membrane you speak of.

This is pretty much exactly what I plan to do. I bought 2 475mL bottles and 2 100mL bottles (with droppers! I'm so excited for this ).

The color change is fun to see. The middle and bottom of my bottle always remain yellowish, turning slightly darker with age. The very top which is exposed to air gets a bright red film. So far no noticeable difference in development.

Maybe I'll keep using it till I get to the gelatinous portion, and then discard it. Thanks for the advices!

[Indofunk]

The rodinal should be good.

I'm just going to remind everyone that I did have a bottle of >1yo Rodinal that died a sudden and painful death. YMMV, etc. And reading up about Rodinal's longevity, I think I'm just an outlier. Maybe it was that time I spit into the bottle of concentrate, I don't know

[SLVR]

I've got a bottle of rodinal I need to get rid of that has about a an inch or two of developer sitting at the bottom. Blood red last time I used it like 2 years ago. I don't even want to open it at this point.

[jharr]

I thought archaeologists were digging up sealed bottles of Rodinal from the cretaceous and using it to develop photos of cave depictions of the Great Dinosaur v. Caveman War. If a bottle of Rodinal died, it was probably some catastrophic pH change. Try not to back-wash next time you take a swig. 

[Francois]

Just as long as it isn't as old as my oldest Dektol