Alternative Developer: Red Wine

Some of you have tested the development of Black and White Films with instant coffee, called Coffenol. Alternatively, you can also develop the film with red wine. This process is called “Winol”.

I like to read the new magazine PhotoKlassik. For those who don’t know about this magazine, it is a German magazine for current analogue photography. There are cameras introduced, given tips for building your own darkroom, and more! You can often read articles about products from Lomography. I’ve recently bought the issue for the second quarter and an article made ​​me curious. Alchemy – Alternative developers. It describes in detail how to develop black and white films without chemicals (except for the fixer). There is the already known Coffenol development. The development Coffenol and Winol are very similar!

You will need:

• 500ml red wine
• 50g washing soda (anhydrous)
• 2g vitamin c powder
• 0,5g potassium bromide (optional)
• fixer

With the “ingredients” you need to consider a few things. The red wine can be the cheapest one from the supermarket. The washing soda is sodium carbonate, a fine white powder (I filled it in a mason jar) and the vitamin C. You should not use a vitamin C effervescent tablet. These contain other substances which may interfere with the development. I found pure vitamin C powder (Ascorbic acid) in the drugstore for less money. The you have the option of adding potassium bromide or not. I came by my chemistry teacher for a small amount of potassium bromide. The next time I will not use potassium, to see whether there is a difference.
NOTE: When using potassium bromide, the developer must be disposed of properly (disposal site, recycling center)! Not simply poured down the sink.

And here we go. I exposed a Ilford FP4+ (35mm) with my Lubitel 166U and wound it into the developer can at home. Then I mixed the ingredients in the kitchen together.

I weighed the soda, vitamin and potassium bromide with the balance and put this into a large measuring cup, where in which I have previously measured 500ml of red wine. I stirred until everything has dissolved completely. A few lumps are formed, which I filtered out with a sieve.

And now the fun begins!

The stinking developer is now poured into the developer tank. Tilt the tank one minute back and forth. After each additional minute you have to tilt it three times and this is for 44 minutes.

When the 45 minutes are up, pour out the developer and water the film. The water replaces the stop bath. I filled lukewarm water into the tank, tilted 5x, changed the water, tilted 10x, changed the water again and tilted 20×.

Now you need the only chemical during the whole development and that is the fixer. I’ve used FIX-Ag. The information how you need to dilute the concentrate and how long you need to tilt the tank is on the bottle.
If the fixing time is over, pour out the fixer and it follows a final wash to remove chemical residues.

NOW YOU CAN TAKE YOUR FILM OUT OF THE TANK

Here are my results:

Soon I will try Tenol, the development with black tea!

Have fun!

geschrieben von brommi am 2013-04-25 in #Ausrüstung #Anleitungen #analogue #lab #soda #lab-rat #tipster #development #b-w #vitamin-c #potassium-bromide #winol #alternative-developer