Run It Through A Coffee Filter?

[Reefallo]

At a pen show over the weekend, I got a bottle of Private Reserve Burgundy Mist. Opened it last night, and -- there's a hint of precipitate, some filmy spots, on the surface.

 

I had several thoughts, one of which was, why couldn't I just run it through a coffee filter? Would that work? But it does beg the question, what IS that filminess?

 

Any thoughts?

[Lou Erickson]

That filminess is bacteria, called SITB or Slime In The Bottle.

 

It will infect your pen, which is MUCH harder to clean, so make sure the ink is either discarded or dealt with before you use it.

 

You can throw it away. That is 100% safe and 100% bummer.

 

You can filter it AND use a biocide on it to kill the bacteria. Without the killing, it'll just get slimy again.

 

See this post on what a good biocide is, and how much to use.

[Joe in Seattle]

Ink cheep, pens $pen$ive. Throw it away.

[Oranges and Apples]

I would use it, even though it is an unpopular practice. If it you think it is mold, I would then find another use for it.

[Oranges and Apples]

I think using an iron gall ink is much more detrimental to your pen then any bacteria which could be found in your ink bottle since iron gall inks produce insoluble sediments. Bacteria could always be killed later on.

[Reefallo]

Well now, this is all rather disgusting, isn't it? Life forms in the ink; egad.

 

In the interest of Science, I have decided to conduct an Experiment. I ran the ink through a coffee filter; cleaned the ink bottle and cap with pure bleach; and returned the ink to the bottle. I will let it sit for a week (at least) and see if Signs of Life return. If not, I guess I can try it in a cheap pen.

 

If nothing leaps off the page and consumes my face (a la Alien), I shall report back with my findings.

[RudyR]

Filmy oily looking material floating on top is not an uncommon occurrence. It does not necessarily mean the ink has gone bad. I have even seen small flake like structures floating on top and have found they do not really replicate over time, thus they are probably inorganic. SITBs usually are phlegm or thread like that cling to a nib or toothpick. Even this can be misleading as I have had a bottle with such a substance but it turned out to be that the ink had precipitated a load of dye and after shaking the bottle, the material disappeared and never really came back.

 

There are photos on this forum, of real alien ink lifeforms that are obviously organic,and probably from outer space .

 

Just to clear up a point, Modern Iron gall ink is no less damaging to pens as other inks. The old steel and metal parts used in the past did react to Iron gall ink of old, but so did other inks that had an acid component to it. And with modern materials used, iron gall ink can be used with very little worry. Just do what you are supposed to do with any ink; flush your pen every 3 months and you will be fine.

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

I suggest setting the ink aside, then contact the Vendor for a replacement. Also ask the Vendor and the ink Co. if they want a sample for analysis.

 

If it is a rogue bottle, that's one thing, but if it is a bad batch, then both the Vendor and the ink Co. can do a recall and take steps to prevent ink with SITB from entering the market.

 

Such a consumer response allowed several ink Co.s to sweep naughty ink from the market, and solve upstream problems quickly, hence retain their reputation and client base.

 

__ __

 

Regarding sediment in I-G inks:

• Care should be taken to avoid drawing any sediment into a pen. I have suggested decanting the ink. ESSRI Review - Post № 62 onward : https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/205705-ecclesiastical-stationery-supplies-registrars-ink/?p=2164772
• At least one other Member mentioned using a syringe to draw I-G ink from the top surface of the ink in a bottle. https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/280919-line-and-flow-variation-in-time-with-diamine-registrars-ink/?p=3215941
• It seems that any I-G bits in a pen can be removed by rinsing with a 0.5% solution of acetic acid prior to any ammonia-based pen cleaning solution. ESSRI Review Post № 271 onward: http://www.fountainp...-ink/?p=2304216 Other Members have explored additional means to do so: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/256353-cleaning-method-for-iron-gall-ink-using-ascorbic-acid/?p=2831697
• I-G ink may throw a sediment if stored in poor conditions, and exposure to sunlight is a no-no. ESSRI Review Post № 364: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/205705-ecclesiastical-stationery-supplies-registrars-ink/?p=2773554

 

Bye,

S1

Edited February 18, 2015 by Sandy1

[jasonchickerson]

Hi,

 

I suggest setting the ink aside, then contact the Vendor for a replacement. Also ask the Vendor and the ink Co. if they want a sample for analysis.

 

If it is a rogue bottle, that's one thing, but if it is a bad batch, then both the Vendor and the ink Co. can do a recall and take steps to prevent ink with SITB from entering the market.

 

Such a consumer response allowed several ink Co.s to sweep naughty ink from the market, and solve upstream problems quickly, hence retain their reputation and client base.

 

__ __

 

Regarding sediment in I-G inks:

• Care should be taken to avoid drawing any sediment into a pen. I have suggested decanting the ink. ESSRI Review - Post № 63 onward : https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/205705-ecclesiastical-stationery-supplies-registrars-ink/?p=2164772
• At least one other Member mentioned using a syringe to draw I-G ink from the top surface of the ink in a bottle. https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/280919-line-and-flow-variation-in-time-with-diamine-registrars-ink/?p=3215941
• It seems that any I-G bits in a pen can be removed by rinsing with a 0.5% solution of acetic acid prior to any ammonia-based pen cleaning solution. ESSRI Review Post № 271 onward: http://www.fountainp...-ink/?p=2304216 Other Members have explored additional means to do so: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/256353-cleaning-method-for-iron-gall-ink-using-ascorbic-acid/?p=2831697
• I-G ink may throw a sediment if stored in poor conditions, and exposure to sunlight is a no-no. ESSRI Review Post № 364: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/205705-ecclesiastical-stationery-supplies-registrars-ink/?p=2773554

 

Bye,

S1

 

You are a wealth of information, as usual, Sandy.

[Sasha Royale]

Please don't put SLIME into your good fountain pen. If you insist on using the bad ink,

dedicate a $2 cartridge/converter pen to it. (Jinhao 599 on Ebay) You will like the color.

You will eventually forget, and suck some of it into your nice lever-fill pen.

 

My suggestion ? Be 100% Lou Erickson safe. Cap the bottle tightly, and put it into the

trash.

[PS104]

If throwing it away is not in your nature, use it with a dip nib or glass pen. Write the great American novel then just rinse the pen in running water

Voila! You're famous, rich and haven't ruined an innocent fountain pen

[Ron Z]

Private Reserve has often been mentioned with SITB problems. Not every bottle, not every color, but often enough to be of concern to me. I used it at one point, about a decade ago, until I looked in the converter of my Namiki Impressions and found something growing around the rod.... and then snot came out of a pen that I had restored a week or so before when I cleaned it. I quit using the ink for that and other reasons.

 

IF it is mold using the ink in one pen, and then using another ink in the same pen can cross contaminate. If the mold grows in the feed, it can completely clog a feed - vintage or modern. I've had to take many clients pens completely apart, clean in a biocide and scrub and pick bits of stubborn fuzzy stuff out of feeds. That works on pens where you can easily take them apart though it might be a pain. Not an option on some like a Legacy nib unit or others which are glued together.

[bone215]

I think I like Sandy1's advice best.

[SeeksAdvice]

Exterminate it with extreme prejudice. Xenophobia is your friend. You're looking at a "biofilm" on the surface would be my guess. The "precipitate" is probably colony growth that's stained the color of the ink.

 

I'm still chasing problems that were introduced with a couple of Noodler's and Diamine inks that had gone bad without me noticing it until I looked closer. I thought I had solved the problems, but appears not to be the case. The stuff apparently survived multiple baths in 70-90% isopropyl alcohol. Yeesh.

Simply not worth it. PR ink is cheap, and I'm wondering if there's a return of SitB issues. I simply refuse to use the stuff.

It has been said that fire purifies. Embrace xenophobia and send the vile material to its end.

[publishing guy]

For what it's worth, I had the same problem with the same ink. I quite using it and will not buy more.

[Arkanabar]

I cannot imagine that a coffee filter would be able to remove all biological contaminants. Heck, I wouldn't count on it removing sufficiently small particles of precipitate.

[shuuemura]

You need a 0.22 micron filter to remove bacteria. Even so, there's no guarantee that the ink won't go bad again because the biocides originally present in the ink might have gone off.

[aiden]

My PR Burgundy Mist has gone bad on me in a matter of months. It's just this ugly brown now. I won't be repurchasing PR for a while. Unless the local specialty store brings it in the PH.

 

On that note, throw out or mix with reds, pinks and violets? I only use it with my Hero pen which I got for $3 shipped.

[RudyR]

Well, I just threw away my first bottle of ink that had a SITB infection. While rinsing my pen to tuck it away, I noticed colored floaties in the rinse water. First red flag.

So i got out my SITB probe (a toothpick), did a dunk and swirls sampling. Sure enough, a blob of S*** came out attached to the probe. Red flag number 2.

 

To see if it was just dye precipitate (a benign situation) I threw some of the sample into a small bowl of water. The result was that the material held together and never separated and it looked very much like a mat of material with threads. Red flag number three and the final deciding one.

 

I trashed the bottle of J Herbin Eclat de Saphir. I believe I bought this bottle from the time they were having water quality issues and is the result of a pinned topic in one of the forum sections on inks.

 

So if any of you are interested, this is how I verify if something is SITB or just dye precipitate. Makes me want to buy a microscope . . . . Oh heck, makes me want to buy a whole lab for the sake of ink science.

 

Edit:

Just ran a test on my bottle of Private Reserve Plum, one the first bottles of ink I ever bought and it too has SITB. I think I may need to start checking all of my old inks now.

Edited February 24, 2015 by RudyR

[SeeksAdvice]

Did it have an amoeboid shaped lifeform on the bottom of the bottle? I've been having the most issues with little "discs" or "dots" of stuff in Noodler's inks. Thought I had fixed it in my inks, guess not. Also had some show up in a demonstrator too.

Best to just toss the ink like you did.