Another update. The Stannous Chloride is dead.
Following Dave's suggestion of using a standard solution only when you receive a false positive, I went a step further. It is pretty quick to make up a tiny bit directly on my spot plate. I noticed an extremely slow reaction to the test with my trusty bottle and I wondered if it was caused by excess oxidizer. A shaving of lead free solder on the plate followed by a couple drops of HCl and waiting (argh), gave me a fresh batch that turned black immediately.
I am almost tempted to no longer keep any for testing and just make new in spot 12 everytime before I start work.