Shittersfull
Explorer
Thanks. The freeze-thaw cycle is precisely the point I was trying to make.tubby said:
That's a fair point to raise. In my view, the aim should be to cut down on freeze/thaw cycling as much as possible — so if you do decide to freeze, aim to hold the temperature steady — because there's no way to tell if the manufacturer ran the freeze drier long enough to reach a very low moisture content.Shittersfull said:
I don't mean to argue — I just want to learn more. This same question has been on my mind, so I ran a number of tests. Whether every last bit of moisture can be eliminated is something I doubt. Since I own a freeze dryer, I can say that the lowest moisture level I have ever achieved is roughly 4%. Because of that, my thinking is that a freeze-thaw cycle would lead to a tiny bit of degradation.Just A Cat said:
Keep in mind that we're dealing with a dry powder here. Lowering the storage temperature is possible, yet a dry powder won't truly freeze at all. Also consider that reducing temperature significantly cuts down molecular kinetic energy. And remember, light itself carries energy too. Photolytic Cleavage and Photo-Oxidation are real things.
tldr: Cool and Dark.![]()
I'd also guess that once moisture drops below some threshold, water wouldn't "freeze" in the usual sense, and at 0C that certainly wouldn't be happening anymore. Given production standards we can't verify, the most we can do is make informed guesses.
Also, yes—freezing isn't really about 0 degrees c. What matters is a phase change: going from liquid to solid. Take a 13mm wrench I'm holding that's frozen steel—it isn't liquid, it's solid (frozen).
Water that's 100% pure freezes at 0 degrees c. Ethel alcohal freezes at -114 degrees. Combine the two and the freezing piont lands somewhere between them, based on the ratio.
How that plays out here, I have no clue. Still, I don't think it's possable to get rid of every bit of liquid.
I realize this is drifting way too deep into the weeds... and I'm already regretting having posted it.