# Freezer temperatures for storage

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freezer-temperatures-for-storage/339753>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 13, 2006, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freezer-temperatures-for-storage/339753 "2006-01-13T01:32:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freezer-temperatures-for-storage/339753/1 "2006-01-13T01:32:08Z")

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Why do some things need to be preserved at -190C (liquid nitrogen) or at -80C (dry ice), while others can be kept at -20C?

Can you just keep things longer if they’re frozen colder? I know that frozen plasma lasts a year in a -20C freezer, and frozen sperm can be kept for years in liquid nitrogen, but is this because of the temperature or because of the nature of what we’re freezing?

I know there are good reasons for the different temperatures, but I can’t really figure it out.

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**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freezer-temperatures-for-storage/339753/2 "2006-01-13T01:51:56Z")

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I know if you freeze beef at -35°F for a month, it turns to mush when you defrost it. I know someone that bought a freezer at a GSA auction, it was designed to freeze stuff much colder than the standard 0°F used by standard home freezers. He put a bunch of meat in it and for the first few weeks the meat was fine. Then he began to notice meat wasn’t near as good and after a month it could hardly be cooked when defrosted. It does work great for ice cream and he says he can take a 6 pack of beer from room temperature to ice cold in 5 minutes.

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**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2006, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freezer-temperatures-for-storage/339753/3 "2006-01-13T02:01:24Z")

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[Epimerization kinetics of moxalactam in frozen solution.](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=3244636&dopt=Abstract)