Thermos Freezer Test - Long-term storage

I have built up a nice little cache of Peps over the past couple of months and am concerned about keeping them safe for long-term storage. I purchased a $200 Amazon 1.1cuft freezer that will go down to about -9 degrees so I am covered there to keep peps safe for at least a few years. My next challenge was buying some time if the power goes out or the freezer dies when I am out of town (which is often). The solution? Insulated storage containers.

I started with the 32oz Hydraflask food storage container and wondered how long it would keep my peps below freezing if the freezer died. I tested by putting in a heavy drinking glass an a couple of shot glasses (to simulate glass vials) added my Govee wireless temp/humidy sensor and it actually worked inside the insulated container, inside of the fridge. I waited until the temp was below -5 degrees F and then took it out leaving it at room temp. Sadly, within 2.5 hours the temp had risen from -5F to >32F. Not good enough.

Next I tried the 47oz Thermos food storage container. It has two plastic containers that stack inside and will hold roughly 10 kits of peps!

I froze the thermos (loaded with drinking/shot glasses) to negative -5 degrees F and removed it at 9:00 PM. The Thermos managed to keep the peps below freezing for over 5.5 hours! The Govee will send me a notification if the freezer temp exceeds a preselected temp. This thermos will give me time to call a family member to save my peps if something happens when I am out of town. My little freezer will probably hold three of thermos containers which means I can keep buying peps!

Super dumb question, but by putting the thermos in the freezer, it gets the peps inside cold enough to freeze? Or do you have to put them in already frozen?

I thought a thermos would prevent the outside (freezer) temp from affecting the stuff inside (where the peps are stored). Is that not right?

YoYoFat said:

Super dumb question, but by putting the thermos in the freezer, it gets the peps inside cold enough to freeze? Or do you have to put them in already frozen?

I thought a thermos would prevent the outside (freezer) temp from affecting the stuff inside (where the peps are stored). Is that not right?

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No, the temp in the thermos will increase/decrease based on the ambient temperature outside of the thermos. It just takes longer with it sealed up. I just checked my temp app and it took about 22 hours to go from 70 degrees F to -5F.

scarywood75 said:

Here's some graph for ya

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This is great info, I had no idea that they would lose 10% of potency after just 12 months at -20C (which is where my freezer sits).

Do you know who did this testing and which pep(s) was tested?

So after 24 months of -20C we are probably looking at <75% of original potency?
I guess when I pull them out of the freezer 5 years from now I should get them tested to dose correctly.

I guess I need to stop buying peps. Now what am I going to do with those hours and hours of free time every week?

GimmeABreak said:

This is great info, I had no idea that they would lose 10% of potency after just 12 months at -20C (which is where my freezer sits).

Do you know who did this testing and which pep(s) was tested?

So after 24 months of -20C we are probably looking at <75% of original potency?
I guess when I pull them out of the freezer 5 years from now I should get them tested to dose correctly.

I guess I need to stop buying peps. Now what am I going to do with those hours and hours of free time every week?

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This is why I stopped buying. I have 4 years at double my dose right now, and I don’t think I’ve ever even seen someone using a supply that’s a year old.

scarywood75 said:

This is the theoretical outcome, it has not been exactly tested in these exact settings.

This is not considering the additions of any fillers/stabilizers/antioxidants to the peptide

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Why are you so smart? Just panic with the rest of us please.

I have a year's worth of reta, sema, and cagri that I'm about to take tomorrow in one giant dose. Wish me luck

scarywood75 said:

This is the theoretical outcome, it has not been exactly tested in these exact settings.

This is not considering the additions of any fillers/stabilizers/antioxidants to the peptide

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Theoretical outcome based on what?

scarywood75 said:

I'm no scientist aha idk why, I just know the numbers aren't backed up by matching studies

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Am I reading this right? Did you just entirely make up those graphs from nothing?

scarywood75 said:

No lol, I'm making these based of the knowledge scientists know so far, what I'm saying is that it's not backed up by studies. It's assumptions from scientists that actually know their shit, not from me, but it's still just assumptions.

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Are the scientists in the room with us?

I'm honestly more confused than before, where is this coming from? Can you link a source to your uh, scientists' assumptions?

scarywood75 said:

No lol, I'm making these based of the knowledge scientists know so far, what I'm saying is that it's not backed up by studies. It's assumptions from scientists that actually know their shit, not from me, but it's still just assumptions.

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Just to be clear, you're putting this together and pulling data with ChatGPT and Claude based on your previous posts, correct?

Can you post sourcing information for said data as well?

scarywood75 said:

Here's some graph for ya

Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing these.

GimmeABreak said:

I guess when I pull them out of the freezer 5 years from now I should get them tested to dose correctly.

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Not sure potency can even be tested in an affordable way. Testing we get is usually by molecular weight, isn’t it? That seems insufficient to test potency degradation.

Good thread, needs more input from users. I have a zojirushi thermos coming and it's apparently the best on the market.

Those 3d printed peptide cases are a joke. It's finally time for proper storage methods.

scarywood75 said:

Yeah, well this is the theory, I have not been in here long enough myself to really know if that is true or not.

I feel like it's more on the dramatic side, but I plan on running a vial or two to test. It also depends on the type of peptides

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Someone shared a chart (ETA: it was you! ) of how much they regrade over time based on how frequently they thaw, and with zero thaws, they degrade 10%-ish a year.

So if you’ve got an 11.4 overfilled 10mg, then I suppose you could treat it like a straight 10 a year later.

scarywood75 said:

Here's another graph that may be more relatable for you guys, since the ones I posted are for pure peptide, here's one with the difference of fillers on preservation at -20 - Trehalose seems to be the best at that temperature

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This chart contradicts the first chart you posted. Pure peptide potency declines 25% after 12 months on this chart but about 6% after 12 mo on the chart that shows zero freeze/thaw cycles?

GimmeABreak said:

This chart contradicts the first chart you posted. Pure peptide potency declines 25% after 12 months on this chart but about 6% after 12 mo on the chart that shows zero freeze/thaw cycles?

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Eh? This has a longer period on the X axis and on a 12 month period shows about 10%.

I just sent out two different T30 samples for testing from different suppliers. Will store at -20C in a thermos (from my original post) in a manual defrost freezer. If I pull out a vial in November-2025 and send it for testing it would be at least one reasonably valid datapoint. Assuming there is consistency from vials in the same batch (or in my case kit).

YoYoFat said:

Eh? This has a longer period on the X axis and on a 12 month period shows about 10%.

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Ok, I was reading it wrong and was considering zero freeze/thaw cycles but it is still inconsistent when you compare one freeze/thaw cycle.

This chart is for pure peptides and the green line indicates a 10% decline after 12 months with one freeze thaw cycles.





The red line on this chart indicates a 30% degradation on pure peptides stored at -20C after 12 months.


I agree that there probably isn't any solid research on this and the fillers used during lyophilization probably play a bigger role in degradation than the peptide itself given the % of peptide vs. filler in the total mass.

beefsteak said:

Good thread, needs more input from users. I have a zojirushi thermos coming and it's apparently the best on the market.

Those 3d printed peptide cases are a joke. It's finally time for proper storage methods.

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I almost want to buy a Zojrushi food jar to check it's performance agains my 47oz thermos. I originally bought four of the Hydraflask 32oz food containers because others have made and sell 3d printed vial holders that fit inside them. I was very disappointed in their ability to keep the contents cold after removing from the freezer (only about 2.5 hours).

I think the 3d vial cases are ok if you are storing for <6mo but if you put into a frost free freezer your peps are going to go through a lot of temp variations both from the freeze/thaw cycle and the bigger variable of opening/closing the freezer and adding unfrozen items. We cooked a big pot of chili yesterday and added a few containers to the freezer last night and it caused a huge temp spike:



With our peps being freeze-dried powder, they don't have a lot of cold retention and defrost quickly as the glass vial warms up.

GimmeABreak said:

I just sent out two different T30 samples for testing from different suppliers. Will store at -20C in a thermos (from my original post) in a manual defrost freezer. If I pull out a vial in November-2025 and send it for testing it would be at least one reasonably valid datapoint. Assuming there is consistency from vials in the same batch (or in my case kit).

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You are a heck of a person for doing this!

I wish we were going to be alive to see the results, but with all of these fibrils we're forming, even if we are alive in q4 2025, we won't be capable of understanding the results from your experiment.

At least we can leave the results for the next group of peptide researchers from 2026 who discover our fossils.

"Hey boss, come look at these fibril ridden fossils! They seem to be holding some sort of scientific papers."