Buying bulk and storage

[Bobonli]

I go through a pound bag of beans in about 16 days. I often run out because I’m not paying attention, order and have to wait for it to arrive. I’m thinking about buying bigger bags, 5 pounds, but am concerned I won’t go thru it fast enough and I don’t really have a storage plan. I’m currently storing the 1pound bags in an Oxo vacuum canister ( push down the lid and it forces the air out).

What say ye coffee gurus? Will the 5 lb bag go stale before I finish it, how to store it etc?

[Octave]

I go through a pound bag of beans in about 16 days. I often run out because I’m not paying attention, order and have to wait for it to arrive. I’m thinking about buying bigger bags, 5 pounds, but am concerned I won’t go thru it fast enough and I don’t really have a storage plan. I’m currently storing the 1pound bags in an Oxo vacuum canister ( push down the lid and it forces the air out).

What say ye coffee gurus? Will the 5 lb bag go stale before I finish it, how to store it etc?

It depends on when they were roasted in the first place. If you have or know a local roaster, you can get them as close to the roast date as possible. When I send beans to friends, I roast and send quickly thereafter (before the beans have fully degassed and are ready to brew with) so that they degas in transit and are more-or-less ready to brew when they arrive.

You're talking about ~80 days at your consumption rate if you buy a 5# bag. That's pretty long for coffee, but if kept in a dark, cool place with no access to oxygen exchange and no moisture exchange (i.e. what happens when you take beans in/out of the freezer and get condensation) they wouldn't go bad, just from good to not-as-good.

If you have the freezer space, vacuum them in 1# bags and stick them in the freezer. If not, a 4 gallon airtight bucket in the barn/cellar/kimchi dungeon oughtta do. It'll really depend on how particular you are about your coffee..

[Bobonli]

I brew with pour over, AeroPress and Mokka Pot.

What if I broke the 5lb bag into individual 1-1.5 lb bags, vacuum sealed them and put the in freezer?
What does defrosting entail?

[Too Tall]

This is a Google-free observational comment ;)
I roast coffee as a hobby, well it is an addiction too. Early on I roasted only what we could use in a 1 or 1.5 week span. After a couple years I started roasting two weeks ahead which sometimes leads to the last bag getting consumed three weeks later. There is no noticeable difference in the taste or quality. We store the bags on our counter in the kitchen. Roasted beans seem to be pretty tolerant of storage for a month or more. I'll go further...some of the best roasted coffee I've ever done was some Ethiopian Peaberry. Last year I forgot a bag left behind in our Airstream trailer only to discover it four months later...it was still kick @ss.
The storage bags I use have a degassing valve and foil lined.
That's my story.

[Bobonli]

......and you’re sticking to it!

I’ve done a bit of reading on storage. The latest seems to be “leave it in the bag if it has a de-gassing valve” and don’t just throw the bag in the freezer. I’ll give it a whirl. I think there’s some economy to going 5 lb bag and not running out when I’ve been busy and not paying attention to the amount of beans in the container.

[Too Tall]

......and you’re sticking to it!

I’ve done a bit of reading on storage. The latest seems to be “leave it in the bag if it has a de-gassing valve” and don’t just throw the bag in the freezer. I’ll give it a whirl. I think there’s some economy to going 5 lb bag and not running out when I’ve been busy and not paying attention to the amount of beans in the container.

Don't forget you have a few friends here. All of us are sympatico to another addict in need.

[Mark Kelly]

There are about a billion things going on as roast coffee ages but two of them dominate: O₂ absorbtion which largely affects flavour and CO₂ loss which largely affects texture.

If you pack the coffee in a barrier bag (foil etc) with a vent it will absorb the available oxygen fairly quickly and the rate of degradation will slow (but not cease) thereafter. It will continue to lose CO₂.

If you pack it in an unvented gas tight container and spritz the container with CO₂ (eg from your sodastream) it will slow both.

IMO the best option is to learn to roast coffee: it's actually pretty easy (much easier than making wine or beer) once you work out that all the "how to" guides are wrong on almost every detail. With a "Corretto" setup the capital cost is about $100 - 200 for a half kilo roaster.

[Too Tall]

Thanks for that Mark. Here is a link to some my past research Corretto Roast? I got all the stuff

Tom Kellogg got me going on this a few years ago and his roasts are real real good. I'm getting better all the time using a Behmor.

If and when I get the chance to go camping again, please dear l0rd, I'd like to mess around with open campfire roasting using a heavy cast iron skillet. What could go wrong?

[tanghy]

if you seal them in individual serves and freeze them and then grind each serve to use, it will do ok

you also need to monitor the aging days and freeze them on the day which tastes best, otherwise the coffee may be abit green when you brew it (assuming that you froze it on the 1st or 2nd day after roasting)

[Mark Kelly]

Thanks for that Mark. Here is a link to some my past research Corretto Roast? I got all the stuff

Tom Kellogg got me going on this a few years ago and his roasts are real real good. I'm getting better all the time using a Behmor.

If and when I get the chance to go camping again, please dear l0rd, I'd like to mess around with open campfire roasting using a heavy cast iron skillet. What could go wrong?

I was at MICE in 2019 and one of the importers had an Ethiopian roaster at their stand and I mean an actual Ethiopian, she sat cross legged on the floor and toasted beans in a flat iron pan over a camping stove then crushed them and brewed them up in a pot (I think it's called a jebena). All you need is a couple of decades of practice and a few centuries of cultural tradition.

[Too Tall]

I was at MICE in 2019 and one of the importers had an Ethiopian roaster at their stand and I mean an actual Ethiopian, she sat cross legged on the floor and toasted beans in a flat iron pan over a camping stove then crushed them and brewed them up in a pot (I think it's called a jebena). All you need is a couple of decades of practice and a few centuries of cultural tradition.

I am not worthy.