I picked up some Barismo Clockwork about a week ago. I have been drinking it every day, but I tossed it in the freezer two days ago to keep it fresh since I'm only 1/2 way done with it (and they recommend letting it sit a week anyway). I had been dosing 14.6g on my trusted scale by taring my 2oz espresso cup. Usually this takes me to a bit over half of the cup. Today, however, I filled the cup up completely before it read 14.6. I knew something was up, but I ground it anyway, and sure enough I had almost 2x as many grinds as I wanted! Yesterday, after they had already been frozen overnight, this did NOT happen.

My theory is that somehow I let the moisture out yesterday when I took the beans out of the freezer to dose. Has anyone experienced this? I also may have bad freezer etiquette, eg. leaving the jar of beans out 10 minutes instead of 30s.

thoughts?

You probably either measured in the wrong unit like Jim suggested, or your scale's batteries need to be replaced.

I agree that this is most likely the scales fault, but I want to address the freeze-thaw technique real quick to avoid other issues in the future. When you pull your sealed jar out of the freezer, water vapor in the air will condense on the beans if the jar is opened while they are still chilly (for the sake of the topic this would make your beans gain weight if anything but also make them go bad quicker and probably throw off your grind setting). You really want to be positive that the beans are up to room temp before exposing them. I generally take them out the previous night so I have no worries, but experience can determine how long it actually takes them to reach room temp. I would say much more than ten minutes (depending on the size of your jar of course) is necessary. An hour? Half an hour?If I have made a mistake and I don't have time to wait for beans to thaw, a take my smallest jar and sit it on top of my espresso machine for ten minutes or so or while I eat breakfast. I know heat is also an enemy to coffee bean freshness but I figure a short amount of heat is less bad and affects the grind less than letting moisture onto them. Also I only freeze in half pint and four ounce jars, so if I have lowered the quality of a jar of beans a bit, it's only a couple shots or so, and probably not a difference I can taste. I don't make this a habit though! Anyways, I am not a professional so take all of this with a grain of salt, but my common sense says this is reasonable advice.

<thread drift>
The "allow beans to thaw" argument certainly makes sense. However, it has never held up for me in practice. I have occasionally taken beans directly from the freezer and ground them immediately, without any noticeable ill effects. Perhaps condensation is a more serious problem in humid climates.
</thread drift>

Thanks for the responses. I think the problem might be my scale, after weighing my phone and comparing the specs online. I'll replace them asap and report back. This scale has been wonderful to me and I hope it isn't broken and just that the batteries are going down. It's a JZ560, very small and repeatably very accurate. I'd recommend it to everyone, but I don't think now is the best time!

On another note, if I am careful and open my jar only for 30s MAX to dose, then pop it back in the freezer, what are your thoughts on this affecting the beans?

EDIT: I replaced the batteries only to find out that I had been reading the DWT!!!!! All of the other units are different enough to notice immediately. Sorry for the confusion. The display is much brighter now, though!

bostonbuzz wrote:On another note, if I am careful and open my jar only for 30s MAX to dose, then pop it back in the freezer, what are your thoughts on this affecting the beans?

30 sec is a very long time considering it would probably take much less than 1 sec for condensation to occur (If condensation is a problem). Either way, it is not recommended to refreeze already frozen beans. It goes stale faster that way.

+1 to calibration weights. I keep a 50g calibration in my drawer. I'd say it's quite important if you bought a cheap $10-15 scale; sometimes those things perform great for years, but not always. It's nice to have something in your kit to double-check.