Questions for those who freeze coffee still in the bag...

Discuss flavors, brew temperatures, blending, and cupping notes.
mmm
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#1: Post by mmm »

Say you freeze fresh coffee (~2 days after roast) still in the roaster's bag with tape over the one-way valve and decide to use it 5 days after that. Once you remove the bag from the freezer, open it, and transfer it to mason/air-tight jars, is it best to not put the jars in the freezer again? Leave them out? Also, once you take the bag out of the freezer, should you wait for it to get to room temperature before opening it?

Just thought I'd ask as I plan on getting an extra bag or two of beans next week and wasn't sure.

darrensandford
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#2: Post by darrensandford »

When you take it out of the freezer, leave it to warm to room temperature before you open it, otherwise you will get condensation on the beans, spoiling them.

The beans I have frozen in the past have outgassed aggresively on taking them out (frozen a day or two after roasting), so bear that in mind when putting them in airtight containers.

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cafeIKE
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#3: Post by cafeIKE »

It takes about 6 hours for a 1# bag of beans to reach room temperature from -20°C.

If you are buying coffee with 1-way valves, cut them out of the bag, punch a hole in the mason jar lid and glue on the valve.

FWIW, its probably a better idea to split the bags into jars before freezing. Use air tight lids.

As an experiment, last week I put several jars in the freezer, one with an unsealed 1-way valve. This morning I tried the unsealed jar. That's $7 I'll never get back. :cry:

roblumba
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#4: Post by roblumba »

Yeah, for coffee that I freeze, I put them in mason jars WITHOUT the one way valve. I tried taping over the one way valve and that didn't see to work so well for me. Perhaps the pressurization in a jar without the one way valve helps keep it fresher, I don't know. But after experiencing one batch that went bad with the jars that had tape over the valves, I'm never doing that again.

Bags in mason jars without the one way valve are staying in good shape for even more than 4 weeks.

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TimEggers
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#5: Post by TimEggers »

I just pulled a pound of Redline out of the ol' freeze (in original bag with one-way valve) and its absolutely horrid. That's an expensive lesson to learn (and Redline is such a nice blend too). :cry:
Tim Eggers

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Climb14er
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#6: Post by Climb14er »

I've been freezing very high quality espresso in the bag, with the one way valve, all placed within two zip lock freezer bags.

When ready to thaw, I remove the bag and let it come to room temp. I then open the original bag and let the valve do its thing.

I have noticed absolutely zero loss of quality freezing, thawing and using the coffee this way mentioned.

YMMV but for me, my Macap and Cremina utilize these same beans to obtain excellent espresso. :wink:

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jesawdy
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#7: Post by jesawdy »

I split immediately upon arrival into small Mason jars. I don't have enough small jars so some of the beans go into larger jars. I skip the one-way valve altogether and use the air tight Mason lids. One word of caution, with larger jars that have been in the freezer for an extended time (say greater than a month), you need to be careful when you pop the top. I've been caught off guard a few times and you can get a shower of coffee beans :oops: .
Jeff Sawdy

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JimWright
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#8: Post by JimWright »

I put a couple of bags of Ecco Reserve in the freezer last month. I'd never tried it before, but I ordered it with the experimental blend and wanted to have at that first. Unlike the experimental blend, Ecco does not put their regular blends (including the Reserve) into bags with one way valves, and when I took them out, I had a lot of trouble getting something I liked out of them. Would the lack of a one-way valve adversely influence the effect of freezing?

roblumba
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#9: Post by roblumba »

I think with freezing you basically want an air tight package. I suspect that the pressure buildup from slight degassing, in an airtight container actually enhances it's shelf life in the freezer. I don't have any science to back it up, but that's just my generally feeling. Whenever I take a jar out of the freezer that gives a little pop when I open it, It seems very consistent that those beans are much fresher tasting and behave better during extraction.

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JohnB.
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#10: Post by JohnB. »

I break the 1lb bags down into 2 double shot portions, vacuum bag & freeze when it arrives. (usually 2-3 days after roast). This way I only remove what I'm going to be using within a few hours & it will come up to room temp within a few minutes. The small bags are much easer to deal with in my freezer (space wise) then jars & I never have to worry about dropping one.
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