Our next grinder will be a hopper only, on-demand, large-ish flat, 8-10 doubles/day machine. Under the described, how would folks best manage their hopper for the best consistency/freshness/efficiency ratio?

First, keep a minimum amount of beans in the hopper -- lets say around 100-150g as a good starting point. You are burning through a lb of beans every 2-3 days so I don't think you have to worry about freshness unless your end up with a gigantic hopper.

Yea, I was thinking of filling the hopper daily with 100+ grams of beans, but wonder if the grind will change as the the day goes on. Has anyone put 100-200 g of beans in a bag that can go in the hopper and serve as a weight on the beans below?

So here's the thing: If you are a 1-shot a day kind of drinker and you have a massive 7 lb hopper, then absolutely -- you'll need to control how frequently you add beans so that they don't go stale. You mentioned your daily use is around 10 doubles per day, so your burn rate is 10 * 18g = 180g/day of consumption, which is ~2.8 lbs a week. You could dump in 5 lbs, twice a month, and still never have a bean that is considered stale by the time it hits the burrs.

I don't know how frequently or what quantities you purchase your beans in, but I'd keep it simple and dump 1 bag (12-16oz?) into the hopper at a time. Then whenever it's around 25%, dump in another bag. That'll give you a 3 day window on your beans, which well within the usable date on any bean.

To your question: I have heard of someone filling a bag with pie weights, rice, or dry beans and letting it float on top of the beans in the hopper. I personally would be concerned with getting a hole in the bag and grinding whatever is inside; or the bag itself making it's way into the grind chamber.

I use a vertical acrylic tube as a hopper. That way there is increased weight on the burrs for consistency. usually have a tamper in there on the coffee beans.

Same here, works wonders and is dirt cheap...

Since we do about 2-1/2 lbs a week, we should be fine with what mrjag suggests.

And yea, putting a weighted-baggie in the hopper is a high risk proposition.

Thanks...