Newbie Struggle: Can using a hand grinder burn my coffee beans? - Page 2

December 6th, 2016, 9:42 pm

CathyWeeks wrote:The Porlex is a metal-bodied grinder, and if the beans were getting hot enough to actually burn them, you'd feel the heat through the metal body, and it would be too hot to handle comfortably.

I used the Porlex and Porlex mini daily for a year, and ground slowly sometimes (mostly if I was surfing the web while grinding), and fast other times, and never wound up with differences.

There are a limited number of variables to control:

1. Water source (my coffee was good at home, and bad at work, due to differences municipal water supplies
2. Water temperature
3. Brew time
4. Bean quality
5. Grind
6. Bean freshness

I used to grind enough beans at home, to make my first cup, and carry the remainder to work, and make a second cup a few hours later, around mid-morning. The mid-morning cup was noticeably degraded, just from having grounds be 3-hours post grind.

From reading your questions, I'd say the difference is probably in the beans. How are you storing them? You said, "bean pack" - do you mean vacuum-packed beans? It doesn't surprise me at all that they are degrading quickly, once the vacuum is gone. Those vacuumed bricks DO usually taste good right after opening, but due to the increased shelf-life, they often degrade REALLY fast once opened.

Storage is a big issue - beans degrade in the presence of the big 3: Light/heat, moisture, oxygen. I buy my beans freshly roasted, usually via mail order. Usually, they are 2-5 days post-roast when they get to me. I divide a 12-ounce bag of beans into 3 parts - 4 ounces go into an Airscape canister (if it will sit out on your counter, get the stainless version. If it's in a cabinet away from light, then glass or plastic versions are fine), and the remaining 8 ounces go into two vacuum bags, which I check every couple of days to make sure they are holding a vacuum (beans outgas, so they often don't remain bricked in the first week after packing them).

I'd suggest going to a local coffee shop, and getting some freshly roasted beans, and then seeing how they work for you. If you are going to be storing them in a valve bag, do what you can to remove as much air as possible from the bag, once opened.

Fantastic advice Cathy! Thanks for the help. Time to start researching on proper storage methods.. Wouldn't have thought that the storage container is of as much importance as my beans! My beans came in a valve bag, roasted on 16th Nov. And after opening, I keep the entire bag in an airtight container. Would you say that's usually sufficient to preserve the freshness of the beans?

#12: Post by **MCALheaven** » December 6th, 2016, 11:02 pm

I wonder about your grind setting? The Aeropress/Porlex Mini is one of my favorite methods for coffee, especially while traveling. For the Aero, I have the best luck with the Mini set to 2 clicks counter-clockwise after fully tightening.

#13: Post by **CathyWeeks** » December 7th, 2016, 8:59 am

laurenandreal wrote:And after opening, I keep the entire bag in an airtight container. Would you say that's usually sufficient to preserve the freshness of the beans?

Are you dumping the bag out, into the container? Or are you collapsing the bag of air, and putting THAT into the air-tight container?

If the former, no. A lot of air is trapped in the container with the beans, and there's more and more as the level of the beans gets lower. If latter, maybe - it just depends on so many factors. If you are keeping them in the bag, make a strong effort to squeeze out as much as possible, roll the top down and clip it closed (or use a rubber band, or one of those nifty alligator clip/coffee scoop combos). If you finish a whole bag in say a week, that is probably good enough for most people.

I vacuum pack 2/3 of each bag in Waring pro bags (they are expensive, but have a high reusability as they are very heavy-duty). The rest goes into an Airscape canister - they have a lid that collapses with the level of the coffee, and so very little air is trapped with the beans. I use that as my daily use vessel, and transfer the beans in the vacuum bags to it, as I use it up.

#14: Post by **Randy G.** » December 7th, 2016, 11:41 am

Once the bag is opened, and each subsequent time after that when beans are removed from the bag, the damage is done by admitting more oxygen. The older the coffee, the less CO2 is released from the beans. After about three days the CO2 emissions have all but stopped anyway, and by the time a week has passed, CO2 release is no longer a factor. Freezing is the only thing that will stop coffee degradation over time.. well, that, and brewing it sooner..

If the beans are stored in any normal method (in a sealed bar, a jar, with or without one way valve, vacuum packed, or even in an environment flushed with an inert gas), the beans will stale. Anyone who has bought a can of Illy beans has experienced that. They taste nice when the can is opened, but after one or two days of use they taste weeks old... because they are.

#15: Post by **CathyWeeks** » December 7th, 2016, 12:40 pm

Randy G. wrote:If the beans are stored in any normal method (in a sealed bar, a jar, with or without one way valve, vacuum packed, or even in an environment flushed with an inert gas), the beans will stale. Anyone who has bought a can of Illy beans has experienced that. They taste nice when the can is opened, but after one or two days of use they taste weeks old... because they are.

All you said is true - no doubt about it. However, some methods do slow the staling down better than other methods.

#16: Post by **Katoci** » December 8th, 2016, 1:26 pm

That's why I store them in airthight little containers (40ml), due to the higher pressure in the container it stales slower, and the minimal amount of oxigen left there when I put the beans in, won't cause any problem.