I have been washing and reusing my one way valve bags for quite some time. Is there a point that they just wear out, assuming that there are no holes in the bag. I wash them out with a bit of JoeGlo, give them a good rinse and air dry. They do not have a rancid odor and appear to be physically sound.

I reuse mine as well. What I have found is that eventually the zip-lock seam pulls apart from the bag which won't allow the bag to seal anymore. I know that new bags are about $0.50 each so it probably seems a little inconsistent to spend thousands on an espresso machine and grinder and then try to reuse bags, but as a home roaster I have upwards of a dozen blends "resting" at any given time so it's handy to reuse bags if they're in good shape.

-Mike

I have not had the zip top separate yet. I am using the gold backed bags that SM sells. They are nice and heavy. On the rare occasion I purchase roasted coffee, I also keep the bags it came in. I use them as my 'give away' bags. I either tape them shut or heat seal them.

Yes, I am cheap. But every dollar I save is one more I can put toward that Elektra A3.

Not sure where I came up with this idea or whether it is something that has been done before.

I found that while I wanted to reuse my old coffee bags that once housed that precious fresh roast...
The plastic of those one way valve resealable coffee bags seemed to retain an awful lot of smell, and not always good.
Yes, I cleaned them but they just did not seem as easy to clean as a good old mason jar.

So with the help of a drill bit and a very old Dremel I was able to carve out a nice round hole in the lid of a mason jar.
I cut out the one way valve from the stinky bag and trimmed off any of the remaining plastic bag from the valve.
And with a little glue applied all around the underside lip of the valve pressed it on the lid.
In 24 hours the lid was ready to go on the jar and vent out gasses from the fresh roast.

Some other ideas are: tinted jars and or jar art. Yes, I found jar art for mason jars available on line.
Either of these options could shield those beans from light.
Also, jars are available in a larger size or wide-mouth and lids can be bought separately as well.

Sorry about the pic. That UFO looking disk on top of the jar is the one way valve.
After a few days, for espresso beans you can replace the vented lid with a regular one.
Can you tell I like this idea?

I'am a newbie what is SM web address? I would like to check out their bags.

cannonfodder wrote:I have not had the zip top separate yet. I am using the gold backed bags that SM sells. They are nice and heavy. On the rare occasion I purchase roasted coffee, I also keep the bags it came in. I use them as my 'give away' bags. I either tape them shut or heat seal them.

Yes, I am cheap. But every dollar I save is one more I can put toward that Elektra A3.

No problem, Dave is referring to www.sweetmarias.com.

cannonfodder wrote:I have been washing and reusing my one way valve bags for quite some time.

You need to watch the valve when you wash the bags. Water may damage it. The ultimate solution is an opaque canister, and the instructions given by KP in beyongthesecondcrack.com are excellent. I would use a stainless steel canister for it, drill and attach the valve.

Abe Carmeli wrote:I would use a stainless steel canister for it, drill and attach the valve.

Is this step necessary only for homeroasters because of degassing? I transfer roasted blends to Mason jars and use them within a week, but these are all commercial blends and arrive 2-3 days post-roast. The jars do "burp" when cracked open - would the pressure of homeroasted coffee degassing break the glass, or is there some other reason for the excitement over one-way valves?

The rate of degassing in the first 2 days is much greater than in the days thereafter. The one way valve does two things: Allows the coffee to naturally degas, and as it does so, empty the canister/bag of oxygen, and replace it with CO2. Oxygenation deteriorates bean quality. When you are keeping your beans in a jar, where air cannot escape, that air has a lot of oxygen in it and your beans will deteriorate faster. This is not a big issue if you finish the batch in 3 days, but if you consume it within a week after you opened the bag, you may feel the effect.

Though there are very few things I find more entertaining than watching you run for cover, the risk of blowing the lid off your mason jar 2 days after roast is less than zero.

Abe Carmeli wrote:empty the canister/bag of oxygen, and replace it with CO2.

i really wish this myth would go away.

the CO2 will dilute the O2 content, but the O2 will only vent in the same proportion as it is found in the container.