I bought 4#s of roasted coffee with the intention of freezing most of it (based on lots of reading). Each 1# bag was a different coffee, so I decided to open 2 bags and keep 2 bags sealed. The two bags I opened, I put into 4 pint wide-mouth Ball mason jars (2 jars of each coffee) and straight into the freezer and the rest was put into 2 airscape canisters for immediate consumption. I finished the coffee from the first two bags (taking out a mason jar the night before consuming and it would go in 3-4 days) and am ready to open the sealed bags (with tape over the one-way valve) that are in the fridge.

Here's where I realized I messed up. I should have opened up all 4#s and split all of it into mason jars and only thaw a jar at a time according to the advice that has been posted. I want to open the currently frozen sealed bags, keep 1/3 thawed ready to consume and re-freeze the rest into mason jars. This has been asked before by James in this thread on Dec 13, 2011, 12:50 pm:

JamesPN007 wrote: I did a search of the various coffee freezing topics but could not find any discussion of this specific question, so my apologies if it has already been addressed. Is it a bad idea to defrost a frozen (taped valve) bag of roasted beans and re-freeze a portion of it in a mason jars after letting it defrost (using generally accepted freezing techniques)? Or am I better off breaking up all the bags immediately upon receipt from the roaster into smaller mason jars before the first freeze? If the latter, I am going to need a lot more mason jars and a lot more freezer space. I would like to be able to freeze/re-freeze but I'm not sure of the bad effects of doing so, if any.

Thanks in advance for your replies!!

Background/Protocol:
I usually purchase several 12oz. or 1lb. bags of roasted coffee from online vendors at a time (i.e. Redbird, Intelly, Metropolis, etc.), tape over the valve bags and throw in the freezer until ready for use. When pulling a bag out of the freezer, I let it defrost on the counter for a couple of hours, open the bag, put a day or two worth of beans in the hopper, and (currently) place the rest of the beans in a vacuum canister for use as needed.

The problem is that it usually takes me about 3-4 weeks to go through 1lb. of beans since I only make 1-3 doubles per day. I don't think the vac canister does a great job preserving the beans, certainly better than just leaving in the hopper, but not as good as the freezer. During the time it takes me to consume a bag, I do notice the coffee becomes a little stale towards the back end, which I would like to avoid.

No one came forward and said 'yeah, go ahead and re-freeze' but did say 'split before freezing.' Here's the last post by James:

JamesPN007 wrote: Dave, I'm 100% in agreement with you on the beans going stale after multiple freeze thaw cycles. In my case it would only be one freeze thaw cycle, since the beans would be going from sealed (from roaster) and taped valve bag, into the mason jar after defrosting, and remaining in the freezer in that mason jar until ready for use. There would be no multiple freeze thaw cycles of the mason jar because that entire jar would be kept out of the freezer and consumed within a few days to a week.

I usually get my beans 3 days post-roast, at which point they go straight into the freezer. It sounds like only one freeze thaw cycle will not cause too much degradation provided the beans fully defrost (i.e. no condensation) before opening the bag to transfer to the mason jar.

Thanks everyone for the replies!!

Any updates over the last 2 years?

Should I,
A: thaw an entire 1# bag (and risk consuming the last 1/3 stale); or
B: try to re-freeze and see what happens; or
C: go back to roasting my own coffee in small batches?

Thanks in advance for the recommendations.

It's not clear to me why you have to thaw them. Just take out what you're going to use from the freezer and put back the frozen beans immediately. I regularly freeze my own roasted coffee and only take out what I'll use within a few days - putting back the frozen beans immediately. Sometimes I grind the frozen beans. There are threads here on HB where people smarter than I have found no deterioration of fresh roasted beans stored in the freezer. But, if you must thaw - then I suspect refreezing would result in deterioration. I don't recollect a discussion of that issue.

I thought it was frowned upon to: take beans out of freezer, scoop what you need, then throw jar or bag back into the freezer. This sounds like a sure way to introduce condensation (thus, thaw then re-freeze). But, if you do it with good results, then maybe I'm over analyzing this.

Just do it quickly. No need to let them thaw, just have your containers ready, open the big one, divide them up and get them back in the freezer. It should be ok unless the humidity in hour house is 70%. You just want to avoid condensation on the surface of the beans. It would better going forward to divide them up prior to freezing.

How about

D. Drink more coffee

I buy and freeze decaf and use a seal-a-meal to store 1/4 pound batches until I am ready to use. That way I can store in thin layers that thaw pretty quickly and don't take up much space in the freezer.

Ever since I started freezing my beans, initially out of necessity, I've gone the no-freeze route a couple of times and every time I've regretted not freezing my beans.

Long post, sorry if it's too 'ramble'y...

My process: I have the small mason jars, I believe they hold about 150g right up to the lid OR I can basically get about 4 jars for 1 pound of beans. I usually freeze 4 jars and use whatever is left without freezing.. or is it 3.... I forget... Either way I use about 2-4 shots of beans without freezing. I read prior to starting my freezing process that, I believe it was, Andy Schecter who freezes his beans and just grinds right out of the freezer. I liked that process because I had tried freezing and thawing for use and Andy's way just made it more simple. So, I freeze and only dose what I need from the freezer. I do not thaw my beans.

My Experience: I have gone back and forth to test and I prefer to freeze and use right out of the freezer. I have had GOOD to GREAT results even a month after freezing. I haven't done any blind side-by-side testing, it's been done by minds smarter than mine, but my experience with grinding right out of the freezer is so positive that I just do it as a matter of course now. The beans last much longer this way and I'm not all that rigid with my process insofar as when I have them out of the freezer I'm not in a huge hurry to throw them back in because I may spoil my beans, but I do try to keep it short. The little jars probably have about 5 shots or so in them, if I ruin one, I have 3-4 more jars. My grinder is not breaking and my espresso quality (exceptional by the way ) has not taken a hit.

Takeaway - Definitely split into small mason jars, I've tried the large mason jar and I did feel that the beans didn't get quite the same mileage as those I've split into smaller jars. I have frozen just a whole bag for my wife's lattes and since she's not quite the snob I am, it's worked out great and the beans, regardless of the lax freezer storing, keep very well and are not unusable after two weeks. I've gone over a month with a bag for my wife's lattes and the shots still ooze similarly to the more fresh shots. The month mark is really where you start noticing some off-flavours or, I guess, tasting the staling, but that's if you don't store it in jars. I didn't notice the same off-flavours if the coffee was in jars.

Hey Tony. How old typically are the beans when you freeze them?

There's a range. Earliest is 5 days post roast from Manic and latest has been 10 days post roast. I started freezing because we can only get Epic Espresso about 7 days post roast.

If it's earlier than 5 I'll keep the bag around until day 5 or 7. I have not concerned myself with possibly missing the 'sweet spot' of an espresso because I've enjoyed the espresso beans I've frozen. The beans do change, it's just at a much slower pace and are great for a much longer period of time. With freezing I can have one shot a day and not feel like I have to race through a bag within 2 weeks. Remember, I take about 4 shots of the bag without freezing and take at least a feeler shot prior to freezing.

Since I've started freezing it's felt like I've locked in the beans to what I enjoy. Lately, especially with light SOEs, the flavour of espresso is going south much earlier than the two weeks.

If you're worried about missing the 'sweet spot' at all you can let the grind sit to age it, I guess.

tburres wrote:D. Drink more coffee

Lol

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Tony. I've been away from my machine all week since I just don't have the time with this new job. But, I am using my Pharos and making V60s with the coffee that I re-froze (I ended up taking it out of the freezer, splitting it up into pre-frozen mason jars, and putting it back in the freezer). Honestly, even though the process took less than 1 minute AND the humidity was greater than 90% at the time (AND HOT), I don't taste any ill effects. Tasted like fresh coffee to me (as evidenced by the large bloom). However, it is my first time trying this coffee so I have no idea what it would taste like if I tried it fresh.

I will try grinding straight out of the freezer this weekend. I hope I like it as much as you, since it seems like the easiest thing to do. Quick question: when you say small mason jar what size are you talking about? I have the pint sized wide-mouthed but that holds more than 4 shots worth--maybe double that.

Spitz.me wrote:Lately, especially with light SOEs, the flavour of espresso is going south much earlier than the two weeks.

Ah, this is interesting. Can you elaborate a bit? My preference is for acidic coffees (aka "bright") so if freezing is no good for that type of bean then maybe this freezing experiment is no good for me (and back to roasting small batches in my popper).

Anyways, the only reason I got into freezing is to try out the coffees others are drinking on the forum...which implies buying online..which implies buying in large amounts (to justify the shipping costs).