Agreed, I'll order a set of 250g bags. These usually arrive the day after roasting so are still degassing.

Once I have then the unopened bags goes into the deep freeze. When I open a bag, I'll immediately pour the beans straight into a about 3 or 4 small re-sealable plastic containers. However they then sit on the shelf over then following period. This allows (a) for them to age and (b) allows the beans to get up to room temperature.

I'd say the bean life is doubled whilst in the freezer. Although I've not scientifically proven that..

JohnB. wrote:So since the roasted beans have no moisture can they actually be "frozen" or are we just putting them in cold storage?

Roasted beans do have some moisture as coffee is a hygroscopic food product. The fact that you have to keep adjusting your espresso grinder as relative humidity in the room increases or decreases is one example of the evidence. The amount of moisture - by percentage of wight - is far lower than in green beans but roasted beans absorb moisture more readily than green beans as the cell wall structure has been altered by roasting.

As far as the condensation issue I will confess to using beans directly out of the freezer on several occasions & I have yet to see any signs of moisture on the beans while they were being weighed or when they went into the grinder. I also have not noticed any difference in the taste of the shot whether the beans were ground when warm or cold.

I always let my beans thaw thoroughly before opening the ziploc freezer bag and my typical practice is to split the 1 lb bags into two 1/2 lb packages before freezing. But I did recently - due to unexpected travel - have to refreeze about 1/2 lb of beans that had already been thawed. There was a noticeable loss of crema when I re-thawed them after my return and made some shots - but the flavor was still good.

Phaelon56 wrote: Roasted beans do have some moisture as coffee is a hygroscopic food product. The fact that you have to keep adjusting your espresso grinder as relative humidity in the room increases or decreases is one example of the evidence. The amount of moisture - by percentage of wight - is far lower than in green beans but roasted beans absorb moisture more readily than green beans as the cell wall structure has been altered by roasting.

They may absorb moisture sitting on your counter but how much is in the bean when you receive them in a sealed bag from your roaster? If you open the bag & immediately vacuum seal the beans before freezing I would think there would be little if any moisture content inside the bean.

Here are two questions I currently have about freezing beans -- anyone's info appreciated, and hopefully this isn't considered a hijacking of this thread:

- how important is letting beans thaw before grinding? Does it damage the burrs or something to grind them when 'frozen'? Does it affect the resulting coffee? (I think I saw a posting once that claimed it helped offset the heat generated when grinding...)

- I know someone who has been experimenting with pulling the air-tight sealed beans out of the freezer, opening it, scooping out the beans needed that day, resealing the container, and putting it back in the freezer -- a big no-no according to the posts I've read on the subject. He says he has yet to see any negative impact from this practice. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

If the room temperature and humidity are normal, exposing the frozen beans will cover them with condensate: not good for the taste -- really, really bad for the grinder.

You might think this would happen but I've yet to see it happen. Normally I do "thaw" the beans before using but every once in a while I'm in a hurry & just grab some out of the freezer. Just for the heck of it I just took some beans out of the deep freeze & poured them in my weighing cup. No moisture appeared on the beans as it would on the glass jar they came out of. Even rubbing them in my hand showed no sign of moisture.

Possibly because, unlike the glass jar, the beans may have quickly absorbed the condensate.

Possibly but if they truly are frozen its unlikely. Also if the amount of moisture on the beans(if there is any) is so small that it can not be seen or felt do you really think its an issue? Most of my beans are frozen in vacuum sealed bags & unlike the glass jars I seldom see condensation on the bags after removal from the freezer nevermind on the beans I remove from the bag.

Just to be clear I let my frozen beans come up to room temp 98% of the time but the few times I've used them right out of the freezer I had no issues & the shots were fine.

My foodsaver vacuum unit has been one of the best investments I've ever made.

I store my green beens vacuum sealed in bags (but in a 57* wine storage unit) and my roasted beans mostly in the vacuum canisters.

Great for everything from steaks to fresh herbs from the garden to hold over in winter too