Work and weekend chores can get too demanding sometimes and I have to order roasted beans online because I fall behind. Current fav is Temple Roasters Dharma blend. I've been experimenting with roasting bigger batches and freezing. Any recommendations on how long to let the beans off-gas before freezing?

I just saw a YouTube video where Gwilym Davies recommends resting for 14 days before using as espresso. That really surprised me, I have a hard enough time waiting 4 days to taste my efforts. Is this generally accepted knowledge?

It seems like with everything else the "best time" to use roasted beans is changing. From what I can see these changes parallel changes in roasting and our increase in knowledge.

As mentioned in the video, a beans peak is related to a few variables which includes how the bean was roasted. For example, dark roasts peak earlier than light roasts.

Now while I don't roast yet, I freeze my beans a few days before they peak.

There is a thread on here of a fairly controlled home experiment on freezing. Can't remember who did it. RandyG maybe?

If memory serves, the general conclusion was freezing work to essentially "freeze" the aging process in place. So beans frozen at day 2, for 3 months, would taste like 3 day old beans when brought out of freezer.

Must put tape over air valve

I follow this guideline and freeze my beans at day 2 or 3.

I saw the same video with those recommendations and it simply won't work for me. 14 days of rest is way too long based on all the coffees I've roasted. Some lighter roasted will benefit from longer times, but I generally let all coffees rest 7-8 days post roast then use for espresso. Have tried sooner/later and although still quite good that 7-8 day window is the peak for what I like. At the end of the day that's what matters as taste is subjective and expectations vary greatly. I'm also unimpressed with his method of storage, but I don't really find much of what he thinks impressive to begin with.

I normally roast enough coffee to last me for a week, so I always freeze my roasted coffee.

In general, I freeze after 3-4 days of rest, depending on how dark I roast. I use 3 days rest for coffee that is roasted to 2:00 (or more) beyond first crack. For all other roasts, I freeze it after 4 days of rest.

The one exception is Yemen. Most of the time I give these between 7 and 9 days of rest before I freeze them. I brew a cup after 7 days and decide whether it tastes interesting. If not, I let it continue to rest and try again the next day.

Thank you for the replies! I'm going to stick to day 4 giving me time for a morning shot or two, take some notes, and then freeze the batch. Although I've taken a cupping class, its hard to allocate the time for cupping a day after the roast for notes. Maybe I can get back into cupping after retirement. Cheers, Ed

I used to have a larger roaster, and I would freeze portions of a batch after 3 days - with good results. I froze about three day batches. I packed them well, and never opened the bags while the beans were cold. I let them come up to room temperature in the bag, so they wouldn't get extra moisture via condensation. Oh, and yep 14 days can work for non-frozen espresso.