Brewing on the water (and roasting) - Page 3

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EbenBruyns (original poster)
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#21: Post by EbenBruyns (original poster) »

I pulled another shot this morning. The beans were sitting out in the open for about 24 hours and then in a sealed container since then. The quality is already borderline. There's about 4 shots worth of beans left. I'll deal to at least one of those today, so hopefully they can last at least till tomorrow mid day.

The next batch will go in the sealed container as soon as I cool them. I suspect the challenge will still be sealing in the humid air with them...

As was mentioned before, I could just drink it before it goes off. I could make smaller batches. Being able to roast on demand is nice, takes a bit of time and effort, but at least I know the roasted beans will be good for a short while at least.

The more interesting experiment is still the greens, I'm not sure how much of the environmental affects on the greens will transfer to the longevity of the roasted beans. So many variables, but I feel like it's not impossible to tame them.

jpender
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#22: Post by jpender »

EbenBruyns wrote:The next batch will go in the sealed container as soon as I cool them. I suspect the challenge will still be sealing in the humid air with them...

Even if the jar is half full I don't think there's going to be that much moisture. At 25°C and 100% relative humidity it just doesn't add up to that much water in the air inside a jar. If the issue is moisture it's more likely what is going on before you seal it up.

I once left some ground roasted coffee sitting out at room temperature and kept close track of the weight gain. It took a couple of days to reach equilibrium but gained quite a bit of moisture weight in the first few hours. Whole bean coffee will be slower to absorb moisture from the air and won't absorb as much. But I would still be concerned about leaving the beans exposed in your environment. Once cool why not put them in a ziplock at least?

EbenBruyns (original poster)
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#23: Post by EbenBruyns (original poster) »

ziplock, why didn't I think of that! I store the greens in ziplocks, I must be stupid or something.

I can get most of the air out of it and then seal it in the container. I'm going to try it without the ziplock first, once cool straight in the container. If that doesn't work well enough I'll ziplock it and then in the container!

jpender
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#24: Post by jpender »

I don't home roast so I don't really know anything about coffee in the first hours after a roast. I only suggested a ziplock because I thought there might be enough CO2 off-gassing to be an issue with a rigid container. Standard ziplocks are not really airtight but they're a lot better than an open bowl.

EbenBruyns (original poster)
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#25: Post by EbenBruyns (original poster) »

Pulled another shot. I fined up the grind and the beans are still on a decline. I estimate enough beans for one more shot in the morning, my bet is that it will be stale by then. Will be interesting to see when I get there. It seems I'm operating at the limit for roasted beans, but will see if I can extend that limit. Will most likely roast a new batch tomorrow.

Jonk
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#26: Post by Jonk »

I'd advise against leaving the beans out in the open for 24h. Just put them in a ziplock directly after roasting. The off-gassing amount is much less than you'd think and you'll open the bag to retrieve beans anyway.

Marcelnl
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#27: Post by Marcelnl »

A ziplock bag is made out of plastic which IMO makes the beans more prone to staling due to permeability, glass jars should be much better.

Also, when you store your beans once cooled they are still warm, which will help keeping the relative humidity inside the jar lower than you might suspect.
I store my roasted beans in paper coffee storage bags that are lined with aluminium and plastic and they don't go stale until after 3-4 weeks, saving them from light (especially direct sunlight) is also important. Opening the container does not help, but once you store them and the seal is good enough you should only be suffering from normal aging.
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lancealot
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#28: Post by lancealot »

You are more dedicated than I am! I grew up on the water and was a merchant marine for a few (too many) years. If I were on a small boat, I would not be brewing espresso!

For storing greens there is a bag called grain-pro. Sort of like and ultra-ziplock. I think they are mostly used at the producer / distributor level, but you might want to look into it. I believe I heard an interview with a famous Norwegian roaster who said it is his preferred way to have greens shipped from producers.

https://www.grainpro.com/grainpro-bag-zipper

jpender
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#29: Post by jpender »

Marcelnl wrote:Also, when you store your beans once cooled they are still warm, which will help keeping the relative humidity inside the jar lower than you might suspect.

The total amount moisture in the jar is what matters. And it just doesn't add up to very much.

Marcelnl
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#30: Post by Marcelnl »

jpender wrote: The total amount moisture in the jar is what matters. And it just doesn't add up to very much.
true, and both will be lower ;-)
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