Bought a 5 pound bag. I have a few airtight metal canisters available. Is it possible to put these canisters in the freezer and single dosing espresso in the morning? Basically taking out the canister and measuring out the dose and returning the canister to the freezer. I also heard there are benefits to grinding frozen beans, which result in better grind consistency.

A quick search through the threads will find you lots of discussion. I happened to have a few of these bookmarked for myself. Enjoy.

Procedure for freezing/thawing roasted coffee

Frozen coffee beans: Grind from freezer or room temperature

Coffee Freezing Best Practices

I read thru some of these postings, but couldn't find definitively whether I can store 1 pound canisters in the freezer. My goal is to take the frozen beans out of the canister for single dosing, and returning the canister back to the freezer. I want to keep the process as simple as possible - so don't want to vacuum seal or don't want 24 jars for single dosing purposes in the freezer etc.

I would advise against freezing in such large amounts and pulling it out over and over. Each time you will expose all the beans to oxygen, let out any CO2 and expose them to some thermal change. I freeze beans but I store them in a size that will last about 4 days. I then pull one container out and leave it out. I use mason type jars and yes there are several in the freezer at times.

Admittedly, I have done as you have suggested but using a very small jar that only holds about 4-5 doses. I haven't noticed any difference in the cup by using frozen beans.

jezec wrote:Bought a 5 pound bag. I have a few airtight metal canisters available. Is it possible to put these canisters in the freezer and single dosing espresso in the morning?

Of course it's possible. It's not ideal. Whether or not it's good enough is a matter if opinion.

got it. so what would be most ideal in terms of storing a 5 pound bag without vacuum sealing individual dosing / individual dosing jars. Just want to be efficient with the process.

Which is the better option:

1) Taking the beans out of the freezer for single dosing and returning the canister back to the freezer
2) Leave the canister out in the kitchen (consumption should be 2 weeks) after thawing once? How long does thawed beans actually last in the kitchen?

Alternative option:

1) If I were to vacuum in bulk (say 1 pound), would I be able to thaw them out (put them in a air tight canister) and leave them in the kitchen for 2 weeks consumption?

Proposed option:

Is there another efficient process you would propose? I'm definitely open to it.

jezec wrote: Is there another efficient process you would propose? I'm definitely open to it.

The happy medium is to break down that 5 lbs into 8 oz Ball jars and freeze them. It'll require about 14 of them, and they store very efficiently in a freezer. That way -- depending on your consumption rate -- you'll unfreeze enough coffee for a few days at most, and it should stay fresh enough. The rest will be in suspended animation until you take out another jar. That's what many of us here do, and it's a good, solid solution.

Balthazar_B wrote:The happy medium is to break down that 5 lbs into 8 oz Ball jars and freeze them.

That's what I do, but I just use ziplock bags. Each week's worth goes in a little bag and a bunch of little bags go in a big freezer bag for a little extra insurance.

Another advantage to parceling them out in to smaller amounts is that if you find yourself in a "coffee emergency", for example, the family pops by for brunch unexpectedly, it's OK to pull an extra jar/bag out of the freezer and use it right away. The real damage of using cold beans is that they collect condensation and that causes them to go funky very quickly. Like within a day or so. But if you use up all the cold coffee in a day or so, then it's not really a problem.

Every time you will bring the 1lb canister out of the freezer and open it at room temperature there will be condensation inside the canister, this means that you are de facto wetting your beans and that humidity over many openings will degrade the bean substantially. I advice against this. If you want to do it the proper way, you need to freeze single dose containers, I don't think there is a middle ground here.

jezec wrote:got it. so what would be most ideal in terms of storing a 5 pound bag without vacuum sealing individual dosing / individual dosing jars. Just want to be efficient with the process.

The most ideal in what sense? If you're trying to optimize freshness then I think the ideal is to flush out all of the oxygen, replace it with an inert gas, and keep the beans at a constant low temperature.

But if efficiency of use is the primary goal then the your original idea is the winner. That's more or less what I do. I leave the beans in the original 8 or 12oz bag, put that inside a normal ziplock, wrap a rubber band around it, keep it in the freezer, and pull shots out of it each day. It works for me. I tried individual dosing and also vacuum sealing and found that I couldn't detect any improvement. But maybe the storage method would affect the taste in a way you would notice. You have to figure that out for yourself.