How fast do you pack coffee after roasting?

[Oliver]

Hi guys,

what is your experience with packing coffee after roast?

I pack coffee to small bags 250g/0,55lb with one way valve, but my question is: How fast do you pack coffee after roasting?

I have discussion with some roaster and he keeps coffee resting for 24h on the air before packing to small bags. His is argument is that coffee stay fresh for longer period in the bag, but he was not able to explain it...

As I am aware the coffee emits lot of CO2 first few hours after roast, but with valve bag what is a reason to wait with packing?

What is your opinion? Pack it as fast as possible for example 1 hour after roast or wait for few hours?

I am little bit confused here. Thanks for sharing your experience!

[edtbjon]

I do the same as you and pack the beans in vented bags directly after cooling and weighing. Mostly because I don't find it convenient to store the coffee in some other way for a day before sealing the bag. I also find no reason why I have to leave the coffee fully exposed to (circulating) air, as there is that one-way valve to take care of any built up pressure. I could of course just leave the bag(s) open for a day before sealing it (normally with a plastic clip or a zip lock depending on which bag I use...).
I been visiting a few professional roasters where they don't seem to be in a hurry to pack and seal the bags. Their (typically) 8-15kg roasts are usually dumped into plastic storage boxes and left at least overnight. (I guess I have to ask about that the next time I have the opportunity.)

[easygene]

I put immediately after roasting in valved metal cans.  Purchased four of cans from Sweet Maria's years ago.  They each hold around one pound.
After four-five days divide some of the roast out into half pint jars, vacuum out air, and put in freezer.  Sometimes use pints depending on guests expected.

Learned years ago that leaving fresh roast open to air is completely unnecessary.   That is the purpose of the valve to begin with, to vent.

Asked  a bud who is a pro toaster about this.   He says it is not practical to vent say 60 pounds of fresh roast.    That if he takes half pound home the day of roast he puts it in a vented bag.

[venerablemonster]

100% what easygene said all day long. Resting is just the release of the CO2, hence the usefulness of valve containers. There's no reason to let it exposed to air given an option. I pretty much dump a roast in a one way valve cannister as soon as it's cooled.

That said, while digging around, I did find this interesting blog post. No idea about the merit of his argument, but it was interesting to consider.

[jyalpert]

I put mine into valve bags immediately post roast.  I've always read that this is a good idea because the release of CO2 will flush the existing air from the container, keeping the coffee from oxidizing longer.  Which is fine as long as you're not opening and closing the bag to brew the coffee, which I do starting at about 24h post roast.  So, meh for me.

For a roaster who is bagging and selling his beans in large batches, I imagine there are many things at work here:

- Samples from a large roast must be cupped and measured for QC.  So bagging immediately doesn't make sense until QC is done

- Firing up the bagging machine is probably a whole thing, and they probably have a daily routine.  For instance, bag from 9am-10am, roast and do lab stuff and greens analysis from 10am-4pm, QC the day's roasts from 4pm-5pm, go home.  I'm just guessing - they might run out of paid hours for bagging after QC is done, but before it's time to go home.

- Keeping like 50k of beans in a sealed container to let the CO2 purge the air while the beans are waiting for QC and bagging is totally impractical, as easygene said, so they just say F it and let them sit out in the open.  They're venting CO2 at that point anyway, so oxidation isn't really a concern.

[rawman]

I pack my coffee into mason jars immediately after the coffee is cool.  I don't have any jars with valves. After 24 hours I open the lids and enjoy the aroma of the coffee, which lets some of the built up gasses escape.  Not saying this is the best way but it has worked for me for many years. 

[venerablemonster]

I pack my coffee into mason jars immediately after the coffee is cool.  I don't have any jars with valves. After 24 hours I open the lids and enjoy the aroma of the coffee, which lets some of the built up gasses escape.  Not saying this is the best way but it has worked for me for many years.

I used to do this but would always leave the lid loose and the cap piece just sitting on top so whatever needed to could escape with letting in minimal oxygen. Glass under pressure always kind of freaked me out.

[rawman]

I used to do this but would always leave the lid loose and the cap piece just sitting on top so whatever needed to could escape with letting in minimal oxygen. Glass under pressure always kind of freaked me out.

Yes I the issue of glass under pressure made me worry at first but these are mason jars used for canning.  They are designed to hold vacuum so I figured they could handle the positive pressure.

[Wayneg1]

I used to do this but would always leave the lid loose and the cap piece just sitting on top so whatever needed to could escape with letting in minimal oxygen. Glass under pressure always kind of freaked me out.

Yes I the issue of glass under pressure made me worry at first but these are mason jars used for canning.  They are designed to hold vacuum so I figured they could handle the positive pressure.

I have 5 coffee canisters with valves that I got from Sweet Maria's that work really well but they don't hold more than about 2/3 of a pound.  I also use Mason jars on a regular basis.  I leave the screw on lid very loose so the pressure can release easily.  I have made the mistake of screwing the lid down too tight and when I unscrewed the lid have had it completely blow off the top of the jar from the pressure release.  I think the Mason jars hold about a pound of roasted coffee too.

[HIO Flyer]

I was also putting mine into mason jars, tightening the lid then backing off to allow for gasses to escape. After 3-4 hours I tightened the lid(s) and sometimes depending upon the roast had some pretty good pressure releases. I now have airscape jars to store my roasts in that appear to be working really nice.

I did do a tour of a large scale roaster here in Portland and they bag immediately or store in sealed but vented tanks. as stated the vent is there to allow the bad gases to escape and keep air out to retain freshness.

[jvietri]

UI used to use the Sweet Marias metal canisters, they are quite nice, but then i stumbled upon these Airscape canisters, they are AWESOME.  I know have 5 of the large size that i use.  Right after cooling they go in the Airscape and remove all the O2.  These canisters also allow the escape of the CO2.

Container Store sells these fairly cheap.

http://planetarydesign.com/products/airscape-kitchen-canisters/

[brew]

call me a rebel but i'll consume coffee that i have roasted the night before.  perhaps i don't have a discerning palate.

[SusanJoM]

Thusband, check this out.  I had to Google it myself :-)))

http://www.slowcoffee-style.com/en/

[HombreCafe]

I roasted 200 pounds last night.   set on a pallett and covered with burlap sacks to let it breath.  I will go out after lunch and put them into grain Pro bags... sometimes we put in 1 pound sacks too fast and it sweats a little.   i have found 12-18 hours works really good for us.  im trying to find a way to get a dehumidifyer here and have a better condition.  i am at 4900 feet and have alot of fog so that effects us with the 12-18 hours.     Ashley   Legacy Farms Coffee

[LTB]

For those who can read french - or have a very good web pages translator ! - you can follow that discussion, talking about packing coffee "sous vide" : the guy is doing a lot of epxeriment, packed and not packed, packed one our after, and 6 and 33 hour after, packed and freezzed, etc....

You can find that here :

http://expresso.cultureforum.net/t11165-conservation-en-sac-sous-vide