Popcorn Popper Coffee Roasting

[germantown rob]

Originally Posted by kenstogie

During the "de-gassing" period right after roasting how do you store your beans? Also are my grade determinations (city, city+ etc) at least in the ball park?
Any other tips?
THANKS!!!

This has become a major obsession of mine.

Oxygen, moisture, and light are some major enemies to roasted coffee. Since home roasters are consuming their roasts before long how much of a problem is there really going to be in less then 14 days? Most of what has been scientifically researched is for extending the freshness for shelf life on a commercial level and I am trying to piece together how to use this info best as a home roaster. For oxygen not to be a problem it must be reduced to at least 4%.

To be really anal one might...
Allow roast to cool.
Transfer roast to vacuum bag.
Flush with nitrogen (co2 might be fine and can be acquired in small spay bottles at wine stores)
Vaccum the bag (the bag will expand with co2 as the degassing from the beans is strong the first 12hrs or so)
If resting more then 2 days cut bag and repeat.

Is this necessary? I am trying to find out if I notice a difference in the time it takes me to consume my roasts. I have already done some home experiments with part of a roast resting in an open cup, a sweet maria's tin, and vacuumed sealed. The open cup lost it's aromas the quickest compared to the tin and on day 10 the open cup tasted on it's way to stale, the tin's aroma was ok until shaken then it was good and the vacuum bag when opened was delightful but tasted the same as the tin which tasted like a 10 day old roast. My tastes have changed and grown since I did this last test and espresso seems to have a much tighter window of flavors from the cup then my moka pot or Brikka so I am going to see if my above storing does make a better shot.

Edit: Just get yourself some mason jars or valve bags or valve tins and put your roast in them once cooled. I like the tins because they keep the light out and look good on the counter but a mason jars seals better, bags just end up costing to much money for self storage but make nice gifts.