Posted Sun Sep 30, 2012, 11:37am Subject: Green storage
I have seen every method for the past few years. I always have kept min in a sealed ziploc bag in a dark room of my house which has the ac on 10 months out of the year. So my house temp and humidity are pretty consistent year round. I am starting to see this isn't the best method. I see 3 options, keep it the same, vac seal, cloth bags. Which of the 3 tends to work the best for 6ish months of storage. If cloth bags are the way to go can I reuse a cotton "SM" green storage bag?
Either I am really lucky or my current plan works. I have been doing it like this for 5+ years. The only reason I am revisiting storage plans is I am stockpiling much more and don't want them to go bad.
germantownrob Senior Member Joined: 2 Dec 2007 Posts: 2,017 Location: Philadelphia Expertise: I love coffee
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Posted Sun Sep 30, 2012, 3:39pm Subject: Re: Green storage
If it tastes good to you then your storage is working fine. I keep most of my beans in the basement which is dry, 65f, and dark and that works well enough for most of my stock. I order on average 4 times a year of 60lbs each order, some of those beans can be in storage for a year. Since my orders are this big and can sit for so long I find it important to pay attention to when they arrive here in the US so that they are not sitting in someone else's storage before they sit in mine. If they are a very fruity tasting bean I will vac package them and deep freeze them soon after receiving them, I find very front fruit beans will loose their specialty within a few months of receiving them and deep freezing in a vac seal will allow them to keep for multiple years. I have some vac packed basement kept beans that are 3 years old that I am about to roast to see what happened to them ( these are a friends favorite Brazil yellow bourbon that stopped roasting and I am sending to him to see how much they changed if at all).
Sweet Maria's is not buying stock for a full year so it is important to buy what you want to be a stable for a full year when it is in stock, other places you have to be careful that you are not buying last years crop just before or even after this years crop is in stock. Still if you look carefully at when SMs received their stock, one of the few that makes this info clear, you will see they have some beans that have sat for 6 months or more, these are beans I don't order to have sitting in my storage for 6 months or more.
Trust your taste buds and use others opinions as a guideline. I roast all my old stock for November-December gifts and only get glowing reviews.
Posted Sun Sep 30, 2012, 7:07pm Subject: Re: Green storage
I don't have to start out with some crazy vac sealer made at NASA though right? One of the lower cost used ones on the major bidding site will work fine i hope. I do know I want it at least to accept 11" bags from a roll and be able to seal w/o starting a vacuum for creating bags. Those are at least 2 things I have picked up this evening after doing some searching. Am I missing anything else that is a game breaker? Does it matter who makes the bags? I guess it will be a win/win since I can use it for my food also, or at least that's how I'm pitching the sale to my wife :)
I am trying to get this solved asap since late Monday or early Tuesday I need to put in another bean order and how much I get will rest on my storage ability.
Let me know if I am missing something please. The extra advise is greatly appreciated.
Posted Wed Oct 10, 2012, 1:23pm Subject: Re: Green storage
I have been using "Rubbermaid" bins Click Here and they work beautifully! A local roaster told me about this. Helps keep the temp inside the bin consistent, traps and protects from odors inside and out and they are pretty cheap. I have been storing my JBM in there since June and they look, smell, taste and brew the same as the day I got them.
If your storing in small quantity then foil coffee bags inside a bin like this work well too. I use the 39.7L they hold about 40lb of beans and stack nicely. Locally they sell for $7
Posted Thu Oct 11, 2012, 12:27pm Subject: Re: Green storage
Not for roasted no. They are made of Polyethylene plastic. It's odorless and food safe. I don't get any taste or smell of rubber at all. Other than mason jars I would only use coffee bags to store roasted coffee in. I'm sure they would work fine for roasted coffee if you’re roasting in 10-30lb batches.
UPDATE: Low density polyethylene can only take up to 80'C temp before melting so if anyone is considering storing roasted coffee beans make sure they are completely cooled first. For clarification I am currently using the "Roughneck 37.9L Tote".
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