mrh372 Senior Member Joined: 12 Jan 2012 Posts: 4 Location: Greencastle, PA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Breville ESP8XL Grinder: Breville BCG800XL Vac Pot: not yet Drip: Bunn Brew ST Roaster: Behmor
Posted Mon Nov 19, 2012, 4:45am Subject: Re: Guide to bean storage?
I store my coffee in wine bottles and use a vacuum wine stoppers to seal them. Cheap and easy to do. I had coffee in one that sat for over 3 weeks and still was surprisingly fresh.
jpender Senior Member Joined: 11 Jul 2011 Posts: 397 Location: California Expertise: I like coffee
Grinder: Kyocera CM-50 Vac Pot: S/S Moka Pot Drip: Aeropress
Posted Mon Nov 19, 2012, 11:29am Subject: Re: Guide to bean storage?
VacuVin makes a hand pump vacuum container specifically for coffee. Using a wine bottle is a creative way to save money (about $30) but I would think that funnelling the beans into the bottle would be tedious. Bottles also suffer from the same fixed volume problem that the VacuVin container does. That is, since you cannot fully evacuate the container or bottle (I found I could only remove 75-80% of the air with a VacuVin pump), the air still remaining increases as you use your coffee beans.
An alternative product called the Airscape takes the opposite tack, reducing the volume but not pulling a vacuum.
Which removes more air? If you have enough coffee to nearly fill the VacuVin (or your wine bottle) pulling a vacuum is better. As the amount of coffee drops you reach a point where reducing the container volume will result in less air than vacuuming with a hand pump will.
You could do even better by both minimizing the volume and then pulling a vaccum. That can be accomplished with Ziplock vacuum bags. They use a hand pump and are not particularly fancy.
Since you cannot fully eliminate the oxygen with any of these inexpensive methods you might wonder if they offer a significant improvement over just keeping your beans in a jar. Opinions vary.
Another approach is to reduce the temperature by taking one or more small portions of beans, squeezing out the air and sealing them tightly in ziplock bags (or those vacuum bags), and then putting them in the freezer until needed.
appleica Senior Member Joined: 20 Nov 2012 Posts: 14 Location: Alberta, Canada Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Tue Nov 20, 2012, 6:01pm Subject: Re: Guide to bean storage?
i used one of the nalgene, or metal water containers normally found in hiking stores. i usually say it it doesn't leak with water it in it, it should be air proof
faaparasite Senior Member Joined: 19 Jun 2003 Posts: 288 Location: Dallas Metroplex Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Bezzera BZ99 Grinder: Mazzer Super Jolly Drip: Technivorm
Posted Tue Nov 20, 2012, 6:32pm Subject: Re: Guide to bean storage?
Air and light are the enemy to beans. For short term storage < 2 weeks, I use an opaque canister with a rubber seal and a flip clamp. It's simple, cheap, and fast to open and close. It looks something like this one: Click Here (www.crateandbarrel.com)
For anything longer I vacuum seal bags with a 2 week supply and freeze them. If you don't want to vacuum seal you can just use a ziplock bag and a straw to suck out the air.
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