I did this only once, one morning. By the afternoon, the beans had gassed out and there was no vacuum. One of my DUH moments! Surely this can only work for stale beans?

    Yes, true. Since then I’ve just been using my homemade glass jars with the valves (cut from coffee bags) inserted into the lids. Does the same thing by expelling the air and leaving the beans bathing in CO2 :)

    Grabbed a Lidl one today, my wife will be delighted to get some freezer space back 👍

    Thanks @Gagaryn

    13 days later

    Would you believe it. Walked int Lidl today and there were two vacuum sealers one with my name on it. And I also managed to bag some spare vacuum sealer bag rolls.

    I’ve had a vacuum sealer for years but I moved away from that due to my concern with the plastics the food is sealed in not being recyclable. I see now that recyclable ones are available I’ll start using it again… for food.

    As for coffee… Now I know I’m being a bit of a dunce here (yes I know, what’s new) but Tompoland are you making the tiny bags to hold just 18g of beans, cutting to size from a roll, sealing edges to make a pocket ready to take the beans? Because I’ve not seen any that small and if so, it must take you ages because you’d need 55 bags for every kilo of beans. Then once opened you just throw them away?… sorry recycle them and start all over again?

    I usually buy aboout 4 × 250g bags of different types of beans at a time because I like to try different ones. Even if I only have 2 cups a day at 18g per cup that will still only take me about 3 and a half weeks to get through and more often than not is is less, as my other half likes a cup too. I guess if like you I was roasting a lot then it might make sense, but for the likes of me it seems a lot of work and whether or not my taste buds could tell the difference between vacuum sealing and just freezing for a couple of weeks is debateable.

    5 months later

    So I’ve picked up a vacuum packing set of bags and pump and I am about to dip my toe into the world of vacuum packing. (I also have about 2kgs of beans in the freezer).

    I have a couple of questions for those who do this regularly if you don’t mind.

    1 - I like to alternate my beans and use them in 250g batches each time (stored in an Airscape or Coffeevac container) I tend to get through 250g in about 10 - 12 days. At a rough guess, it might take me up to 3 months to finish the last of this latest kilo. Would it stay fresh vaccum sealed for this long?

    2 - Is vacuum packing and then freezing a bad idea / pointless exercise if the beans won’t stay fresh for 3 months?

    3 - How do people store the beans once vacuum packed? Dark cool place?

    4 - (Perhaps the most stupid question) the bags that came with my vaccum packing set are of various sizes. The smallest fits 250g and there are 4 bags of this size, which is perfect for me. Presumably since the beans and bags will be vacuum packed, there’s no problem putting 250g in the larger bags - or should I look to get more of the smaller bags?

    5 - Do you vacuum pack beans as soon as you receive them from the roaster, or do you let them rest first?

      dutchy101 - I like to alternate my beans and use them in 250g batches each time (stored in an Airscape or Coffeevac container) I tend to get through 250g in about 10 - 12 days. At a rough guess, it might take me up to 3 months to finish the last of this latest kilo. Would it stay fresh vaccum sealed for this long?

      Max 3 months IMO. A KG of our decaf lasts for max 2 - 2.5 months for 2-3 of us. Once opened, it goes south very fast.

      To address this, I vac 125g, put them 4 canisters for each opened bag. I have often 4 beans opened at a time; 2 standard bags in 2 × 4 canisters lasting 2 weeks at least; 1 × 125g of decaf opened from vac and frozen for daily use lasting a week at least; 1 × 125g of standard beans for filter lasting 1.5 weeks.

      dutchy101 How do people store the beans once vacuum packed? Dark cool place?

      In a garage cup board, which we don’t open daily.

      dutchy101 should I look to get more of the smaller bags?

      I get this

      https://www.luvele.co.uk/products/luvele-vacuum-bag-roll-22cm-by-12m

      dutchy101 - Do you vacuum pack beans as soon as you receive them from the roaster, or do you let them rest first?

      I rest them for 3 or 4 weeks depending on the beans. Decaf is longer.

                Thanks LMSC

                This is what I’ve bought, which is different to having a sealer system, so I am a little more compromised by the size of the bags I have with the set. I might buy another set of bags, so I’ll have 8 of the smaller size.

                Wondering whether I should consider smaller containers than what I’m using - which will easily hold 500g of beans in each.

                https://www.aldi.co.uk/vacuum-bag-sealer-and-bag/p/000000658501500?utm_source=awin&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=259955-Genie+Shopping+CSS&awc=19523_1663840496_47465650339e49f9db38fcd21d29eacf

                  dutchy101
                  I roast my own and only do about 400g green/340g roasted and that lasts me about a week.
                  So I vacpac and leave for a week and then use.
                  Some beans, eg yemeni, need a bit longer ageing.

                  In your circumstance I would pack into 250g lots when I get them and then pop three of the bags in the freezer.

                    its always interested me this, very tempted,

                    how much was the sealer from lidl?

                    Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

                    • LMSC replied to this.

                      So just cracked it all open and had a go. The smallest bags, which do hold 250g are probably a little too small to hold 250g and work properly with the vacuum pump, so I’ve split 500g between 3 of the smallest bags and put 250g each in bigger bags. I’m going to freeze the 2 × 250g bags and one of the smaller bags and keep the other 2 smaller bags in the cupboard where I keep my coffee. Looking forward to seeing the results.

                      Will pick up another pack or 2 of bags as well.

                        oh, not sure,

                        just sent the mrs out for one

                        Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

                        • LMSC replied to this.

                          dutchy101 So just cracked it all open and had a go. The smallest bags, which do hold 250g are probably a little too small to hold 250g and work properly with the vacuum pump, so I’ve split 500g between 3 of the smallest bags and put 250g each in bigger bags. I’m going to freeze the 2 × 250g bags and one of the smaller bags and keep the other 2 smaller bags in the cupboard where I keep my coffee. Looking forward to seeing the results.

                          Will pick up another pack or 2 of bags as well.

                          If it’s a standard vacuum sealer, you can get bags in rolls. They have a set width of course, but you can cut them to the desired length and seal both ends to a custom size.

                          From my experience, vaccum bags + freezer (defrost in the bag before opening) gives excellent results and the coffee can be kept for a really long time (months and longer). I read somewhere that someone did an experiment and found that deterioration in 90 days in the freezer equals 1 day at room temp. Not sure how accurate this is, but I had coffee that was vacuum frozen for 9 months and it flowed and tasted like fresh to me (much better than 4 weeks old coffee that wasn’t frozen).

                          I may be wrong on this, but common sense is to rest the beans to the begining of their peak and then freeze them. This way they are ready to go when you want them.

                              Cuprajake Not sure! We already have one. Won’t be checking! Hope she finds one as it gets sold off quickly.

                                Doram

                                Thanks - my kit is a hand held pump and bags with valves - so a little different to the sealing kits others have. It seemed to do the job well. The beans I’ve just vacuum packed were roasted on 14th September, so just over a week ago. I will definitely leave to defrost in the bag before opening - I do this with the bags I freeze already, although these are standard coffee bags, which I squeeze out as much of the air as possible from and then cover up the valve with sellotape before freezing. To be honest - this method has always seemed to keep the coffee fresh, but I am sure the vaccuming will take it all up a notch.

                                  I am keeping my vacuum packed parcels in the freezer although some say it’s not necessary and could sit in a cook cupboard etc.

                                  started packing into around 80g bags as it’s roughly our daily use. So just remove next days supply in the evening and pop it into a vacuum container and next day split into dosed vials.

                                  mailto:kafar@btinternet.com