Advise Needed: Nitrogen Flush Equipment

[IslandRoast]

One of the stores I supply is now requiring all coffee vendors to package their coffee in nitro-flushed bags. I'm trying to decide whether it's worth the expense of the equipment to stay in the store or to close the account. I normally roast, cool, and bag within an hour or two of roasting with very little head space in my valved bags. I've been looking at the equipment online and only a handful actually show the price of the equipment, the cheapest I've been able to find is around $3000. and where does one refill nitrogen tanks?
Any words of wisdom from you larger operations is greatly appreciated.

 

[ellatas]

IslandRoast, Air Products is a nitrogen supplier that has a good network across the US. As for flushing a bag, it would depend on your packaging rate. If you pack on a weigh & fill, a cheap solution would be to rig up a 1/8" hose with a small regulator and shut off valve. Inserting the hose into the bag and applying the nitrogen for a few seconds will remove most of the oxygen before you then seal the bag. Nitrogen is a little lighter than air and air will creep back into an open bag if it is left out so it should be sealed quickly. Obviously this will slow your packaging rates and/or increase your labour.
Another alternative is to purchase a sealer with the nitrogen needle (similar to sealing with a vacuum needle). Packaging Aids has equipment such as this.
If you have a vertical form fill seal machine, a nitrogen delivery tube can run down the forming tube.
The final alternative is not to N2 flush, but to measure the oxygen levels in your bags 2 to 5 days after they're sealed. If you are packing freshly roasted coffee in 12oz valved bags (or bigger), the O2 content should have dropped to less than 3% in about 3 days as the degassing coffee does the flushing for you. If you're packing 2.5oz degassed ground coffee in a pillow pack, it is more difficult. The O2 levels will still drop as the coffee absorbs the oxygen, but this is due to the coffee staling. In pretty much all coffee bags, if the oxygen content is more than 10% 10-15 days after the bag was sealed, the oxygen barrier of the packaging material is not high enough or the bag is a leaker.

 

[IslandRoast]

ellatas, thanks for the information. I got with the local USDA inspector that I usually deal with and got some ideas for a low cost nitrogen flush setup that will do what I need it to do. Should only cost me about $300 for all of the equipment including the food grade nitrogen, tank, regulator, hoses, etc.

 

[qwe7410]

Care to share with us what's your set up like?

How are you going to seal while it's flushed?
I mean won't the nitrogen get out before you can seal it?