Bean Cooling in Ice Bath

[Mr.Peaberry]

Just toying with this idea, and would like feedback from some of the roasters here. I used to work in the printed circuit board industry, and am familiar with high temp nylon bags that are used in the process of squishing the various layers of the pcb's together in a "lam press", kinda like a making a cheese sandwich. I envision dumping my just roasted beans in one of these bags placed like a trash can liner in a bucket with ice in the bottom. Then vacuuming all the air out of the bag, sealing it, and then laying bags of ice over the top. This...if it is effective could flash cool the beans, or even take them into a frozen state for storage to preserve freshness. Sound like anything anyone has done before?

Cheers,

Peaberry

 

[PinkRose]

Would the steam and moisture from the hot beans collect inside of the bag, or would it come out when you vacuum the air out of it?

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

That's a good question. I was thinking along those lines for vacuuming out the air. The beans would not be subjected to the steam coming from the ice bath, but moisture in the ambient air inside the bag could make a difference.

 

[ensoluna]

hi mr. Peaberry. Normally in order to bring out the best flavors in coffee, after we roast, we let them "rest" couple of days to have the beans "breath..."
I just wonder what would happen to this process if you vacuum and use ice bath.

 

[Mr.Peaberry]

The "resting" period is also known as "degassing". If the resting period is done in the absence of oxygen, then you don'the get the associated degradation of flavor due to oxidation.
After reading the text of a patent issued to Michael Sivitz in 2003, I'm wondering myself if initially freezing the roasted Coffee will actually arrest the degassing until such a time as the coffee is ready to be packaged for sale.