carbon dioxide generation for bean storage

[shadow7452]

Oh I mostly believe you, but there are some downsides, like the inhalation safety issues. You may also not appreciate that not everyone has sufficient control over their living situation, to be able to roast. Whereas I guarantee you, everyone's got enough control over their residence to mix vinegar and baking soda. It's kid safe science class stuff.

Your equipment, relatively expensive. Mine, probably $15 for Mason jars, $5 for vinegar and baking soda. Jury's out on plastic bags, might not be the final way.

Granted, if roasting is done indoors with no ventilation and doing large batches there's likely gonna be some respiratory complications... BUT I am doing 2-3 batches at a time, 200 grams each, and always outside year round. 95% of the time there is some wind and when things are stale I simply wear a quality dust/particulate mask. I live with what's termed as severe chronic persistent asthma with a restrictive component, as in noted SAD (small airway disease) that affects exhalatory volume. Also survived cryptococcal meningitis and 2 strokes 8 yrs ago. I roast/extract espresso as a daily ritual as nothing else in the world of coffee comes the slightest bit close to what it offers to suit my taste/expectations. If you're that worried about inhalation then never be on a busy freeway, never use an outdoor grill, etc. using gas, wood or charcoal as a heat source... the list goes on as to all the things around us possibly posing harm. The 'popcorn lung' issue mentioned in the same sentence as coffee roasting is a bit of a stretch.

Of course living situation and cost is a consideration, but you only live once and do what you want when possible. Roasting is like anything else, you can spend as much or as little as you want. I found a killer popper at a Goodwill yrs ago for $3 and cranked out some really good batches with it. Didn't have any real control and batch size was tiny, BUT was very capable and dirt cheap. Difference between me/you is after churning through tons of coffee for home/commercial use I grew tired of the crap most commercial 'artisan' roasters spew out for an insane amount of $. You seem OK with buying barely palatable coffee for a bit of an expense then try keeping it clinging to life and almost seem to dread each day you try it based on your descriptions like lemon, etc. as you know the crap is really fading. Nothing known in this world will keep coffee from staling... might slow it down a bit, but from the moment it's roasted it starts to stale. Once ground for espresso range fine it multiplies by likely 100 times. Maybe try vacuum packing/deep freezing as IMBHO that's the next best thing to home roasting.

 

[bvanevery69]

If you're that worried about inhalation then never be on a busy freeway, never use an outdoor grill, etc. using gas, wood or charcoal as a heat source... the list goes on as to all the things around us possibly posing harm.

Actually I do take other inhalation issues seriously and tend to take precautions. I don't grill; I don't take the opportunity to jog across the Charleston SC bridge; I don't typically stick my nose in a car's tailpipe to diagnose stuff; I don't inhale alcohol markers, etc. Making a list of other things that can harm you, as a reason to stop worrying, is false reasoning. There's a reason I'm an amateur auto mechanic, not a pro. I've never seen anyone wear a dust mask in a brake shop and that's telling about worker conditions in industry. At least woodworkers do tend to take sawdust inhalation issues seriously, at least on the woodworking site I frequent.

So yeah if the argument is "you're already slack about X", truthfully I'm not. You shoulda seen me during COVID.

You seem OK with buying barely palatable coffee

You keep saying this but it's a strawman. I value the potential of CO2 storage and you don't.

A lot of the recently roasted coffee I've bought, starts out just fine. It doesn't stay that way though. The falloff is rapid.

When coffee is crummy even straight out of the bag, I've made note of that. I've done a lot of reviewing.

Maybe try vacuum packing/deep freezing as IMBHO that's the next best thing to home roasting.

I've already proven that aggressive vacuum, like 9 PSI, destroys coffee. Evacuated wine bottles was the research before I came up with the CO2 idea.

Gas displacment in the wine industry has proven it can keep wines preserved for at least 1 month, such as the Repour oxygen killing technology. That's YouTube expert taste testing, not just manufacturer claims. The manufacturer claims 2 months.

Why not CO2? Of course, coffee could be a tougher problem than wine. Coffee doesn't rot away in a valved bag "just like that" though. It takes weeks.