# Freezing fresh beans... Degassing?



## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

I've managed to acquire 2 and a half kilos of beans so I'm going to have to freeze some.

My quick question.... Do fresh beans continue to de-gas when frozen, or will the freezing process halt this?

Do I need to wait for them to de-gas and rest after thawing if I freeze them a couple of days past roast, or should I wait until they have de-gassed and rested before freezing?


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

Why not let them de-gas, and then vacuum pack them? The jury is out on freezing beans for me. I think they absorb moisture personally though others will swear it is fine. SOme say freeze them in small amounts so that you can remover a days worth etc to defrost and use in one go.


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## ronsil (Mar 8, 2012)

dfk41 said:


> Some say freeze them in small amounts so that you can remove a days worth etc to defrost and use in one go.


If I have to freeze I go with this system


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

dfk41 said:


> I think they absorb moisture personally though others will swear it is fine.


I was planning to tape over the seals and put the bagged beans in click-lock air tight Tupperware and use the fast freeze function on my freezer. I've got a frost free freezer so hopefully doing it this way should eliminate any moisture issues.



dfk41 said:


> SOme say freeze them in small amounts so that you can remover a days worth etc to defrost and use in one go.


De-gas and rest before I put them in the freezer or after I remove them though?


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## ronsil (Mar 8, 2012)

Daren said:


> De-gas and rest before I put them in the freezer?


That & fast freeze is the way I go


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

Cheers Ron. I'll give that a bash.


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## Eyedee (Sep 13, 2010)

It might be interesting to know if they actually de-gas whilst in the freezer or does the freezing process provide a suspended animation type thingy so the beans require degassing when they thaw out.

Ian


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

Eyedee said:


> It might be interesting to know if they actually de-gas whilst in the freezer or does the freezing process provide a suspended animation type thingy so the beans require degassing when they thaw out.
> 
> Ian


That was one of my original questions so I'm also interested. Does anyone know?? There must be some egg heads on here that can answer??


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## CamV6 (Feb 7, 2012)

You need to freeze beans as quickly as poss after roasting and before they de gas. I freeze beans all the time and this is a golden rule for me


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## Eyedee (Sep 13, 2010)

CamV6 said:


> You need to freeze beans as quickly as poss after roasting and before they de gas. I freeze beans all the time and this is a golden rule for me


Does this mean that they de gas once they have thawed?

Ian


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

Cam and Ron - you both have completely different views. One for de-gas, rest the freeze, the other for freeze, de-gas and rest.

There's only one way to sort this out.... FIGHT!!!

or we could do the grown up conversation thing. I'm now just as confused as when I asked the question.


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## ronsil (Mar 8, 2012)

Sorry about that but everybody does what they have found best for themselves.

I have a small purpose built blast freezer (left over from when I sold my business) which extracts heat from the product being frozen. It will freeze beans in under 5 minutes. When I tested coffee beans maybe a year or so ago I froze one lot direct from the roaster & another lot after 5 days rest. Those that had the rest period I found nearest to unfrozen beans with 5 days rest after roasting. In all cases I used my own pre-roast blend of Monsooned Malabar & an El Salvador.

To be honest for me the differences were only slight & I have just maintained the habit of freezing after rest if I need to freeze.

As in all things 'coffee' you do the thing that suits you best.


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