Storing Green Beans

[motoman]

Reading Kenneth Davids book 'Home Coffee Roasting' I have discovered to my horror that I am guilty of Green Bean Abuse. For the past couple of years I have imported beans in comparative bulk and stored them in a large plastic lidded container. I now discover that they should be taken from their 5lb plastic bags and stored in a breathable container to prevent them from getting mould or mildew. Good air circulation in a cool environment is essential and may even improve the bean.

Luckily I have a few small burlap coffee bags handy and rapidly transferred as much as posible to these, the rest is now in a cardboard box. Not the ideal solution but better than nothing. I need more of these or similar jute bags, anyone got a tame supplier?

[CakeBoy]

If your needlework skills are up to it, ou could try to scrounge a few sacks from a roastery and make some small bags. George made his own a while back

[oddlight]

Pillow cases are also ideal (thanks for tip Dave). Look for supermarket value ranges.

Otherwise, buy some very cheap material (got any old curtains?) and grab a sewing machine.

Andy

[bruceb]

I've been using paper sacks for years now. They're cheap, easy to come by and are easily disposable/replaceable.

Far be it from me to want to disagree with Kenneth Davids, but in my experience beans stored in cellophane, HB silver plastic bags, etc. don't get mouldy or mildewed. I had some Guat that had been stored for over a year in a sealed plastic bag and I took it into the lab and had it tested for mould growth. Nothing was found on it above background level, so I used it and enjoyed it.

Certainly if you are storing tonnes of beans you will need to be careful and possibly there are differences with different beans.

[CakeBoy]

Our greens seem fine in the silver bags that Steve supplies them in and some have been around over a year now. I like the look of little jute bags though

[motoman]

Reading further, and paying attention for a change, It seems that it is the softer beans that can have problems. Luckily I go for a hard bean. Secondly it it only in cold damp conditions that trouble can arise so I keep them well away from my ex wife.

The plastic tubs will be replaced by wooden wine crates from my local booze merchant, (I think I paid for his Mercedes).

[HughF]

Our greens seem fine in the silver bags that Steve supplies them in and some have been around over a year now. I like the look of little jute bags though :)

Owing to a slight mix-up, I'm now roasting the remainder of a 5lb bag of El Salvador Monte Leon Miel from 2005. It has been stored in the original ZipLoc plastic bag at room temperature all this time - maybe it would taste better if it were this year's crop but it tastes very good in a cafetiere even now.

Cheers,

Hugh

[espressomattic]

My greens from Rocket come in Brown Paper bags, although I did find some Indo RObusta that must be nealy 18 months old stored in a silver bag and no issues with them at all. Personally I am not in favour of bulk storing greens and only have a couple of kilos at a time which lasts about 4 weeks or so...sometimes...so storage for me is not really an issue.