God stuff Andrew & Challengeme,
please share more about getting into home roasting!
i agree about the quick death (staleness) of coffee after opening or grinding and would suggest what i use to put it off a bit (good coffee ain't cheap)
i use the round canisters to store both my fresh beans and freshly ground.
i used to try and only grind enough for what i was using that day but I've found that if i vacuum seal it right away there is little to no noticeable difference if used within a few days.
http://www.foodsaver.com/Category.aspx?id=c&cid=89
I started out with a small roaster with a minimal investment. It took me a while to learn how to get good results, but once I figured it out, I was hooked on home roasting. After I got to the point where I was roasting for about 4 hours/week, I decided to step up to a bigger roaster. The bigger one has yielded much more consistent results as well as cutting my roasting times quite a bit.
Fresh roasting makes a giant difference, but proper grinding is the next important issue. The less expensive whirly grinders and low-end burr grinders really don't cut it. They result in granuals of different sizes and some powder sized granuals of which result in bitterness.
A good quality burr grinder (they start at about $150 and go into the thousands) produce consistently sized granuals and no powder.
I did tons of research on all of this and didn't believe the grinder thing until I upgraded my whirly grinder to a good one - GIANT DIFFERENCE.
When I bring coffee to work, people fight over it ...
Check out
www.sweetmarias.com for great info on home roasting.
