Cleaning a Drip Coffee Maker

Having a fresh cup of coffee in the morning is a great way to start the day. Keeping your coffee maker clean will ensure you have the best tasting brew possible. This is a guide to saving money on cleaning a drip coffee maker.

Solutions: Cleaning a Drip Coffee Maker

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Spray Vinegar to Clean Your Coffee Maker

A fourth a cup of white vinegar in a spray bottle filled the rest of the way with water is great for a quick clean up for coffee makers. Just spray and rinse. It is cheaper than using window cleaner and since I use my coffee maker for both making coffee and brewing tea daily. I like that it does a good job on removing their respective smells.

Also, spray it in the bottom of glasses with a milk ring and let it sit for a few minutes. You won't have to scrub it.

Source: God gets the credit for this inspiration.

By Ann from Saint Peters, MO

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Clean Your Coffee Maker With Vinegar

Cleaning your drip coffee maker is important to keep bacteria from growing and it will ensure that your coffee tastes good. Vinegar is a safe, natural way to clean and disinfect your coffee maker. Try this method every 2-4 weeks:

Use a 2:1 ratio of water to distilled vinegar. Mix two cups of water with one cup of vinegar.
Pour the mixture into the water chamber.
Place the carafe into the coffee maker catch the liquid.
Turn on the coffee maker.
Once the water chamber is empty, allow the liquid to cool before pouring it out.
Fill the water chamber with clean water, and run the coffee maker again.
Repeat this process, with a fresh water/vinegar mix, a few times if the coffee maker hasn't been cleaned in awhile.
Wash the carafe and any plastic parts with a mild soap and water, rinse.

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Questions

Here are questions related to Cleaning a Drip Coffee Maker.

Cleaning a Coffee Maker

Is there any good way to clean a coffee-maker, besides vinegar? I have used this and it no longer works.

By meme7_2000

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Strong Vinegar Mix

By louel5308/20/2010

If vinegar no longer works, lemon juice won't either. They are about the same acidity. Baking soda is not going to get rid of the shale buildup. Wrong chemical reaction for that. I would suggest that you try full strength vinegar in the coffee pot. If the thing isn't working, this isn't going to make it any worse. You may just have a particularly heavy build up of lime. I am assuming that you use about a 1/3 vinegar, 2/3 water mix to clean, as that is what I am supposed to use in my machine. If full strength vinegar doesn't work, and try it a couple of times through, try CLR. That is an even stronger acid.

Baking Soda and Lemon Juice

By CaressaK08/16/2010

I found this site that has many home-made remedies for cleaning.

Baking Soda

Baking soda is another natural, non-toxic cleaning ingredient that does wonders for cleaning a coffeepot among other things. Baking soda is a natural abrasive so it can be used to scrub off stubborn stains and residue similar to the way you'd use Comet or Ajax scrubbing powder.

Sprinkle a bit of baking soda on and around the inside of your coffeepot, then moisten it with water and scrub lightly with a clean moist cloth. Add more baking soda and water as needed until the stains are gone, then rinse thoroughly with clear water.

Lemon Juice

Lemon juice is a natural source of citric acid, and that is also a non-toxic cleaning and disinfecting substance that's easy to use for cleaning a coffeepot. Add a few tablespoons of pure lemon juice to a coffeepot filled with water, then pour that into the coffeemaker reservoir and run the brewing cycle without any coffee grounds in the basket. Run a second brew cycle with plain water to rinse the system fully before using it to make coffee again.

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Cleaning a Coffee Maker

Fill reservoir with 1 pint (473mL) white vinegar and enough extra water to fill the reservoir. Turn on Coffee Maker. Let it brew 1 cup of water/vinegar solution, then turn off coffee maker. Let it stand for 1/2 hour, then turn coffee maker back on. When finished brewing, rinse pot, then fill reservoir with water and let it brew the hot water. I usually do this twice. Better than commercial coffee maker cleaners.

By Kathy

Vinegar

I have been doing this for years & it works great. My husband happen to see me doing it the other day & almost had a fit. I told him I had been doing it for (15) years to HIS coffeemaker & obviously the vinegar doesn't leave a taste or smell behind, because he never mentioned it before. Vinegar is a good thing!

By FrugalFriend

Vinegar

Vinegar works well, too. If you can't stand the smell of the vinegar, just wash the pot out thoroughly afterwards, or dilute the vinegar to a solution of half water, half vinegar. But frankly, I believe that despite the cost, those grocery store coffee pot cleaners are really more effective. They are designed to be able to dissolve hard water and mineral stains in a way that no ordinary household product can. Another trick that I learned from my mother, is to wipe off the spout that the coffee comes through every time you use the coffee pot. It makes a big difference, and you can see the results when you do a heavy duty cleaning!

By skbeal

Cleaning a Stovetop Coffee Maker

What is the proper way to clean a stovetop coffee maker? I believe that it is recommended to simply rinse it with hot water everytime after you use it and let it dry so that the coffee maker gets conditioned by the coffee? The reason I'm asking is that I used to do this all along, but it seems that my coffee maker is getting some black stuff build up on the bottom that looks like mold.

Zonester from Vancouver

Soap and Water

I've been making coffee on the stove in a percolator for 53 years and the best way to clean something is soap and water. Wash it out really good and rinse. The black stuff you're seeing is old coffee oil and it will taste stale after awhile if left in the pot. There's nothing like a fresh brewed pot of good coffee and a clean pot gives you the real taste of coffee. I also like to put a little baking soda in my pot and wipe it around, then rinse good when I don't have time for a real washing. This works wonders.

By Louise