Cleaning The Coffee Maker
When is the last time you cleaned your coffee maker? You probably don’t remember, do you? You should clean your coffee maker at least once a month. Every time you brew coffee, debris from the beans, and hard water and lime deposits build up inside the machine.
Your coffee maker might have an indicator that tells you when it needs to be cleaned. If it does not, you should plan to clean it once a month, or more often if you use it more than average. Also, if you have particularly hard water or do not use a water softener, you should clean your coffee maker more frequently.
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How To Clean The Coffee Maker With Vinegar:
– Fill your sink with warm soapy water, wash the coffee pot, the lid, the coffee filter, and any other removable items with a soft nylon bristle brush. Use the green side of a scrubby sponge and make sure any oily residue on the coffee pot has been removed completely.
– Rinse the items with warm water to remove any soap residue and place them on the counter. Unplug the coffee maker and using a sponge to go over the exterior of the machine to remove any drips of coffee or other stains. Dry the machine with a soft clean towel.
– Fill the coffee pot 1/4 full of vinegar and then up to the top of the pot with plain cold water. On an 8 cup coffee pot, this would be 2 cups vinegar and 6 cups water, pour the vinegar and water cleaning solution into the water reservoir in the coffee maker. Reassemble all the pieces you have just washed. Put everything back in its normal place in the machine. Plugin the coffee pot and turn it on to start the brewing cycle.
– The coffee maker will go through its brewing cycle and the smell of hot vinegar will fill the air. (Open the window if this bothers you.) As the hot vinegar is brewed, the acids will work to dislodge any build-up that has occurred on the inside of the coffee maker.
– When the brewing cycle has completed, carefully pour the hot vinegar down the drain and repeat this process once more time using 2 more cups of vinegar and 6 cups of fresh cold water. After the 2nd vinegar cycle, rinse the coffee pot completely with fresh cold water and fill the water reservoir with clean cold water only. Run the clean water through the coffee maker in a brewing cycle. When the clean water cycle is finished you can do a sniff test to see if any vinegar remains. It should be gone, but you can run another cycle with fresh water if you want to be extra careful.
Removing Hard Water Spots:
If you live in an area with hard water, white spots accumulate in your coffee maker from high mineral content naturally present in the water, which can eventually cause your machine to run slower and your coffee has a different taste.
Vinegar will dissolve mineral spots, but you can also use denture tabs;
Just drop two tablets in the coffee pot and fill with water, let the tabs fizzle out then pour in the reservoir. Put a filter in the basket and run a cycle through the coffee maker and run two more cycles using plain water.
