The Benefits of a Clean Coffee Maker
You may be one of those people that doesn’t every time clean your coffee maker. Because of this you may go through quite some of them throughout the year because they keep dying on you. Most people don’t realize that they have hard water (which is more common that you think) and the resulting build up destroys coffee makers rather quickly. Other than the life of your appliance, a clean coffee maker is essential because it simply gives you better tasting coffee. This chore seems like a pain, but it can be comparatively easy if you know how to do it. You will be glad that you did.
Hard water is generally the problem with an unclean brewer. However, there can be times when coffee grounds get where they are not supposed to be, and they can clog up the tubing inside of the coffee maker. You may begin by checking where you pour your water into your maker. Do you see any grounds in the bottom? If so, you need to make sure you clean your coffee maker before you use it again. The grounds are probably stuck in the tubes. Another symptom of this is that your maker is suddenly running really slowly whereas it was normal just a couple of days before.
Otherwise, in order to get a clean coffee maker, you are going to have to clean it on your own. Some coffee makers come with a particular product that you can use to clean it. You are surely free to use that, but you can also clean your brewer with something that you probably have on your shelves that has a very affordable. Vinegar has been used for a long time and works well. This can clear out the residue from hard water, which is usually what is clogging up your machine if grounds are not to blame.
In order to get a clean coffee maker with vinegar, you can put one or two cups in with water to fill up the water reservoir.
You then just run your machine as usual. You may have to run this through once or twice to get it clean. Remember to put a clean filter in each time you run the vinegar and water through as this will catch all that has been cleaned out. You should then run plain water through a few times to make sure there is no vinegar left in your coffee maker. Once you stop finding debris in your filter, and the water stops smelling of vinegar, you are done. Your coffee will taste much better after this, and your machine will run more quickly.
Do not forget that a clean coffee maker is great, but you also have to make sure your carafe is clean, if you have a model that uses one of these. Some people believe that the coffee residue that is left in the carafe makes the coffee taste better, but in most cases it doesn’t. You can use simply hot water and detergent to clean your carafe. Use a soft brush instead of putting it into the dishwasher. Wipe the rest of the machine too with a soft cloth and mild, soapy water.
