My glass coffee container had stains in it. I remember reading somewhere that I should fill it with hot water and a denture tablet, let it sit overnight, rinse out,and the stains should come right out. Tried it and it works!
By dorothy wedenoja from New Creek, WV
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
How to clean a coffee pot?
What type of coffee pot are you trying to clean? Is it an electric coffee pot where you can not remove the pot to clean it separately. If this is the case they sell a cleaning powder to use in the coffee pot to clean it. Normally when you buy the coffee pot it comes with a few sacks of this powder and they recommend that you use it every few months to keep the pot clean.
You do not say what type of coffee pot you're using but generally all coffee pots are cleaned with the same solutions.
DIY cleaning methods generally use a mixture of water and white vinegar - ratio of 1//1 or if not cleaned in a long time you may have to start with water one part to vinegar two parts - 1/2 ratio.
Make sure coffee maker has no coffee grounds before starting.
Fill your water reservoir with water/vinegar mixture and run through a complete cycle. Wait 30-60 minutes then discard dirty water and fill reservoir with fresh water.
How do I clean coffee stains off of my coffee pot?
By Nicole Kelley from OH
Is this a pot or a coffee maker? If it is a coffee maker try vinegar and water mix, or a peroxide and water mixture. Both will work. If it is an open metal perk type pot or coffee holder then you can use a little bleach with water, but don't use bleach in a coffee maker.
Regular salt is a great stain remover. That is how commercial coffee pots are used.
I always put 2 tablespoons worth of ammonia in my pot and wash with a wash cloth, holding my face and nose away but it melts stains right off then I rinse very well with very hot water a few times to be sure the ammonia is gone and wa la! your pot is sparkling clean!
I find that the Mr. Clean sponge does the trick with hardly any elbow grease at all.
Salt and ice cubes (about 1/4 to 1/3 of a pot of ice) and you only have to swish them around for a little bit to get the job done and you're not using chemicals ;-) You can also use cut up lemons and ice cubes but lemons are rather expensive these days.
The way I clean my coffee pot etc is a breeze with either Calgon water softener or Mr clean magic cleaning pad, each is great on their own or can be used together, I soak burnt on food & oven ring spill catchers with Calgon & a little dish soap works in no time. I also use Calgon in dishwasher & washing machine, I love the "stuff"!
Does anyone have a good cleaner for coffee pots? I used Thund'r Blast from Dollar General, but they have apparently discontinued it.
Hal from Evansville, IN
CHEAPEST and non toxic. Fill coffee pot with vinegar (or half water and vinegar, but if it's been a while, full vinegar). Run through a cycle, discard vinegar (after cooled) in toilets, let sit and you've cleaned those too!
The very best thing I have ever used is CLR. I always run 5 or 6 cycles after the CLR cycle to be sure all of the remnants have been washed away. It works like magic!
If you are talking about a automatic drip coffeemaker, I've always just run vinegar through it. I put a filter in the basket and then pour about 6 cups of white vinegar in, turn on and let drip through and then pour that out and run 2 cylces of water through it.
Actually, I was talking about the glass decanters. Incidentally, you should never put vinegar in a Bunn coffee brewer, or one that has a holding tank. You will never get the vinegar out of it.
I have a Bunn and I periodically run white vinegar through it. If you do it according to manufacturer's directions, you will never have a funny taste left in your water. We have very hard water here so I find it to be very helpful to do occasionally.
I also use white vinegar to clean out just my decanter and it works great. Removes the oily coffee build up and it's cheap and always on hand.
PS I am practically your neighbor. I live in Knox Co. IN :)
I have always used vinegar to clean my coffeemaker. I pour in about 4-6 cups of vinegar. let it start to drip through and then turn off the coffeemaker. After half an hour I turn it back on and let it all drip through. I then run two cycles of water through and have no aftertaste in my next pot of coffee and my coffeemaker perks so much faster after all the scale gets cleaned out. I actually read this in a coffeemaker instruction manual years ago and have been doing it ever since. I have never had any problems with my coffeemaker afterward.
I have a Bunn coffee maker and VERY hard water. I drain all the water out of the reservoir (Be sure you unplug it while the reservoir is being drained so you don't burn out the heating element! The reservoir must have water, or vinegar, in it when it is turned on!) and fill with undiluted white vinegar. I put a regular coffee filter in the basket and add more white vinegar until it fills up the glass coffee pot with hot vinegar. I recycle the hot vinegar through the reservoir several times, using a fresh coffee filter each time to catch the gunk and sediment. I pour as much of the vinegar back into the jug as possible and use it the next few times I clean the coffee maker. I mark the jug so no one uses it for anything else. I run numerous pots of fresh water through the coffee maker to rinse out the vinegar. It does not affect the taste of the coffee or have a vinegar taste or smell.......unless you fail to rinse it well. My Bunn is quite old so I know this does not hurt the coffee maker, using straight vinegar.
fill about one quarter of the pot with ice cubes. Then pour about a half a cup of salt over the ice. Swirl the pot around with the ice and the salt for a few mins. Wash pot as usual. Looks brand new when your done. I worked in a restaurant for many years, and i know this works. Oh! do this in an EMPTY coffee pot! He-He
Thanks, everyone for all the good responses, but I am really looking for a commercially available cleaner in a spray bottle. I own an office coffee service and am looking for a cleaner that I can use "on the road". Vinegar and ice are not going to work.
I should have said that originally. Your suggestions are good for home use.
I believe you should not use chemicals to clean anything that's used to cook with or drink out of unless well and truely rinsed out. But for home use my tried and tested non toxic solution is LEMONS. Cut 1or 2 lemons up squeeze juice into kettle then add the rest of lemons in to the coffee kettle and boil to get rid off build up on your element and inside from water as the natural acids in LEMONS get rid of this, after boiling rinse and repeat if needed.
If you are looking for commercial coffee pot cleaners here are some choices. I haven't used any of these so can't recommend one:
www.discountcoffee.com/
www.amazon.com/
www.espressozone.com/
www.urnex.com/
You can use vinegar either white or apple cider and I use a filter in the brew basket when I do this. After it runs thru the first time I pour it BACK INTO THE WATER RESERvor and start it thru again but then turn it off and let it set for a while . After the pot cools down I turn it on again and let it finish brewing to blow the mineral deposits out of the lines and then run clear water thru it.
The vinegar can be bottled and used several more times but for that purpose only. At that point it can be poured down the drain.
For a sparkling caraf use a little water and table salt.
Run the coffee pot as though you are making a 10 or 12 cup pot of coffee but: don't put any coffee beans or a coffee filter in and replace the water you normally use to brew the beans with plain old vinegar that you can buy in the big containers. Dump out the vinegar brew and go through another complete cycle only just brew with WATER and no beans or filter.
Your next pot of coffee should be the best you have ever had.
:)
You can use several denture cleaning tablets in a whole pot of very hot water let sit. The tablets will do all the work. You can also use it in toilets. Good luck
When I worked in a restaurant we took the cooled pots, put in a cup of ice cubes, some salt and lemon slices and swirled it until inside came clean. Rinsed. Why that method was chosen I don't know but it worked.
I have used Bar Keepers Friend cooktop cleaner on my glass carafe. We bought the brewer used and the carafe was cloudy with heavy hard water stains. This product removed it all in minutes with just a little elbow grease. Bright and shiny as new.
When I worked at a convenance store, we used salt and ice to clean the coffee pot. It worked every time.
Tips for cleaning a coffee pot. Post your ideas.
Pour a handful of table salt into the dirty coffee pot. Use a wet sponge/dish towel to rub it around on the stains. Rinse clean.
By rajalakshmiashok
Add a cup of vinegar to the water and run it through as normal without coffee and it'll clean the inside of the machine as well. Then dump the water, rinse and wipe dry.
You can also put a handful of table salt into the dirty coffee pot, add ice and swirl it around.
If when your coffee pot is freshly emptied, you rinse it out with very hot water, you won't have to clean it as often. Then use the salt/ice method which works well with narrow necked coffee pots that you can't scrub by hand and a brush isn't very effective. But salt/ice/swirling method works very well!
I worked at a steakhouse for several years and we always cleaned our coffee pots with lemon slices, 1/2 cup of salt, and ice swished around and around and then run through the dishwasher for sterilization. They always sparkled! I always keep lemons on hand for that and freshening the garbage disposal!
Fill your pot with water. Bring it to a boil. Remove the pot to the sink. Dump about a tablespoon of Cream of Tartar in the water. Let it foam up. When the foaming subsides, return the pot to the stove & let it boil gently over medium heat for about 10 minutes.
Rinse & use.
Put some dishwasher detergent powder in pot, add hot water. Let it stand a few minutes and wash the inside with a dish cloth and it will sparkle.
Use salt put in the pot and swish around. It may take a time or two but it does work.
My coffee pot is thick with coffee residue. What can I use around my house to clean my coffee maker?
By Antoinette Bess from Cincinnati, OH
Vinegar may work. Make a pot as you would coffee with only water with 1 cup of vinegar in it. If this is at least partially successful, repeat. Rinse well and air dry. About once a month, run a vinegar cycle. This works foer me. Hope this helps.
I use 2 parts bleach and 8 parts water. Soak it overnight. Your pot should be as clean as my cups are. Good luck!
Try using some baking soda with water to make a thick paste. Use a paper towel to clean the inside of the coffee pot and then rinse.
I bought a Mr. Coffee from a Goodwill store ($3.50), but apparently they used some kind of coffee pot cleaner on it and it tastes bad. I hate that taste! Is there any way of getting rid of it? Just keep brewing water thru it?
A great way to clean a coffee pot is to brew a mix of 50% water, 50% white vinegar. Do it as many times as is necesary and that should get rid of the taste.
You have to clean this with vinegar. I use straight vinegar for my Keurig. Sometimes I have to do this twice.
Your coffee pot burner needs to cleaned from time to time. This is a page about cleaning a coffee pot burner.
This page is about cleaning a percolator. Coffee stains can be stubborn to remove from a pot.
Having a clean decanter helps keep your coffee tasting delicious. This page is about cleaning a coffee carafe.
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
I learned a neat trick for cleaning coffee pots or tea pots. Fill with crushed ice, quite a bit of salt, and a lemon slice.
I have a large aluminum party sized coffee pot. It has ugly water mark stains on the outside. It also has coffee stains on the inside. Does anyone have a solution for this?
