There is no doubt that Keurig machines are the most commonly used Coffee makers in USA. Like any utility equipment, they too need regular maintenance and cleaning, if only to ensure that your cup of coffee retains its aromatic flavor. Although Keurig manufacturer tweaked their machines to only brew specially branded and licensed coffee pods, fortunately, the cleaning process was not changed much. Keurig machines will naturally accumulate calcium carbonate, calcium or lime scale over time. These could compromise your coffee cup quality or even stall the machine in time. Calcium carbonate should be removed since it could compromise the heating element of the machine.
Procedure and Agents for Cleaning Keurig 2.0
One of the common cleaning agents used in the cleaning of Keurig machines is vinegar. In particular, it is the acetic acid inherent in vinegar that has the active cleaning properties. Here are the simple and effective practical steps for cleaning Keurig 2.0.
- Involves preparing your Keurig brewer for the cleaning process. You should remove k-cup packs and pods placed in the brewer.
- If your machine has water filler, remove it and poor any water in the machine reservoir into the sink or other appropriate place.
- Turn on your brewer and switch off the automatic heating control system since you will need to have in on for up to four hours during the descaling.
- Now, poor some white distilled vinegar into the brewer reservoir chamber. Get creative here so you don’t spill the vinegar into other parts of the machine or waste it. You could possibly use a measuring cup with a pouring spout. The volume of vinegar you use depends on the size of your brewer and the level of accumulation of the unwanted elements. However, in general, you need about 1.4 liters of the vinegar solution per descaling process.
- Put a large ceramic mug below the spout
- Start brewing water so as to allow the vinegar to keep cleaning your Machine over several cycles. Keep pouring away the vinegar that fills the ceramic mug. Repeat this until your machine signals that you should add water.
- Let the little remaining vinegar stay in the reservoir for another 4 hours. You can keep track of this time span by using the brewer timer.
- Take out the water reservoir from the machine
- Pour away the vinegar remaining in the machine.
- Turn on the water tap and start rinsing the water reservoir for about 30 seconds.
- Refill the reservoir with cold water from the tap.
- Repeat the water brewing cycle until the screen prompts you to add water.
- Clean the reservoir with water once more and put the water filler back in its place
- Your Keurig 2.0 brewer is ready for a fresh round of brewing. Fill the reservoir with clean water and start your coffee cup brewing yet again
Note that you need to set a regular schedule for cleaning keurig 2.0 coffee brewers. The recommended period is every 3 months after usage; if it is put to use frequently, and 6 months if you use it lightly.
