If you’re like most people, your coffee maker probably sees nearly daily use. Of course, that means you want to make sure you’re working with a clean coffee maker each morning. Vinegar is a popular solution but not everyone wants to deal with the vinegar odor. Luckily, you have options on how to clean coffee maker without vinegar.
What Can You Use Instead of Vinegar to Clean a Coffee Maker?
As we covered, you don’t have to break out the vinegar if you want a clean coffee pot. To clean a coffee maker without vinegar, you can reach into your cabinets and grab baking soda, lemon juice, hydrogen peroxide, or even alcohol to get your drip coffee maker looking just like new.
What You’ll Need to Clean a Coffee Maker with Baking Soda:
- Your coffee maker
- Clean, warm water
- You’ll need enough water to both make your baking soda solution and enough to run your coffee maker through a few cycles of only water as well.
- A fourth of a cup of baking soda
How to Clean a Coffee Maker with Baking Soda
Step 1: Create a Baking Soda Solution
Before you jump right into cleaning your coffee maker, you’ll want to make a cleaning solution with baking soda. For this, you’ll just need some water and baking soda.
To create this solution, you’ll want to grab a fourth of a cup of baking soda and one cup of water. This won’t quite be as thick as the baking soda paste you might make to clean surfaces in your home. This way, it can pass through your coffee machine.
Step 2: Add It to Your Coffee Maker and Run
Once you have the baking soda solution made, all you have to do is add it to your coffee maker. To effectively clean your coffee maker, add the solution to the reservoir section of the machine.
From here, you’ll want to run the machine as you usually would just skip out on adding the coffee this time. Run the machine a few times with the solution in place.
Step 3: Rinse Your Coffee Maker with Additional Cycles
Finally, now that you’ve gotten all the coffee residue out of your coffee machine, you’ll want to get rid of any baking soda residue before you brew your next coffee pot.
You’re going to follow the same steps we covered but this time, only fill the reservoir of your coffee maker with clean water. Run the machine two to three times with cycles of only clean water. Once this is done, it’s a good idea to rinse out the coffee carafe well.
How to Clean Your Coffee Maker with Lemon Juice
Step 1: Create a Lemon Juice Solution
You don’t need to fill your coffee maker with straight lemon juice for this method. Instead, make a mixture of equal parts lemon juice and water.
Step 2: Run the Coffee Maker with the Mixture
Once you have this mixture ready, add it to the water reservoir of the coffee maker and run the machine. Again, you’ll want to skip the coffee grounds with the lemon juice.
Step 3: Rinse the Machine
Now, run the coffee maker with just water in the reservoir. Since lemon juice is perfectly safe, you can taste it after each cycle. If you still taste lemon juice in the water, run it with water again until the taste is gone.
How to Clean Your Coffee Maker with Liquid Dish Soap
Step 1: Disassemble the Coffee Maker
This time, you won’t want to run your coffee maker with soapy water. So, for this step, you’ll want to start by taking all the functional and housing pieces in your coffee maker out.
Step 2: Wash the Coffee Maker
With it disassembled, it’ll be much easier to clean the coffee maker just like you would any other dish. You can use standard dish soap and water to clean the components of the coffee maker.
Step 3: Rinse and Repair
Rinse the components of your coffee maker well. The last thing that you want is soapy water in your coffee! Then, reassemble it and run a cycle of just water through the coffee maker before making a fresh pot.
How to Clean Your Coffee Maker with Alcohol or Hydrogen Peroxide
Step 1: Grab Your Cleaning Supplies
If you have some hydrogen peroxide lying around, you can use it as an inexpensive option to clean your coffee maker. In a pinch, you can substitute hydrogen peroxide for alcohol like isopropyl alcohol or something food-grade like vodka.
Step 2: Add it to the Coffee Maker
Add a cup of your alcohol or hydrogen peroxide to the reservoir of your coffee maker. Then, fill the reservoir the rest of the way with fresh water and run the coffee maker.
Step 3: Rinse the Coffee Machine
Finally, you’ll want to run a few rounds of just water through your coffee maker. This will get rid of any residue that could leave an off flavor in your next pot.
Is Vinegar or Baking Soda Better for Cleaning a Coffee Maker?
Vinegar and baking soda will both get your coffee maker cleaned but sodium chloride is often favored for particularly stubborn smells and stains. Baking soda may also clump in the coffee maker but using the proper ratio discussed earlier can help this.
One major benefit that baking soda has over vinegar is that it doesn’t have such a lingering and strong odor. It also doesn’t pose the risk of damage.
Does Vinegar Damage a Coffee Maker?
While vinegar is great for descaling and cleaning a coffee machine, you might run into a problem over time. If you use it often enough, vinegar can start to wear down some of the internal pieces within coffee makers. Rubber seals and gaskets, for instance, are easily worn with sodium chloride.
To avoid this, many turn to clean their coffee maker without vinegar.
How Do You Descale a Coffee Maker Without Chemicals?
There are quite a few different ways that you can descale your coffee machine. Plenty of them off you that option without harsh materials or chemicals.
Here, the harshest option we’ve looked at is hydrogen peroxide. However, lemon juice, baking soda, dish soap, and even vinegar will offer you gentler cleaning options.
What Happens if You Don’t Clean Your Coffee Maker?
Just like any other dish in your home, you need to clean your coffee maker to avoid problems such as stains, mold growth, and more. If you want the freshest cup of coffee you can get in the morning, it’s best to have a clean coffee maker when you wake up.
The good news is with methods like these, it doesn’t take long to regularly clean your coffee machine.
Did you like our guide? With these tips, you’ll wake up each morning to a fresh cup of joe. If you like these coffee maker cleaning methods, make sure to let us know in the comments and share this article with a coffee-loving friend!
