Coffee is the liquid antidote to an early morning. My morning cup of Cinnamon Pastry coffee (I know, you want one) would not be possible without my Keurig coffeemaker. My husband and I received our Keurig as a gift three years ago, and we’ve loved it ever since.

A Keurig, Tassimo, or Nespresso all get cleaned more or less the same way, but check your owner’s manual for specific instructions. While it might seem daunting at first to take apart all these pieces, it’s an easy process. Also, some of the parts are dishwasher safe, which makes our job even easier.

Required Products & Tools

  • Dish liquid
  • Cleaning toothbrush
  • Microfiber cloth
  • All-purpose cleaner
  • Pure white vinegar

When looking for the best cleaning tools, check out Maker’s Clean Products. They provide the best microfiber cloths for all your cleaning needs!

Getting Started

Always remember to unplug! Then, take the machine apart. Remove the reservoir and lid, drip tray and its cover, and the K-Cup holder and funnel (be careful—there’s a sharp needle attached to this!). These two pieces may be carefully separated, but I usually leave mine together for the cleaning process.

Wash Up Time

The reservoir, drip tray and its cover, and the holder and funnel may be washed in the dishwasher (note! Do not put the reservoir lid in the dishwasher). Alternately, place them in a sink filled with hot water and about 1 teaspoon of dish liquid. Let them soak 15 minutes, then rinse well and towel dry.

Clean Machine

While the parts are washing or soaking, take a (clean) cleaning toothbrush and gently brush out any stuck coffee grinds in the K-Cup holder. While you’re in there, use a damp cloth to remove any build-up. Finish the job by wiping the exterior with a cloth dampened with all-purpose cleaner.

If you notice any limescale deposits (white crusty buildup), simply soak a part of your cloth in white vinegar, apply it to the affected area, and let soak for a few minutes. Wipe again and you’ll see the white marks disappear before your eyes. Finish up by re-assembling the Keurig.

White Vinegar Strikes Again

It is so important to descale, because limescale will build up on the heating elements and inside the machine’s tubing. But this part is easy—you just run a de-scaling brew. Nothing is more exciting than a steamy, hot cup o’ vinegar!

Fill the reservoir halfway with white vinegar. Brew “beverages” with no K-cup in the holder until the vinegar runs out, to clean the reservoir and tubing. The vinegar will break down the calcium deposits.

Remove the reservoir and rinse well, then refill it with water and run more beverages until the vinegar is flushed out completely. (You’ll know you’re done when there’s no more vinegar smell.)

If you’re looking for more vinegar hacks then we’ve got you covered. Here’s our article 5 Clever Vinegar Hacks!

That’s it—the straightforward and simple way to keep your Keurig machine clean and running.

3 More Things You Should Know!

If you are going away for over a week, don’t leave water in the reservoir. It’ll evaporate and leave mineral deposits behind that will clog the system.

If you brew something sticky like a hot chocolate or iced tea, run a cleansing brew of just water and no K-Cup after you’ve made your drink. This will rinse out any sugar crystals that would otherwise create a blockage.

Use distilled water. They suggest this because regular tap water contains calcium and other minerals that can leave deposits in the reservoir and machine over time. If you don’t use distilled water, you will have to clean it more often to keep it going strong.

If you found this helpful please share it on Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook, it really helps us out.

Let us know about your coffee maker cleaning experiences or questions.  Thanks for checking this out!

See our E-Book Bundle to take your cleaning game to the next level! It gives you our top 3 e-books (Melissa Maker’s 3 Wave Cleaning System, 50 DIY Cleaning Recipes, The Complete Guide to Essential Oils) and will give you the perfect start to a fresher and cleaner home!

AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE: As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases on amazon.com.

Looking for a BETTER & EASIER Way to Clean Your Home?

Cleaning Expert Melissa Maker is here to help with her game-changing 3 Wave Cleaning System that will help you clean your house faster and easier than you ever thought possible!

Learn More About The 3 Wave Cleaning System

Melissa Maker
Melissa Maker is an entrepreneur, cleaning expert, founder of Toronto’s most popular boutique cleaning service, and star of the Clean My Space channel on YouTube (but she still hates to clean!). Every week, Melissa delivers new videos dishing expert advice on cleaning products, tools, DIY substitutes, and practical, timesaving solutions to everyday problems. Melissa has appeared on the Today Show, and has been featured in InStyle, Real Simple, and Better Homes and Gardens.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

329 COMMENTS

  4. Great info about the cleaning of coffee machines. Thank you for sharing this article. Such quality content always helps the people getting valuable knowledge. I would like to mention that I have shared useful tips and info for cleaning of coffee makers in the mentioned site.

  5. I was very confused as to how to clean my coffee maker, but your amazing article made it possible. I had a lot of fun with these easy tips cleaning the coffee maker as soon as possible. Thank you for sharing this informative content with us.

  9. Thanks for mentioning that it’s important to unplug the machine before starting to clean it. At my work there’s been some talk about getting a Keurig for the break room because it’s something the employees have been asking about for a while. I’m glad I read your article because I hadn’t really thought about the proper way to clean the machine, but I can see how that’s an important thing to know!

  14. common sense people,after reading all the comments i believe that in some cases the vinegar loosens build up and then it clogs up further in the system because it cant thoroughly do the job. this probably happens in machines that are the most in need of cleaning. it is also my opinion that vinegar isnt nearly as effective as keurig descaling solution seeing how the solution has >50% Citric Acid

    That means that more than half the solution is made up of citric acid. It’s a great cleaning agent that comes from nature, so you can feel comfortable using this cleaning your Keurig.
    <3% Silicic Acid.

    Less than 3% of the solution is silicic acid. Silicic acid is “a weakly acidic colloidal hydrated form of silica made by acidifying solutions of alkali metal silicates.” This is a stabilizing agent.
    <5% Phosphates and Bleaching Agents.

    Phosphates are salts containing phosphorus and other compounds. Phosphorus is a naturally occurring compound. These are cleaning agents included in the descaling solution. and as far as using the dishwasher to clean any plastic parts,just dont take the chance,these things are way too expensive to take the chance on warping parts so bad they cant be used anymore !! oh yeah,if you taste vinegar after using it to clean your kuerig go get the descaling solution and use it as instructed.

  15. Old on people- Melissa- you are completely wrong about the water reservoir an lid being dishwasher safe.
    Read it again-
    It clearly says- NOT dishwasher safe.
    Your message could cause people to ruin their expensive coffee maker.

  16. As I quickly learned after using vinegar for the first time and googling the words “vinegar taste” is that it may NOT be possible to get rid of the taste. I’ve run through 25 times and still heavy vinegar taste.
    Otherwise I love the Keurig but I use those $2.00 Cafe Cups that are refillable. Work great, easy to clean under faucet and I can use ANY coffee.

    • Tell her to SAVE MONEY and just heat water in a beautiful tea kettle on the stove. Make sure you buy one that whistles when the water is boiling so you don’t forget about it and ruin the kettle or worse yet, burn your house down! Yea bags are SO MUCH CHEAPER, AND there are uses for the used tea bags! Great for composting & certainly don’t fill landfills!

  20. Cleaning it this way you are missing the fact that the vinegar should sit in the machine for at least 12 hours after you run a couple of cups through the brew cycle. Read the Keurig manual people. It takes more than 15 minutes.

  21. I’ve always cleaned my Keurig with vinegar but hadn’t put any parts in the dishwasher before so thought this sounded great! Until I removed my sparking clean, melted and warped water resevoir from the dishwasher afterwards. Maybe only “top rack safe”?, however most top racks aren’t low enough to accomodate such a large item. Anyway, use this tip with caution.

  22. I’ve always cleaned my Keurig with vinegar but hadn’t put any parts in the dishwasher before so thought this sounded great! Until I removed my sparking clean, melted water resevoir from the dishwasher that is! Maybe only “top rack safe”?, however most top racks aren’t low enough to accomodate such a large item/ Anyway, use this tip with caution. I am now on the hunt for a replacement water resevoir 🙁

  23. We would never use distilled water as it has such a “flat” taste. Instead, We simply use either our Britta water filter or from the frig dispenser as both are filtered. Some Keurig units also have filters that need replacing periodically. Lastly, inside that removable cup holder is that “needle” you mentioned. One should unfold a small paper clip and insert it from the bottom to the top of the needle since it’s a small hollow tube. This can serve to remove any built-up deposits of coffee dust or debris. This needle is the one that punches those holes in the K-cups. Then follow the rest of Melissa’s instructions.

  24. Best thing to do with a Keurig is to throw it away! Those little K cups are killing our environment and the cost is astronomical!

    • AMEN to that! Unless of course you use a reusable one which my husband always did. He did because the K-cups are outrageously expensive! Coffee has gotten outrageously expensive as it is, then put it in a fancy little single serving cup?!?! No thanks! We’re back to using our coffee maker and if we just want one cup of coffee, that’s all we make! Duh!

  26. I have a Keurig that is a single cup only so the water reservoir is not detachable. Are you familiar with best way to clean those?

  28. Great video lots of helpful hints. One thing you might want to add after you’ve cleaned your Keurig is if your dispensary is getting slow and not filling up your cup, you’ll need to burp your Keurig. After you have disassembled hold your Keurig upside down and slap the bottom. Don’t be shy, this machine is tough. Put it back together after cleaning and you’ll be back to a full steady stream of coffee in your cup!

  30. Never ever tell anyone to use distilled water for drinking. It has all the minerals stripped from it. Minerals we need. Read the distilled water bottle it says right on it not for human consumption. People have died from drinking distilled water.

    • Completely untrue. I made all of my kids’ formulas with distilled water, on the specific instructions of the pediatrician. They all grew up just fine.

      • You are both about as right as the other.

        Theresa,
        What Mine2kno said is not “completely untrue”. It is true that you should not drink distilled water regularly. It will dilute your body and cause mineral imbalances. In your case, you added minerals and other good things in the formula you made. Your pediatrician simply wanted you to start with a pure substance so that you have no issue with contamination.

    • You are both about as right as the other.

      Mine2kno,
      Yes, it is true that you should not drink distilled water regularly. It dilutes your system because there are no minerals, like you mentioned. However, that only occurs when you are drinking only distilled water and not when you are adding things to it. Also, most people do not drink *only* coffee with distilled water.

  32. It was time for me to clean my Keurig so I watched your video. Very very disappointed after I took my carafe out of the dishwasher and it was warped. You said it was dishwasher safe and evidently it is not.

  34. Worked for me with my KEURIG ONLY USE DISTILLED water since day one use a lot of vineger in this house and Thanks for all your tips.

  37. Great instructions. Thanks!! I use white vinegar on EVERYTHING for cleaning mixed with a little bit [2 tsp] of dish soap and R.O. water Vinegar to water ratio is 2:1. Strong, yes. Stinky, yes. Effective, YES!! I live in AZ and we have incredibly hard water so it’s a necessity!! [R.O. water for those who do not know is Reverse Osmosis water. Dasani, etc is R.O. water {Brita is NOT}] I also use R.O. water when making my coffee, not Distilled as I think that the Distilled gives it a ‘flat’ taste. But maybe that’s just me. 🙂 Love your blog!!

  44. Where I live we have a lot of bugs and one got into the reservoir, unnoticed until after brewing a cup of coffee. Cleaned the reservoir but is it OK to run some soapy water through the machine?

    Thanks

  45. Great info! Way better than buying the expensive descaling cleaner that Keurig sells for $13.00-$17.00 per bottle of 12 ounces.

  48. Thank you for your information and how to – it was great. I did clean my machine one evening last week and didn’t use it again until Saturday morning. I usually only use it on weekends I just drink the office coffee during the week. Anyway, back to my Keurig — I went to brew my first cup of the day, when nothing. I could hear something so after taking it apart and putting it back together I unplugged it and plugged it in and it brewed coffee, phew. I am not sure what it did or didn’t do.

  49. mine is very loud when it loads the water. also doesnt always make a full cup usually on the first cup of the day. i have done a cleaning with vinager twice. the first time i did not let it sit. the second time i let it sit for 4 hours it still says descale and is still loud and also the first cup is always really weird. what do i need to do?

  50. Thanks for video. One thing though, the reservoir also says that it is not dishwasher safe. Have you had any issues after washing it?

  52. Okay, hanging my head in shame her because I’ve had my Keurig for a couple of years and have never descaled it. Now it won’t work!!! I’ve tried your cleaning method and the darn thing won’t even “brew” vinegar!!!! Any suggestions? I’m thinking about taking the whole machine apart!!!!

  53. Great advice on cleaning the keurig. Can this be done on some of the new keurig brewers ? They suggest buying their solution for descaling.

  61. I’d descaled once before following your instructions, and today I went to do it without looking back to this. I mixed Vinegar and water…wondered why it wasn’t working too well. Then I returned here and read just vinegar, and it’s working like a dream. Thanks 🙂

  62. Hi Melissa , I didnt know about cleaning it until a friend said she needed to pick up vinegar to clean hers. i looked it up and found you. i followed your instructions and my working perfectly fine Keurig stopped working in the middle og the process.What happened? Stumpped ! Now I have a none working Keurig that I was ttrying to keep longer by cleaning it. Help

  66. Thanks for the tip about the curdled milk. After running clean water through several times I would pour a little milk into the cup of water and would know right away if I needed to keep rinsing or not. Great tip!

  67. Sooo I kinda have the version that you have in this video only its black with silver buttons only and the power button is black and small. Do you know if it is supposed to brew acting as one drop deposit or is it supposed to be 4 different diposits. Cause just cleaned it a lot and it’s now doing that again? Is what I’m asking really.

  68. GREAT video. I do recommend though taking the funnel apart every couple of cleanings coffee build upcan alter taste of teas and such. Thank you for doing this video.

  73. This morning we used the extra cup for other coffee without the top and now I have a mess in my keurig. How do I clean all of that out?

  74. This was a great video! I got my Keurig last Christmas and since I was just putting clean water in it I didn’t think about cleaning it for quite a while until my housekeeper was telling me how to take it apart to clean! So at least I took the reservoir off and cleaned that (which unfortunately had stuff growing in it – YUCK!) but I didn’t clean the other part like your video shows! You may it look really easy. I am on the way to the store for some white vinegar to clean the whole thing better than I did last time!! What a great job you did in both the video for those of us who need to see it and the written instructions for those of us who need to read it also!! Thanks so much!!

  75. We are having a debate here in the office about replacing the filters. Do we have to replace the filters ever so often and if so, why? If we are using distilled water do we have to change them?

  81. After cleaning mine, I ran a cup of coffee; when I added my fat free milk it appeared that the milk started to “separate”(?) so I emptied the cup and was shocked to see a huge wad of tan GUNK at the bottom of the cup. Any idea what this was? the second cup seemed to be fine.

  82. Good afternoon
    I have cleaned my keurig and ran its cup of white vinegar but, it won’t run the second cup; it doesn’t even suck in the water into the machine to make a cup….what do I do now?

    Gretchen

  83. Love the video! It didn’t show you taking out the filter tho from the reservoir? That can not go in the dishwasher I am assuming. I don’t have a dishwasher but was curious. I left water in mine for a couple of weeks and went to clean it today but looked like the reservoir possibly had a little mold/mildew in it at the top where there was not any water, but, I’m wondering if there maybe in the filter even tho that was in water or if running it thru vinegar will be ok… Thank you!

  84. thank-you Melissa,I’ve only used THE Company cleaning fluid. I’m going to try vinegar. Your instructions are clear and concise. I’m looking forward to much less noise from my Keurig. 🙂

  85. Dear Melissa, I have had my Keurig since Dec. 2011. I have never had the descale light come on. So I think using flirted water is fine if someone doesn’t want to go to the trouble of not wanting to buy distilled water. I did experience my machine slowing down on brewing the amount of cup I was getting so the cleaning is right on the mark. I your cleaning reservoir I found helpful because I didn’t know it could be washed, I cleaned it with vinegar. Thanks. Debbie McCarty. Keurig Lover Grandmother of 5 boys.

  87. I can’t get rid of the vinegar taste and I have rinsed it out with water over and over again. Any advice?

  88. just to add! IF you’re a snowbird and leave you’re home or cabin where it freezes – remove ur maker or “store” @ a neighbor! It can’t afford to freeze!

  90. Thanks so much, I thought I would gave to buy a new coffee maker after mine wouldn’t work this morning! Going to clean it now!

  91. I ran vinegar in my machine last night and this morning I still had vinegar in my coffee. I also ran 2 whole tanks of water through my machine. Is there something i can add to the water or do to push the vinegar through the system?

  92. Hi. Tried to clean my reservoir with vinegar now it is all sticky. The more I rubbed it the bigger the sticky stuff spread. How do I get it off?

  94. Has anyone ever had problems with little white bugs under the water reservoir? I have to keep my Keurig off at all times or else these bugs show up and turn into thousands. My house is extremely clean, regular exterminator and I have no problem with any other insects so I am puzzled as to where they come from. Grosses me out, I no longer drink coffee from the Keurig but clean it daily for my husband. :-/

  95. Hi Melissa, The video was very helpful, but I have a different problem and I’m hoping you can help. I noticed I have algae growing in the water reservoir of my Keurig. I looked online and it seems I’m not the only one with this problem. I use my Keurig almost every day, so it’s never without water in it. It’s pretty hard to clean, some of the areas of small and difficult to get to. Any suggestions on how to clean or prevent this problem? Thanks!

  97. What about if the water is heating but not pumping out? We have a mini and this am it wouldn’t pump….WITHDRAWELs…I need it to work! LOL

  98. I’ve cleaned my Keurig many many, many times after seeing this post long ago and in my spring cleaning motivation I jumped on this task again today as I would be wiping down my cabinets anyway… long boring time in the kitchen that those standing breaks would be nice for and for the first time noticed as I was loading the dishwasher that the bottom of the reservoir is also stamped with the NOT dishwasher safe as the lid. Eeeeek! I’ve done it MANY times and assume the lid was to protect the stainless steel look of it but never noticed the bottom of the water unit. I guess it’s too late now to not do it, but I’ll resort to hand cleaning and soaking from now on. Can’t risk that baby not failing on me.

  99. The reason I feel it is so important to clean your Keurig Coffee machine properly is because I after two years of faithfully using our Keurig, to my dismay it broke. I was so upset. I couldn’t believe my favorite coffee maker broke. I thought, oh great. Now we were going to have spend a few hundred dollars to replace it. I knew we were out of the one year warrantee period and there was no way it would be covered.

  101. […] Although every single drink that can be done by a Keurig machine come in pods or even K-cups, the sugar and other “debris” prevenient from the substance (coffee, hot chocolate, tea and others) make your Keurig machine dirtier and dirtier, each passing day. If hard water and other dirt such as coffee grinds and sugars continue to take up space in your Keurig machine then it is finally time to clean it up!for more details, visit the original source. […]

  104. Thank you for your easy and clear cut directions for cleaning my Keurig! I am happy that I don’t have to spend a bunch of money on the products Keurig says I must use. Vinegar strikes again is a perfect way to put it..it is the do it all liquid! Your help is much appreciated 🙂

  105. Thanks Melissa! This video was really helpful. If you want to make your Keurig last longer, proper cleaning is not an option, is mandatory. Good reminder 🙂

  106. Another little trick I use to stop the top needle plugging up. The k-cups have pressure in them and the top needle punctures first allowing that pressure to blow coffee grounds into the needle & plugging it up, then you have to use the paper clip to clean it out. When I replaced my old machine I kept the cup part & push the k-cup into it first to poke a hole in the bottom thus relieving the pressure. Then I just transfer the cup to the machine. This eliminates that problem. Just adds 2 seconds to the routine.

  107. I helped my daughter clean her keriug. I used a pipe cleaner an twisted it up into the sharp needle thing. Even after the vinegar running through the pipe cleaner came out cruddy. So i kept putting pipe cleaner in an then cut off dirty part an clean again. I also used the pipe cleaner trick where the water goes from the reservoir into the brewer. It came out grungy. Probably mineral or lime deposits that the vinegar can’t break through.
    I have a mini keurig so when I got home I tried the pipe cleaner trick on mine to.

  108. Muti-tasking (cleaning) – while running the vinegar through my Keurig, I put baking soda into my sink drain and watch it foam away with every cup of hot vinegar I pour down!

  109. Great video on cleaning my Keurig. I really didn’t want to purchase the cleaning solution & figured there had to be another way to clean it. I figured it would be vinegar and you had the solution. I’ll be back to visit again!

  110. My mini one took a long time to get going again!!! DAYS!! i had to keep trying to brew… but eventually the white vinegar worked in the line.. heating up over days… i used ONLY poland Springs in it an had the same issue.. so, go with the distilled water.

  112. Melissa,
    Thanks! I’ve had my Keurig (same one in your video) for 5 months now and have used it for everything (coffee most of all of course) and have noticed the “gunk” in the area where the K Cups go. I love the thing so much I was afraid to attempt any cleaning. I googled this morning “How to clean your Keuring” and downloaded and printed all I could find ……… then I found your YouTube on the process. You took away any fear I may break my newest and bestest buddy and am going to clean it tonight.
    thanks again
    jim moncrief

  115. […] Melissa Maker @ Clean My Space shares a quick and easy method of cleaning your expensive Keurig coffee makers with a toothbrush, vinegar, dish soap, and a microfiber cloth. Most of the machine can be cleaned in your dishwasher, with minimal manual labor involved. […]

  117. Hey I found your video helpful and have done this process on my Keurig, however, the instructions on line from Keurig say to NOT use distilled water, to use filtered water, either from tap or bottled water that was not filtered using reverse osmosis. I had always used distilled water, thinking it would be best. The Keurig instructions also say to stop the process in the brewing of the first cup of vinegar and let it sit for at least 30 mins. I have had to replace two Keurig Special Editions and had always done the same process you r video used, but think I will try stopping the process the first time I do the due scaling on my new one. Thanks for sharing…what are your thoughts?

  118. Thanks for this lovely tutorial Melissa.

    I used vinegar once but the coffee started tasting awful so any other alternatives that you would recommend?

  120. Cleaning the tank out isn’t necessary if you use purified (de-scaled) water for every cup. But if you don’t use purified water, put a 50/50 solution of water (again, purified is best) and WHITE vinegar into your tank and just let it sit for a few hours, overnight is best. Then start the process of running the tank out. Refill with water and run that tank through. Remove the reservoir and wash it with water only, no soap to remove any remaining vinegar smell/residue. If it fails to resolve, start the process again but once the internal tank fills with water/vinegar, SHUT OFF the Keurig and let it sit with water in heater reservoir and the external water reservoir.

    Or you can do what I did and throw the stupid cheap Keurig away and get a real coffee maker again! 😛

  121. According to the Keurig dirrections, you shoul run about half the vinegar through the brew process and then let it sit for about 4 hours in order that the vinegar has a chance to clean the parts inside. Then you fill the resevoir with water and run until all the vinegar taste is gone.

  123. Hi, Melissa! Thank you for the cleaning advise. I have enjoyed my Keurig coffee maker for the last two years, and I really use it a lot! I went a little too long before the first cleaning and the Keurig would not start up after cleaning. I don’t give up easy, even when it is clearly my fault. I left the vinegar in the machine, took the water tank off and held the machine upside down over the kitchen sink. I then took a deep, cleansing breath, and SHOOK that bad boy in every direction for a few minutes. The vinegar solution was still at serving temperature, so I was careful not to splatter my forearms with the hot liquid. After my heart rate returned to normal, I purged the vinegar solution from the internal water tank and cycled the cleaning process with clear water three times. This all took some quality time, however, it saved the Keurig coffee maker. My advice is : when it quits working….before you trash it, take charge of it! Had it not been for your excellent cleaning advise my Keurig would be in the recycling bin!

    • Hi Just purchased my Keurig about 2 weeks ago and love it…Question regarding how often should we do the cleanup ?

      Also, how often should that water filter be replaced. I don’t understand the little dial…What should that be set on ?

      • @Arthur it depends on how often you use it…average is 2-3 months for cleaning (I prefer to use manufacturer’s instructions and disable the auto off and let it site for 4 hours)
        If your filter is the same as the one I had the numbers on the dial went from 1-31; so if you purchased and set up on the 20th of June, you will line up the arrow to 20 so you know you need to change the filter on the 20th of the next month.
        I stopped using the filter, it created more problems with ours…. The fibre fragments encasing the filter clogged the port between the side tank and the heating area. We had to use toothpicks and a large syringe to pick and suction all the fragments

        Btw… Melita has just come out with their own style of “My K-Cup” it uses paper filters instead and you get less grinds in your cup, it is half the price of the original and you get 2!

  125. Hi Melissa, very cute video. I have been doing this since I got my Keurig almost 4 years ago. One thing I do is reuse the vinegar after it brews. I use it to clean my floors ( Best tile cleaner or laminate wood if you mix with warm water) or just fill a sink with it…. it cleans all of the metal parts in the sink drain area. Also, when you want to remove your k cup holder, there is a hole underneath it and it pops it right out! Easy stuff. Lastly, another reason you get grinds in your coffee, especially if you use a my K Cup is that by the needle there is a gasket and it gets loose and goes too high up . BE CAREFUL but if you know where it is and pull it down a little you won’t get grinds in your coffee anymore. Try it! Just don’t stab yourself!

  126. Thank you so much! My keurig actually stopped working until I followed this process! You saved me a lot of money:)

  127. Thanks for the great site! I’ve read about 2/3 of the replies, and wouldn’t it be nice if some people would read a few before responding? Anyway I just wanted to say the lid for the reservoir gets discolored water spots if put in the dishwasher, I found out the hard way.

  128. Thanks for this lovely tutorial Melissa. I see that you instruct people to use white vinegar but I’ve also heard a lot of people say that you need to really (and I mean really) rinse the coffee maker well before it can be used again.

    Any other alternatives that you would recommend?

  129. There is also two holes in the top needle of the machine that need to be unplugged when you clean it. Ours plugged up and keurig told me how to use an un folded paper clip to unplug both holes so it would brew again!!

  131. Thanks Melissa, This is very helpful. I’ve had my Keurig for about a year now and have not even thought about cleaning it with vinegar. Thanks for the helpful tips, my machine should last me much longer now.

  132. Love the video…thanks for posting…just wanted to mention, seems like all keurig makers are not created equal, in that, mine specifically says NOT dishwasher safe, so just check your manuals and reservoir lids before taking that shortcut. I have the Elite B60 Keurig with a 60 oz. reservoir, if that is helpful to others. Thanks again for the video!

    • I think not all dishwashers are created equal 🙂 My older dishwasher could not not plastics on the bottom rack or they would melt. My new dishwasher can do plastics anywhere and they do not melt. New technology. My B60 says the reservoir is dishwasher safe, but I bet it all depends on the age of the dishwasher you are using…

  133. Lots of lime in my well water so the descaling is a MUST around here. While doing the white vinegar run-thru I take this opportunity to put some baking soda in my sink drains and pour out the vinegar in them. Finish it off with the hot water rinse cups. Kill two birds with one stone!!!

  135. Pours actually has a filter that plugs inside the water container. We change the filter every 3 months so that we can use tap water to brew.

  136. Thanks!! I’ve got an older keurig, I believe the first one that came out, and the reservoir doesn’t come out, this was still helpful.

  138. This is awesome, but I found (trial and error and calling the customer service number) that you have to let the vinegar stand in the machine while it is on for at least 4 houra to get all the deposits out of the interior plumbing… Basically go watch a movie or read a book and then it’s perfect, piping hot, delicious nectar of the gods again!!! Thanks for the tutorial!!!

  140. Great help, but you do need to take the funnel and holder apart I noticed. Lots of junk left in the bottom of the holder if you don’t.

  142. Nice article. Thanks for sharing.

    Keurig is my choice of coffee maker. Here’s how I clean mine:

    Clean the filter, clean the outer surface of the brewer, remove and rinse the mesh, put water and vinegar solution in the coffee maker, fill the coffee maker and filter with water.

  145. PLEASE PLEASE tell me if anyone else is having problems with their machine saying “PRIME” a lot??? After I brew one cup my machine when trying to fill up with water again stops and says for me to “PRIME” so I have to take the reservoir out dry out the little whole where the water goes in and fill it with water again then it will start back. Any reason why you think this might be doing this a lot? BTW I loved your helpful video! 🙂

    • That recently happened to me. I tried turning it off and waiting a few seconds then turning it back on. Still the flashing lights and the word PRIME on the display. So I thought for awhile. It’s been awhile since the filter was changed, so I changed the filter. At first I didn’t haven’t seated properly, and the lights keep flashing and PRIME was still on the display. Ergo, I take out and put it back in, and push a little harder. Viola! Lights became steady and the word PRIME disappeared. If you’ve already changed your filter, check to see if the filter is pushed all the way down.

      • Sometimes it just water spilled easilydried and ba k to business. However, ive noticed that if you haven’t changed your filter for a while it will say to prime more often. Our water is high chlorine, I think it eats the filter fabric away over time. You are supposed to change your filter every 3 months or so many cups of coffee. Kinda like an oil change.

  146. A great Video on the cleaning process!! My wife makes Dark Roast Coffee from Dunkin Donuts. I’m a Tea connoisseur and can’t stand when she leaves her K-Cup in the K-cup holder. Now the plastic K-Cup Holder smells like Coffee. I don’t like COFFEE anything!!

    What is the best way to remove the COFFEE smell from the K-cup holder? HELP!!

    Kevin

  148. After having ours stop working, I learned about cleaning the needle too. There are 3 holes in the top where the water comes out and into the K-cup. At the end of the cycle, some grounds can get sucked back up in the machine. Keurig suggested running a cycle with just water once every few days. The service guy also suggested using an opened paper clip to stick up and through the holes to dislodge any stuck grounds.

  150. Our Keurig machine stopped working awhile ago. When it starts taking up the water it looks like it just spits it back out into the resevoir. We thought there might be a build up somewhere in the machine. What do you suggest?

  152. I don’t see no point of staying subscribed to any blog if the author deletes someone’s honest opinion and/or every comment he/she does not find flattering. I thought this post was meant to help people and not to be a popularity contest. I was wrong.
    So… Goodbye and good luck with getting complements.

    • Double negative aside, what comment are you referring to?

      As you can see from the 140+ comments on this post, we approve virtually every comment – aside from those that are rude, inappropriate or contain inaccurate information.

  153. Ugghh.. lol I am not sure at all why i have a mean looking face up there…. I am very happy to have found your website, and all the great Info…. 🙂

  155. In the instructions that came with our machine it says to use filtered water, distilled water ? In our area we have hard water and you will get mineral deposits .

  156. I noticed over time my Keurig w/reservoir was dispensing less per cupful and needing to unplug, then plug unit back in to get 2nd cup (even with full reservoir). I followed directions from company site, which yielded more coffee per attempt and getting 2 cupfuls before replugging.
    But just as I was about to repeat the cleaning process, I saw your great video. It went into more detail and answered my questions on how to clean it correctly, AND…
    The tips from you and the responses left were bonuses: Run hot water through machine after making sweet drinks (hot apple cider,too); letting vinegar work inside machine for 4 hours while cleaning; empty reservoir if not using for a week; cleaning away leftover grounds from K-cup holder with toothbrush; using Brita filtered water; cleaning all parts regularly (do NOT wait for descaling light to come on – mine never has!); separating K-cup holder and funnel – you never know when you might have to switch to plain coffee grounds; using a paperclip to make sure the 3 holes are not clogged and tips from Keurig techs about specific problems.
    All I can add to this video is to stress reading all the comments to the end. They are so helpful.
    However, if you’re like me, leaving the vinegar in overnight when cleaning, just delays that first cup of coffee in the morning. 😉

  157. How many times did you have to run clean water through the machine after the vinegar? I’ve run water through several times and it is still smelling like vinegar!

  159. I lived in Utah, USA for 2 years and bought what is now called the Keurig Classic (B40 i think) soon after moving there. The entire time I used filtered water and only descaled every 6 months. Utah gets it’s water mostly from the Great Salt Lake (supposedly) so all water there is EXTREMELY hard and slightly salty. I never used the in-reservoir filter and instead had one installed on my kitchen cold water line. I’ve moved back to Iowa (with has slightly hard water but less so than Utah) and I have to de-scale twice every 3 months. Using a filter REALLY helps with these machines. My mother just bought hers (same version) and we are both buying the filter for in the reservoir. BTW, i have found 1 reservoir of vinegar, wait 4-6 hours, then 2 reservoirs of water usually does the trick. And I didn’t think to rinse out the k-cup holder, but the manual does say to take the cup out after brewing. I LOVE the half black tea half lemonade cups & the dark chocolate cocoa cups. Thanks for the extra tips.

  160. Did not know about descaling until my descale light came on ! Read instructions on Keurig website and proceeded. Machine worked fine after process but within a day or two descale came back on so repeated process. Again after a day descale came back on! I did do the four hour wait period. Any suggestions anyone?

  163. Great video! Very informative! I was washing the parts in the dishwasher, but I wasn’t taking the extra step to run vinegar through the reservoir! Great advice…I will be doing this this weekend!

  164. I spent $200.00 on a single serve coffee maker and the first thing I did was read the manual and instruction booklet. A few of your tips/ tricks are very much not recommended for some brew systems and can mislead people into ruining their very expensive coffee makers.

    • I agree, I know this blog is old, but I bought the new 2.0. The manual says only to use the Keurig cleaning solution or the warranty will be voided if you use anything else.

  165. Thanks for posting this! I’m so glad I found it. I’ve always wanted to know how to clean it but not spend a lot of time on it either. Very informative and helpful 🙂

  166. Thanks for the video. My Keurig isn’t working right this morning. Need to buy some vinegar and clean my machine. Hopefully this will help. My machine is about 3 – 4 years old. I hope the life span is longer than that.

  167. Miranda – she also says the cover of the reservoir says NOT dishwasher safe, she cleans it with a damp cloth.

    After cleaning with vinegar – and I did not let the vinegar soak for any time – my coffee taste kind of vinegary. I have run at least 3 entire reservoir’s of water through.
    What do you think this is from and what should I do?

  169. I couldn’t find the
    “Like” button so I will just tell you! Great instructions. I like how you talk nice and clear.Very informative & thank you! Especially love the cat at the end:)

  175. I also live in Ontario but in Stratford, we have the hardest water in the country. I need to let it sit after running the first cup of vinegar for at least four hours…. I’ve have my Keurig for 2 1/2 years and am still loving it. Thanks for the video.

  176. Just fyi… Idk why they would recommend distilled water.. Although you are not drinking a lot of it you really shouldn’t be drinking it at all.. I just looked it up on wiki and it said do not drink it as it could possibly kill you if you drink to much.

  177. Thanks for the video. I have a weird question after leaving my machine unused in a cabin for a few weeks. Is it possible that a bug crawled inside the main component of the coffee maker? After cleaning it and running water through I still find suspicious things floating in the cup.
    Grossed out and thirsty!
    Bob

  178. Just an FYI – Keurig actually recommends that you run a few vinegar cycles and then let the vinegar sit in the machine for at least four hours. Then run the rest of the vinegar cycles before rinsing it out.

  180. Great video – I have a Tassimo brewer and am going to try this method. The “Please descale” message just showed up on my machine this week so the timing of finding your blog is excellent! Thanks – have a wonderful day!

  181. Great video except you must brew through the vinegar until the “add water” light blinks THEN let it sit 4-6 hours with the brewer turned ON. This allows the vinegar to sit in the internal tank & get rid of any scale build up there.
    After 4-6 hours, run clear water through to get rid of taste/odor, as you suggested.

  182. I recently started having problems with my brewer (it brews hot water fine but doesn’t brew coffee- just spits out a tiny bit of water and grounds). I tried descaling and cleaning per your instructions and did the paper clip cleaning of the needles. When it didn’t work I called customer service and this was no help at all. Even after I told her the parts weren’t broken and all gaskets and needles were in tact she wanted to send me a new holder. Then when she discovered I didn’t let the vinegar soak for four hours, she visibly laughed and gave a long speech on how this can break the brewer because it treats the inside parts like dropping and breaking the mirror because it pushes large minerals through. This makes no sense because it shouldn’t work any different than water in that respect and my brewer was having issues before I even descaled. She didn’t mention voiding my warranty or anything but it is definitely a heads up to everyone to either wait four hours or not tell CS that you didn’t. She also said that the acidity of the vinegar starts to break down after the four hours so not to wait more than 6 (supposedly). Hopefully I don’t find out in 10 days when the part gets here that it wasn’t the problem (which I suspect since my part is perfectly intact)

  185. Talking to a tech support agent at Keurig, she had recommended taking a paperclip or blunt ended bobby pin and running it up inside the holes of the needle that pierces the k-kups. (I had tried all the de-scaling techniques and was still having water pour back into my resevoir as something was still clogged) You can stick a paperclip about 2 inches up inside and use a plunging motion. There are rubber hoses inside this area that can become clogged. Just remember that there are 3 holes that will all need plunging and DO NOT use a safety pin, needle or anything sharp as you will pierce these hoses and your machine will be toast!!! After you have tried to unclog, run a descaling method once more and see if it helps. It may take a few attempts, but when your a morning coffee nut, and your Keurig machine is outta warranty….any attempt at getting it fixed is well worth it:)

  186. THERE ARE CLEANING INSTRUCTIONS ON THE KEURIG WEBSITE.A FEW VERY IMPORTANT STEPS ARE MISSING FROM THIS INSTRUCTION VIDEO. FIRST, YOU NEED TO USE SOMETHING TO CLEAN THE FUNNEL, SUCH AS AN OPENED PAPER CLIP,AND THAT GETS PUSHED UP INTO THE FUNNEL HOLE.SECOND, THE WHITE VINEGAR NEEDS TO SIT INSIDE THE WATER RESERVOIR FOR HOURS(DON’T REMEMBER HOW MANY) BUT THE CLEANING INSTRUCTIONS ARE ON THE KEURIG WEBSITE.

  187. You mentioned to one person that the needle that pierces the top of the Kcup cannot be removed, but there is a rubber gasket that sits around the needle that can be removed. It gets very nasty and gunky from coffee grinds. All you do is slide it off and clean it in the sink with a tooth brush. When you replace it, don’t push it all the way up. Just enough to pass the holes in the needles. If you push it all the way up, the seal is not tight around the Kcup and coffe grounds fly all over the inside of the chamber when the pressurized water goes through the Kcup. I pull mine off about once a week and clean and reseat it. It takes about 60 seconds.

  188. Love my Keurig and here’s what I’ve done with the vinegar after cleaning. I put about 1/2 cup baking soda in a sink drain and then add the hot vinegar. Let that sit for a bit and add more vinegar if necessary. Then wash it all down with hot water to help keep my drains clean. I’m in the mesa’s and my septic system will handle this better than the store brands of drain cleaners.

  190. Another cleaning suggestion to tie in with this. How about putting baking soda in your kitchen drain before this process and then dumping the cups of hotv vinegar on top? Two for one cleaning. I have done this with great effectiveness.

  191. We are on private well water and haven’t had any problems with descaling although we do run vineger through it every few months.

    My problem is that it tends to get algae in the bottom of the reservoir. It’s a pain to try to get it all out.

    Is there any way to prevent this? Would using bottled or distilled water help with this problem? I’m not sure if well water contributes to this or not.

    • I used to have that problem as well but I don’t have we’ll water just Brita water. I had to move it out of the window to get it to stop but that did the trick for me! I guess it was the sunlight.

  192. Some of the responses are mentioning the use of bottled water but they need to know that is not the same as distilled water – distilled water has been boiled and condensed which removes many of the impurities, not usually the case with bottled water.

    • Correct – bottled water should say ‘distilled’ on it. However using some bottled waters with less mineral content can be better. I’m not sure where I stand with bottled water claims. I use tap water and ensure to clean my machine regularly.

    • The difference is that bottled water has little to no minerals (distilled) and can’t leave the chalky residue behind that otherwise clogs the machines. It’s like using regular unleaded fuel vs. premium fuel when filling up the car. Catch my drift?

  195. I have one of the original Keurigs, own it about 6-7 years. I do find it gets very loud when it needs to be rinse through with vinegar and water. I have slightly hard water and have always just used filtered tap water in it with no problems over the years. I don’t descale very often.

  198. HI, My keurig will only brew half a cup and spits the rest of the water it takes in initially back into the reservoir. I descaled and cleaned…. any idea what the problem may be?

  199. I am on my third Keurig machine. The other two stopped working even after cleaning them. The manual says to let the vinegar sit in the machine for 4 hours yet you seem to say to rinse it right away. Which is best? Also, there is a needle at the top that has openings and Keurig says to run a paper clip through to loosen any coffee grounds. Your thoughts?
    Thanks!
    Bill

    • Hi Bill, yes I’ve heard about the paperclip trick. That’s fine if you want to do it, it can certainly help. I’d say if you are noticing major issues you can try leaving it in for a 4 hour cycle. Do you brew a lot of sweet drinks? The sugars in the K Cups could be causing the blockage. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know what is wrong wit it…

  200. Hi love your video it’s really good…. Have a question my keurig started saying prime… What is prime??? And how in the world do I do this thing?

    • Sally mine says the same thing and it does it a lot after my 1st brew! It drives me nuts! I have to take the reservoir out and dry out that little whole where the water goes through and then make sure my reservoir is filled back up and then when I place it back in position the “prime” code goes away and it starts brewing again. I still can’t figure out why it does it though and why it does it so ofter??? If you find out please let me know, thanks!

  201. All great advice! The Keurig in my office was acting wonky earlier this week. I spoke with the nice folks at their corporate offices, who gave me advice very similar to this. The one difference: they advised me to run a couple of cycles to be sure the machine was full of vinegar, and to let it sit for at least four hours. I did that, and we’re back in business! We use only the water from our office water cooler to make coffee, but the machine sees a lot of action, so I’m going to put this on my calendar as a recurring appointment so that we don’t have any future problems.

    • No, use distilled white vinegar, it is the best at doing this kind of work. Apple cider vinegar is created by fermented apples and has different properties than your distilled white vinegar would.

    • Apple cider vinegar has natural sugars and will clog the machine and void warranty.
      The manual recommended to turn off the “auto off” so the vinegar keeps heating (sit for 4 hours) to give a deep clean every 6 months, the cleaning method described in blog is for every 1 to 2 months depending on how much you use it.

  205. Actually the company website recommends running vinigar throught the machine and letting it sit 30 min part way through the brewing process. You do this by turning the machine off just as it starts to brew.

    Other websites and forums discuss a 4 hour vinigar cleaning.

    I prefer to go by what the factory website says.

    The older machines have a louder pump than the new machines. There is nothing wrong with your machine, it simply a noisier pump.

    • Thanks for sharing that, that can work too. I’ve found my way effective however I’ve taken great care of mine so perhaps because I haven’t ‘let it go’ I am OK without the 4 hour sit. I can understand why it works and would recommend it for sure if people found they weren’t getting the kind of results they hoped for!

  206. I use water from my Brita filter pitcher and never have a scale problem. I have been using the same Keurig pot machine since 2008. I like filtered water over distilled water because distilled water is very acidic. I use a filter and my own coffee in place of the K cups. I get the coffee I want and at much less expense than the K cups. I did leave coffee in the filter once for a few weeks during a trip and haven’t been able to make the filter like new, but the coffee is as good as ever.

  208. Hahaha, thanks Jennifer! I got it as a b day present from my husband. OS is one of my favorite movies and we had to pay homage to such a terrific demonstration of motion picture brilliance in one of our videos 🙂 .

  209. Just shared this on Pinterest and then noticed OH MY GOSH SHE HAS AN INITECH MUG!!!! I have one sitting right here next to my keyboard. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen another one before.

    Fabulous Keurig tips AND an Initech mug? It just doesn’t get much better than that. 🙂

  210. I’ve been through Keurig hell with my machine and spent literally hours on the phone with customer service. I used only bottled water. The vinegar MUST be run through the system and allowed to soak a minimum of 4 hours. In fact, each of the many CS people who helped me said that overnight soaking is ideal. I actually had to it twice in a row! I do this every three months, which is considered minimal level of care, no matter how hard or soft your water is.

    • Hi Betsy, that’s good to know – thanks for the post. I am going to try the soak overnight method next time I clean it and see if I notice a big difference. That’s interesting that you use bottled water and still had to go through ‘hell’ with the machine?!?

  211. Another key tip is before u clean, take a paper clip ( straightened) and slide upwards and wiggle through the 3 holes on the top non removable pin this is per keurig tech. This area can get blocked during descaleing so do once before and once prior to final rinse. This being blocked creates short cupping or the running but no coffee effect.

  212. Keurig recommends leaving the white vinegar in the machine for several hours (run 2 cycles and let the vinegar sit in the machine) then run several cycles with clean water. They also recommend filtered or bottled water. This should be done every 3 months.

    • Hi Rosie, yes, I think it depends on how often you use it as well. The process of letting the vinegar sit in the machine is certainly an option – I didn’t do it that way and found that it worked just fine. And yes, they do recommend using filtered water however many people don’t want to spend the extra money on bottled water which is why this process of descaling is so important. Thanks for your comment!

  213. Awesome video! Do you have tips on how to clean a nespresso machine!? I have to buy a descaler from nespresso. I’m just not sure if the vinegar would suffice. Do you think a little bit of baking soda would help? Thanks!

    • Hi John, Thank you! I wouldn’t put baking soda in my machine but I would try vinegar for sure. Just add it into the water reservoir and go for it. Make sure to rinse very well and clean any of the removable parts carefully. Good luck!

  214. Really dumb. Just buy a “coffee press” far less waste and even easier to clean. Everything can go into the dish washer. No electricity, just heat some water on the stove. Coffee in minutes. Toss the used coffee grounds into the garden. No waste. Ten bucks for a coffee maker.

    What you have is a “Rube Goldberg” invention.

    Something like using a lazer beam from the space shuttle to kill a house fly.

    • I think your stove uses electricity. And a press doesn’t work well if everyone wants a different cup of coffee – strong, decafe, flavoured, tea

  215. Love the tutorials….would not have tried taking apart my Keurig…however, now that I have seen you do it and how simple it really is, I am ready to clean it out. Never thought I would see instructions showing me how to clean and then me actually wanting to clean something just for the fun of it!!! You make it look so easy. Thank you so much.

  216. I put my water reservoir in the dishwasher and it melted (even though it is marked dishwasher safe). Keurig sent me a replacement reservoir, and the new reservoirs are now marked hand-wash only. I guess it’s a big enough problem that they’ve changed the instructions!

    You may want to update your video with this information.

    • Thanks Nancy, I’ve placed in the post to wash on the top rack only. Glad to hear they sent you a new one and I am not surprised that they sent you a free one OR that they have changed their wording on the reservoir. Not many people know about the top rack rule and that leads to unfortunate events like this.

  217. My Keurig was a hand me down machine to me.
    It is VERY loud when it brews.

    I was wondering if that’s because it’s an older model or if there’s something maybe wrong with it?

    Thanks for the video! It was very helpful.

    • Hi Missy, good question! I have no idea why it is loud – mine is loud as well. I think cleaning it may help because it could be loud for a reason pertaining to the maintenance of the machine but it could also be age related or perhaps loud for another reason. Mine didn’t really get quieter after cleaning it. The noise kind of wakes me up!!

  218. I just descaled my Keurig and have emptied out the remaining vinegar. It has fresh water and it will not brew. I have lifted the handle where the k-cup goes and put it back down and it says it is ready to brew, so I press brew and nothing happens. It sounds like something is happening inside and when I put my hand on the top, it is warm. I have turned it off, turned it back on and gone through the steps and it will not brew. Any ideas?? The water level does not go down. I have taken the water res. off and put it back on, but still nothing. ???

    • Hi Diane, that’s really strange. I haven’t heard of this before, I’d suggest speaking with Keurig about it. All of the steps I’ve outlined are essentially per their instructions. Keep us posted and good luck.

      • I finally just unplugged my machine and left it for a few hours…I was then able to flush with clean water. Thanks for your response.

          • I had the same thing happen to me earlier this week – of course, before I read this blog post! I hadn’t cleaned the machine in quite a while since the descaling liquid went off the market and I had bad luck with some crystals that I bought some time ago. I didn’t follow the manual directions and wait four hours after running the vinegar through, and I think that maybe the vinegar needed to sit and work on the insides for a while before doing the water rinse. I ended up unplugging everything and re-seating the reservoir to get the machine to work again. It took a few passes before it brewed a normal cup of hot water (instead of a sluggish, scary-sounding, fraction of a cup!), but it works fine now. I was ready to cry for about half an hour, though! Thanks for the tips, Melissa!

  221. Great tutorial! I do recommend taking the piece that holds the k-cup out though. It is meant to come out. Keurig actually makes another piece that can “replace” it that you can fill with your own coffee each time and reuse over and over. Its a pretty cool little piece. When removing the piece that holds the k-cup, its easier if you pull from the top with one hand and push from the bottom where the coffee is dispensed with the other. This is the case with the mini anyway. I have had it for over a year and a half and have never broken that piece. Now I cant wait to clean it and see how much faster it runs! Thanks!

  222. Actually the company recommends that you run through the reservoir filled with the white vinegar and then let it sit for 4 hours before you do the water rinses.

  223. Just a note that the reservoir itself also is not dishwasher safe. Just clean it with a damp cloth cause I just melted mine in the dishwasher.

    • Oh boy – that’s not good! That’s strange because there’s a part on the reservoir lid that says it is dishwasher safe. The trick with washing plastic items is to place them on the top rack; the bottom rack is closer to the element and that can cause melting. Don’t know if that was the case with yours or not?

  224. Just a heads up..if you have the water filter in the reservoir make sure you remove it before adding the vinegar…I found out the hard way… the first cup I made after cleaning when I added half and half it curdled.. thought it was bad threw the half and half out..made another cup added milk and same thing then it dawned on me..duh!! Changed the filter good as new!

    • Interesting – I didn’t even know you could get the water filter for your reservoir! Thanks for sharing that very important tip. I had that curdling thing happen to me as well, it was a full on sitcom moment where I spat out the coffee while I was driving. It was disgusting and comical at the same time!

      • Cleaned Keurig following the directions. I used skim milk, which I’ve used since I purchased the machine, and it still curdled. My next cup I used a liquid creamer and it did not curdle.

    • Hi Diane, no, that’s a permanent part of the machine. What you can do is use a small cleaning toothbrush to brush out any grinds, sugar or other debris and let it fall. The needle is super sharp, so be careful!

  227. Thanks for the advice! Can you teach us how to clean the my k-cup pieces? I can’t get the coffee stains off and I’ve tried everything! Especially the metal mesh.

    • Hi Mindy, are you referring to the reusable K Cups? I’ve never used one before. Sounds to me like a patina has set in. What I would suggest is the following: place the pieces in a bowl and add a tablespoon of salt and some lemon juice (a few tablespoons). Scrub the parts with this paste; the staining should come right off. Rinse it well. Let me know how it goes!

  228. it should be noted that if you use distilled water your coffee will not taste as good as there are no minerals in distilled water

  229. I think this is one of the best videos about Keurig cleaning Melissa. In fact, I like it so much that I decided to add this video and a link to your blog in one of my posts. I hope you will like it. Amazing work!

  230. At one point when my Keurig had slowed down, I called the company. They said that after filling the unit with the vinegar (running it until the vinegar is fully in the machine) you should let it sit for, at least, a couple hours. This will allow the vinegar to break down the calcium deposits. Did you try this or do you find it unnecessary to allow the vinegar to sit for awhile before rinsing it?

    • Hi Michelle,

      You know, I have heard that from a couple of people. I have not done that with my machine. I believe that heat speeds up the descaling process, so when I run the vinegar through and it heats up through the system it descales. I only use mine about 4-6 times a week and have taken decent care of it so I’ve never had the slowing down issue. Having said that, I think a company knows their product best and if they advised you of doing that then perhaps trying to let the vinegar sit for a couple of hours is the wise thing to do. It sounds like it could only help…so why not!

      M

  231. Great video! I found this on Pinterest. I didn’t even realize the Keurig machine is able to come apart into so many pieces to be cleaned. I will do this soon. Vinegar is the best thing to use for cleaning and disinfecting.

    • Glad you found it – you’ll see good improvement with your Keurig after doing this – and yes, I LOVE vinegar too. I often say I should invest in a vinegar or baking soda company seeing how I ALWAYS talk about them!!

  232. I have actually returned my (first) keurig because of the extra grounds that kept showing up in my coffee. Guess it just needed a good ol’ clean out. Thank you so much for the step by step. Just got done running the vinegar through.

    • Thank you so much for sharing the link on your blog! LOL, well at least you know how to clean it NOW!!! I’m sure you’ll notice a difference once you’ve cleaned it 🙂

  234. You actually have to let the vinegar sit for several hours. I found that it still didn’t descale till I did that.

  235. Nice video 🙂 Just one question. You don’t recommend letting the vinegar soak for 4 hours as the manuel states?
    Also, you might warn people that if you take the k-cup holder completely apart, which I see you chose not to do, it is very easy to break it. Therefore, if one chooses to do this, I would call customer service and follow their directions carefully.

    • Hi Jodi, that’s a great point. Yes, it is very delicate and I have done it once before. When I did, I was literally sweating because I didn’t want to break it and it was VERY difficult to do. I don’t think it makes a marked difference on my Keurig’s performance so I’m cool with it not being taken apart. I don’t think 4 hours is necessary if you are maintaining it regularly. Boiling vinegar is very effective at breaking down limescale!

  236. Entertaining and informative video. I have the mini and found this video very helpful. I did not know about running water though after using cups (like hot cocoa) that might leave sugar crystals. Thanks for creating such an interesting video making cleanup fun!

    • I’m glad to hear that – yes – I found that very interesting too and I thought it would pique at least someone’s interest 😀 Thanks so much for the kind words and let me know if you have any cleaning Qs! M

    • Hi there, every few months would make sense and it would depend on how frequently it is used as well as how hard or soft your water is. I know, lots of variables! The best way to tell is if you see crusty white build up in the reservoir and reservoir base, you know it’s about that time.

  238. I don’t use distilled water but I have only used filtered water from day one & have never had the descale light come on. I do however do the descaling process every so often as I usually did with the normal drip coffee makers. I have had my Keurig over a year now & completely recommend at least using filtered water if not distilled.

    • Nice video and suggestions. One note about distilled water. We’re using Arrowhead Spring Water as the local tap water is so bad.and filled with solids. No problems. Distilled water is often not recommended in the medical literature as it strips the body of vital elements. Perhaps everyone should do their own research on whether to use distilled H2O or not.

    • Hi Amber, I don’t have a mini one, but from my understanding it does not have a water reservoir. Either way, it’s a good idea to descale it from time to time. In that case, I’d suggest running the descaling brew through the same vessel you add your water in. Once it’s brewed a cup, run through a bunch of water brews to rinse out the vinegar.

      • Thanks I was wondering the same thing I too have a mini one and it’s making an awful noise I think I need to clean it.

  240. Loved seeing this! I need a pictorial. One suggestion: you left out the end of a sentence in the “White Vinegar” section. Once you correct that, this will be perfect. Great job.

    • Hi Jeanna, thanks for the feedback! Good eye!!! Thank you so much for catching that. I’m glad you found the post helpful. It took me a while to get around to doing this video/post but I knew it would be a good one 😀

  242. Very nice video. Thank you so much for letting us know how to clean one. I just ordered mine and should get it in a few days.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here