Cleaning your coffee brewing equipment

The best coffee equipment cleaning strategy is to clean your equipment often, preferably daily, before residue and lime deposits reach point where cleaning becomes a chore.

Cleaning your Coffee Brewers

Clean and sanitize the basket.

Use a clean damp cloth to wipe off all outside surfaces. Polish stainless steel surfaces with stainless steel polish after drying. This will prevent surface scratches and result in a cleaner appearance.

If warmer plates are stained, clean with a heavy duty degreaser and cleaner, flat stove top type cleaner or equivalent.

If removeable, remove the spray head and clean in mild, non-abrasive detergent. If not removeable, carefully clean the spray head & verify that none of the sprayhead holes are plugged.

Note: Any buildup on the spray head and fitting may restrict water flow, and impact your coffee quality. For consistently great coffee, clean your spray heads and fittings at least weekly. Upon visual inspection it may appear that light passes through all openings in the spray head, but a thin film of residue can pass light and still impede water flow.

Cleaning satellite type systems with sight glass and faucet

With most of these, the sight glass is held in with a sight gauge cap. If yours does not have a sight gauge cap, refer to the manual for disassembly.

Carefully unscrew and remove the sight gauge cap & set aside then remove the glass tube. Clean the inside of the glass tube with a mild detergent solution & small brush. Rinse with a food safe sanitizer. Reinstall the glass tube & the sight gauge cap.

Turn the wing nut behind the faucet to loosen & remove the faucet. Clean the inside of the faucet shank with a mild detergent solution & small brush. Disassemble the faucet & clean with a mild detergent & then rinse with a food safe sanitizer. Let parts thoroughly air dry before reassembling.

To remove mineral deposits inside the pot, fill with vinegar and let sit over night or use a commercial de-scaling agent per the manufacturer’s instructions.

Cleaning Airpots, Thermal Pitchers and other Thermal type Coffee servers

Clean with a sponge brush or soft nylon brush and a mild detergent. Rinse with food safe sanitizer & let drain and air dry. To remove mineral deposits, fill with vinegar and let sit over night or use a commercial de-scaling agent per the manufacturer’s instructions.

Cleaning glass, lexan (plastic) and stainless steel coffee pots

Clean with a sponge brush or soft nylon brush and a mild detergent. Rinse with food safe sanitizer & let drain and air dry. To remove mineral deposits, fill with vinegar and let sit over night or use a commercial de-scaling agent per the manufacturer’s instructions.

Brew Ratio

If your coffee service uses prepackaged coffee filters, the brew ratio has been taken care of for you. If you are using fresh ground coffee beans then you need to follow the brewers recommendations for a perfect pot of coffee.

Note: Never use bleach or any product containing chlorine to clean any coffee brewer parts made of stainless steel. Chlorine will attack the stainless steel and will cause surface pitting.