Cleaning a coffee maker with bleach can be dangerous, so be careful and make sure you're in a well-ventilated area. Here are the steps for using bleach to clean a coffee maker!
Prep Time5 minutesmins
Active Time15 minutesmins
Total Time20 minutesmins
Yield: 1clean coffee maker
Cost: $2
Equipment
Coffee maker
Materials
1tbspbleach
1gallonwater(plus more to rinse)
Instructions
Create a diluted bleach solution. Bleach is a potent chemical and needs to be heavily diluted before you put it anywhere near your coffee maker. Add 1 tablespoon of bleach to 1 gallon of water. Don't give in to the temptation to add more bleach, and be careful when you add it to the water. Bleach stains clothes and can cause burns on exposed skin. Always work with bleach in a well-ventilated area as the fumes from bleach are dangerous.
Run a brew cycle. Fill your coffee maker's reservoir with the bleach solution and run a brew cycle without any coffee in the machine.
Repeat the process until all of the bleach solution is gone. Empty the coffee pot carefully and rerun brew cycles until you run out of bleach solution.
Rinse with 5 gallons of water. Before you use your coffee maker to brew coffee again, you need to rinse the machine thoroughly. We recommend using at least 5 gallons of water but more won't hurt. It will take a long time to run brew cycles with five gallons of water, but we warned you that cleaning your coffee maker with bleach isn't a good idea.
Let the machine air dry. Leave your coffee maker upside down for at least one day to air dry. If there is any bleach left in your machine, it will leave white deposits once it has dried. If you see white deposits after one day of air drying, you need to rinse the machine more by running brew cycles with plain water.