How to Descale an Automatic Drip Coffee Maker

August 26, 2018

Knowing how to descale an automatic drip coffee maker is essential for coffee fanatics. Some people can’t start the day without a cup (or three) of fresh, hot coffee. If you’re one of those people, you probably rely on your coffee maker to deliver your first daily dose of caffeine. To keep your automatic drip coffee maker working well, you’ll need to descale it every three months, or more frequently, if you notice hard water deposits. If minerals accumulate inside your machine, the heating element won’t work as well – and it may stop working altogether.

Isn’t Cleaning My Coffee Maker Enough?

To answer your question. No, cleaning alone isn’t enough. Here’s why. Although it’s essential to clean your coffee maker regularly, cleaning alone isn’t enough. Coffee is naturally oily, and oils build up on carafes, brew chambers, and filter baskets. When this happens, your coffee will taste bitter, and eventually, the residue will clog the coffee maker, making it unusable. 

While cleaning removes the oil residue created by coffee, descaling removes the mineral build-up. Minerals such as calcium and magnesium occur naturally in water. When these minerals pass through your machine, they slowly accumulate, especially on the makers’ heating units. If you’ve ever seen a chalky residue called limescale, which can build up on plumbing fixtures, that’s what clogs your coffee maker’s heating unit.

Eventually, the residue will affect the heating unit making it difficult to heat the coffee to the point where it can extract the full flavor from the coffee. You may even notice that your cup of coffee isn’t as hot as it should be. Sooner or later, the minerals will clog the machine.

If you’ve never thought to descale a coffee maker before, you’re not alone. It’s one of those tasks that’s easy to forget. But it doesn’t take much time or effort, so set aside 20 minutes to perform this simple maintenance task. You’ll be rewarded with a fresher-tasting cup of coffee.

Preparing the Area to Descale a Coffee Maker

All you need to descale your coffee maker is Bar Keepers Friend Coffee Maker Descaler, water, and protective gloves. If you have marble, granite, or other natural stone countertops, cover them before you start descaling – splashes and spills could potentially damage those surfaces.

Descaling a Coffee Maker

Remove any disposable filter from your coffee maker, and make sure the reservoir and carafe are empty. Fill your carafe with cold water, and put on your protective gloves. For every eight ounces of water in the carafe, add one ounce of Bar Keepers Friend Coffee Maker Descaler. For example, if you have a 12-ounce carafe, you would add 1.5 ounces of the descaling solution.

Pour the contents of the carafe into the coffee maker reservoir and start the brew cycle. When the brew cycle is complete, empty the carafe and rinse it thoroughly. Fill the carafe with cold water only, pour that into the reservoir, and restart the brew cycle to rinse away the cleaning solution from the inside of the coffee maker. When the brew cycle is complete, dump the contents of the carafe, and you’re finished descaling!

A Wise Investment

Bar Keepers Friend Coffee Maker Descaler is a 12-ounce bottle. So, if you’re only using an ounce or two of the solution every three months, the bottle should last more than a year. Using this BKF product to descale a coffee maker is an affordable alternative to replacing your machine because of hard water build up.