Most people, almost 85% of American brew their own coffee at home everyday. When each cup is being brewed a little bit of residue is left behind on the coffee machine. This residue buildup affects the coffee taste eventually, which makes cleaning your coffee machine a necessity.
One of the top brands of coffee makers is Braun, which will be our focus in this article. To maintain a great cup of coffee each day it is essential to learn how to clean a Braun coffee maker.
The same way you woudn’t cook on dirty pans, you shouldn’t brew your coffee on scaled or dirty cofee machine. When you clean your Braun coffee machine you are removing oils, coffee stains and hard water deposits. Let’s start the cleaning process.
Note: You can use this guide to clean any similar coffee maker. If you own a coffee maker from Black and Decker, Breville, Bunn, Ninja, OXO, Cuisinart, Hamilton Beach, Keurig or Mr Coffee we have a specific guide on how to clean those. Check them out.
How to Clean a Braun Coffee Maker – Step by Step
For the best performance from your Braun coffee maker, descale the unit when the CLEAN light lights up solid green, like in the following image. This indicates it is time to descale your coffee maker.
By removing the built-up calcium deposits from the water reservoir, you will help extend the life of your Braun coffee machine and keep coffee tasting great.
The frequency will depend upon the hardness of your tap water and how often you use the coffee maker. Braun coffee makers normally include an option where you input the hardness of your water from H1 to H3. To select an option you should press the “clean” button for 3 seconds.
You should select H1 if your water is soft.
Select H2 for normal water.
If your water is hard you select H3.
You can use a commercially available descaling agent like the Braun descaler (image below) that is safe to use on aluminum or you can use white vinegar, which is what I prefer to use.
NOTE: For your convenience, the cleaning cycle in Braun coffee makers is automatic. The entire cleaning cycle including rinsing can take up to 45 minutes to complete.
Descale a Braun Coffe Maker
In the image below you can see what tools we are going to use to clean a Braun coffee maker. Basically you can use liquid descaler by Braun or White Vinegar. I prefer to use white vinegar but I will show you how to use both products to clean a Braun coffee machine.
Lift the reservoir cover.
Remove the coffee pot or carafe from the coffee plate and discard any coffee remaining.
Remove the gold-tome filter and discard the ground coffee if any.
Remove the charcoal water filter holder including the charcoal water filter.
Make sure the Braun filter basket is clean before proceeding.
As said before you can use the Braun descaler. You should check in the back of the Braun descaler bottle to see how many liquid to apply for 1 clean. The one we have is for 2 uses.
You add the half Braun descaler bottle to the carafe. Then fill the carafe to 7 cups with fresh water.
You can also use white vinegar like the one in the image below.
With white vinegar we have to use 1 cup to clean a Braun coffee maker.
In this guide we are going to use white vinegar. Fill 1 cup with white vinegar.
You pour the 1 cup of white vinegar to the carafe.
Then you fill the carafe to 12 cups with fresh water.
Pour the 12 cups of mix of white vinegar woith water to the water reservoir on your Braun coffee machine.
Place the now empty carafe in the coffee plate of your Braun machine.
Close the lid of the water reservoir.
Press the clean button.
The green LED on top of the clean button will start flashing.
Next press the Brew button to start the descaling program.
Both the Brew and Clean green led lights will start flashing.
Once the descaling process has started, it is not possible to stop the program until finished.
When the descaling program has been completed, the green LED will turn off. It takes aproximately 45 minutes to complete.
While you wait, you can see in the image below the tube we are trying to descale. This tube is the one that carries water under the hot plate. When your water is hard, deposits start to build up where the red arrow is pointing. If there is too much build up, the taste of your coffe starts to change.
The descaling process ends when the green led light over the clean button turns off.
Discard the cleaning solution and rinse the carafe thoroughly with fresh water.
Rinse the coffee basket with fresh water to remove any vinegar left.
Fill the Braun water reservoir with 12 cups of fresh water.
Press the brew button to brew the fresh water.
Do this process of brewing 12 cups of fresh water at least 2 times to completely remove any vinegar residue that would affect your coffee taste.
That completes the proces on how to clean your Braun coffee maker. Now you just have to clean the removable parts of your coffee machine.
The filter basket, gold-tone permanent filter, carafe, and lid can be washed in warm, soapy water and rinsed thoroughly, or cleaned in the upper rack of the dishwasher. Dry all parts after use.
To clean the base simply wipe with a clean damp cloth and dry before storing.
How to Clean a Glass Coffee Pot of a Braun Coffee Maker?
If your carafe or glass coffee pot looks like the image below you, follow our guide on how to clean a glass coffee pot.
Can you clean Braun Coffee Maker removable parts in the dishwasher?
You could clean the glass coffee pot, coffee basket, filters and other removable parts of your Braun Coffee machine in the dishwasher, but the risk of breakage and warping is too high to better avoid it.
To replace any of the removable parts of the Braun coffee maker is expensive, so it is better to clean them by hand to avoid unexpected expenses.
How often Should I clean a Braun Coffee maker?
To be safe, clean the water reservoir a couple of times a week to avoid fungus, mold, bacteria, etc. to build up.
The carafe and coffee basket at least once a month should be enough.
The descaling process, detailed in the present article, should be done as soon as the clean green light turns on.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, it’t not that difficult to clean a Braun coffee maker. It just takes some time but it is not something you can neglect. Do the regular and periodic cleaning properly, and you will get great tasting cups of coffee every time.
Hello, I am Cristy. I love cooking but what I love most is keeping my kitchen tools and appliances top notch. I enjoy writing about everything I have learned around the kitchen. I believe that keeping your kitchen tools well cleaned and maintained produces the best dishes and drinks. Besides writing and cooking I enjoy traveling, camping, hiking and music.