Q: How Do I Clean My Carafe?
A: The carafe is not dishwasher safe, so just use hot soap and water and a scrub brush if desired. The lid also has a gasket and is not dishwasher safe. I am not sure about the filter, but again soap and water or something like a standard coffee cleaner like Cafiza. That’s our official recommendation.
Q: What Descalers do we Recommend?
A: Cleancaf® is first and foremost a cleaner designed to keep your machine fresh and your coffee tasting great. It also contains a component that works as a scale inhibitor. When used regularly on a new machine (or one which has not already developed a significant scale problem), it will work to prevent the accumulation of scale buildup on the internal parts of the machine.
Dezcal™ is specifically designed to address the need to remove hard water deposits. Dezcal™ is engineered to remove even the toughest scale buildup from machinery, but is not intended to clean away coffee oil residue as well as Cleancaf®.
Q: Can I Use Vinegar to Clean my Brewer?
A: Vinegar depending upon strength can be highly caustic and while remote have a negative effect on metal. Further we have found vinegar to be ineffective for proper descaling. Given these two combined vinegar as a descaler should not be used in the Brazen. As shown in the attached we recommend Dezcal or citric acid mixed either to the Dezcals instructions or those shown for citric acid.
Q: Could explain how to clean with citric acid. No commercial cleaner is available in my country.
A: Maintenance cleaning procedure: Use 1 T citric acid per 4 cups water. You can find citric acid at feed stores, homebrew shops and pharmacies.
Restorative Descaling Procedure: Mix 50 g (4 T) of granular citric acid in 2 cups of warm water until dissolved. This is 10%. Note: Many people use 1 T/4 cups as a maintenance solution – we are doing restorative, hence much stronger, but with very short contact time. You can find citric acid at feed stores, homebrew shops and pharmacies. Dezcal commercial descaler will work as well.
- Put solution in brewer.
- With manual release, heat to 150 F.
- Release water until half is gone – about 30 seconds. (fully clogged units started flowing within about 15 seconds)
- Shut the valve and wait 30 seconds.
- Open the valve and allow to fully drain. (Solution can be saved for many more uses.)
- Fill reservoir with water. Again, heat to about 150 and let drain through. If everything is now working right, release time should be between 2:30 and 3:00 minutes.