Why You Have To Run Rinse Cycles On K-Cup & Keurig Coffee Makers

It's pretty easy to just run a 6oz cup of plain water through your Keurig after every few k-cups or each day to clean out the remnants of what was leftover in the machine. Watch this video to see how much nasty stuff comes out of my machines after only a couple days of coffee brewing.
I recommend for deep cleaning you simply use white vinegar in your machine but Keurig frowns on it a tad and instead offers their own cleansing pods and descaling solutions.
♦♦♦♦
BTW, I personally own every modern Keurig sold in stores and I help customers understand the differences between them all to the best of my ability. You can see the current list of Keurig brewers that I recommend to people on this page: www.topoffmycoffee.com/best-k...
♦♦♦♦
I don't use these and don't recommend them for normal people but for the sake of completeness and for the sake of my affiliate commissions I'll go ahead anyway and provide links to these products below for you to price check and decide for yourself.
Amazon affiliate links follow:
► Keurig Descaling Solution: www.amazon.com/Keurig-Descali...
► Keurig Rinse Pods: www.amazon.com/Keurig-Compati...
► You can also see the following post on my website to learn more about cleaning and maintaining your Keurig coffee maker: www.topoffmycoffee.com/how-to...
► And finally make sure to see the following page to learn more about me and what I do on this channel and in my real life: www.topoffmycoffee.com/brian/

[@teresalynnturner781]

I have 2 cups every morning. I run a rinse after my second one and if I have cup in the evening. Now I have only had this k supreme plus for 3 days, but I rinsed my old one too, but only about once or twice a week. This is a very good tip to take excellent care of your new k supreme. I love my new keurig and wouldn't have known about it if it wasn't for my sister in law. I am thankful that I have well water. It's pure and delicious! I never have any film or impurities on my keurigs.

[@Veetow-bu8yw]

Totally agree, I run a rinse cycle after every cup. Water is clear but always some coffee grounds show up in the cycled water. It's a good idea to rinse after every cup.

[@TopOffMyCoffee]

Everyone like to hear support for their opinions, I'm no different :D Thanks for chiming in with your thoughts Veetow; I appreciate you taking the time to watch the video and comment!

[@denisefigueroa7761]

What type of water do you use for the daily rinse? Drinking water or tap water or something else?

[@Veetow-bu8yw]

@@denisefigueroa7761 I use filtered water, my coffee is always good.

[@LavionSmith]

I just ran a rinse cycle while watching! Mine wasn’t to bad definitely some floaties! Thanks for the info i will be more mindful of rinsing!

[@TopOffMyCoffee]

Cool; that's good to know yours wasn't so bad.

[@SydneyRoo]

I take the out the black piece with the needle in the bottom every time and rinse it well, then every week or so properly wash it with soap in hot water. Never had a problem like this and I've been running a K60 for many years lol

[@condohatesme]

That ”black piece”, is that what’s known as the brew head?

[@orrinbelcher6593]

Wow, super great tip, thank you

[@zaraboz999]

I run a water cycle before every coffee cycle to warm up my cup. Of course it cleans things up too.

[@TopOffMyCoffee]

Yeah, that's excellent; I do that a lot too. The rinse cycle is better when it's run after a k-cup because all the residue is still fresh in the machine but before brewing is pretty good too and you get the benefit of pre-heating the machine and your coffee mug when you do it in that order.

[@richardhastings6082]

I do it to warm the cup, but it serves the same purpose.

[@jamesedgar3442]

I do use the Keurig rinse pods. I run one every Friday, followed by a rinse brew. I've never tried running a vinegar brew but I'm going to do one to see if there's any difference.

[@janellej.8396]

Thank you for sharing these helpful tips!! Btw I've noticed you have braces!! A nice way to a happy comforting smile 😄

[@TopOffMyCoffee]

Yeah, still trying to get used to those braces; not sure about this yet; it's really hard to eat right now. Most people say it was worth the trouble of going through the process but it sure isn't fun right now. Anyway, I'm glad you are finding my brewing videos to be helpful, thankful to have a supportive base of viewers. Happy Thanksgiving Janelle!

[@janellej.8396]

@@TopOffMyCoffee ~Happy_Thanksgiving to you and your family!!! Have a Blessed day. ~♡~

[@cherylperez1163]

I have descaled and cleaned my machine and put a paper clip in the needle like you said however the descale light still stays on. How do u rectify that? I have the keurug supreme

[@ursula1893]

Good video! Thanks. Any clue as yo why my brand new Kerrigan (1) sounds like it's running through creaky noisy gears (2) randomly punches a super large hole into the coffee pod causing the machine to overflow with coffee grounds going everywhere It's a brand new machine for chrissakes. This one is the Cuisenart version. My old Cuisenart Keirig started having issues (like brewing 1/2 cups)....and the cycles took longer and longer. After 10+ yrs of daily use I figured it had labored enough😂 But this new one brews slow, is very noisy, and overflows randomly. I actually hate it!!

[@1956mercy]

How do you clean the 4 side needles. Is it the same as the main one.

[@condohatesme]

My Wife and I just bought a K Supreme Plus Smart. We couldn’t get the descale light to go away. We tried several times after watching your videos on the subject, as well as Just A Dad’s videos. My Wife got Keurig to exchange our K Supreme Plus for the Smart version. So I want your thoughts on the following: 1️⃣ What are your thoughts on removing the brew head to clean it as opposed to running a cleansing brew? 2️⃣ Is a cleansing brew the same as simply dispensing hot water?

[@loismackenzie7715]

How can I soak the top needle with straight vinegar? I tried using tape to cover the vents on the pod and filled it with vinegar but it leaked out on me both times. Any suggestions?

[@Hollyhutch0422]

I did my first descale on my k supreme and now it's dead. 😳 It was going fine until I got to the last cup during descale and it sucked ALL the water out of the water tank (when brewing the add water light comes on when there is 4-6 oz left in tank, which I thought the descale process would stop at this point) I quickly grabbed more water to add to the tank because it was starting to suck air, as I added water the lights turned off. I thought maybe it was ready for step 2, so I rinsed out the tank, filled with fresh water to start the rinse cycle and nothing. No lights no blinking etc. I unplugged and let it sit over night. Plugged back in the next day and nothing, no lights will come on, it makes no noise. This thing is less than 4 months old. 1. Is it suppose to suck all the water out during descale? 2. Is there a way to reset it or is it fried? I've had keurigs for years and never had issues (with the descaling process) ☹

[@lissyperez4299]

I rinse every time I brew something!

[@garnettbrown]

The kuerig should be rinsed after EVERY brew shot. The same as a espresso machine after every brew shot.

[@sunshinetsb1]

Do any of the Keurigs reach optimal temps for coffee when brewing. I just put away my old Bunn my cafe and it got coffee really hot and I tested Keurig coffee in the cup at like 150 something. So disappointed in its lack of brewing at optimal temps for good coffee. I have the k supreme

[@TopOffMyCoffee]

I've never tested the exact temp of water as it leaves the injection needle but I suspect only the K-Supreme Plus gives water at or near the "optimal" temp. Even still it's very rare that you can brew at 190-195 in any machine because water comes off a boil so fast. James Hoffman even demonstrated in one of his videos that boiling water going into a French press still measured at only 91-degrees (C) in the press pot even though it was boiling in his kettle when he went to pour it! I've brewed a full pot of coffee into my K-Duo Plus with thermal carafe and let the coffee sit for 70-min untouched then took it's temp and it was still 156, that seems to me like it's brewing close enough for my taste - this is Keurig coffee after all. If it means anything, usually dark roasts brew better under slightly lower temps than light roasts so if you are brewing Keurig stay on the darker side and this will help offset the brew temp problem if you perceive it to be a problem.

[@sunshinetsb1]

@@TopOffMyCoffee Great info. I bought my mom a Bonavita Metropolitan after I watched America's Test Kitchen coffee maker review. My mom is 72 and prefers a no fuss machine that just makes good coffee and it was only $84. I just can't believe how expensive coffee makers are and I read quite a few reviews on the top lists from different websites (read reviews on Amazon) and I was amazed how much ppl paid for these machines to last so little of time. I guess the one I have, Supreme Plus has had a lot of failures reading reviews off many different sites but i got it brand new in the box for $45, so I thought I would risk it. Thanks for the info.

[@jamesedgar3442]

@@sunshinetsb1 @TopOffMyCoffeePlease I disagree with y'all. I believe every coffee maker ever produced in human history produces a liquid that is 211 degrees. Every machine, every cup, every time. Or I'm just super-sensitive to temperature...... 😜

[@marianspickler7290]

to clean it with vinegar how much vinegar do u use

[@TopOffMyCoffee]

I run vinegar through mine regularly, every 3-6 weeks depending on how much I'm using the machines so I usually just put enough into the water reservoir to run two full 12oz cycles, which means I need a little more than 24 ounces for each cleaning session. The less often you run vinegar you'll need more and you'll need to do lengthy pauses during the brew cycle to let the vinegar soak on the internal parts. I also have to do mine more frequently because we use well water that will leave lots of mineral buildup fairly quickly. Also, I don't cut my vinegar with water, I run it straight.

[@srishtijoshi5980]

Do you have any video that show how to clean the keurig machine with Vinegar ? I recently purchased K Supreme Plus. How often should we de-scale it?

[@TopOffMyCoffee]

I have a full cleaning video on the Keurig K-Mini plus but the steps are basically the same for all the machines. Length of time between descalings has to do with your water source and how often you use the machine. When I'm not making videos I brew about three k-cups per day in my machines with well water. I descale often, every 3-6 weeks or so but if I don't the minerals will buildup quickly. People that brew one or two a day with soft water can do it a lot less often... except vinegar will kill off some bacteria too so even if scale isn't a problem it's good to run it for it's disinfecting qualities periodically.

[@Dirty_Bear22]

One would imagine these rinse pods to contain a detergent blend to flush out coffee oils and other contamination, unfortunately The rinse pods seem like snake oil to boost sales. Let’s look at the ingredients: Maltodextrin, Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate. Maltodextrin is corn fiber often used to bulk up the volume of powders. Sodium bicarbonate commonly referred to as baking soda, is a mild alkaline salt. Citric acid is a acidic salt derived from citrus fruits. Sodium citrate, aka Trisodium citrate is typically refined from citric acid and is a mild emulsifier used in processed cheese. The only ingredient to have any mild detergent effect on residue is sodium citrate, and it’s the lowest on the ingredients list… the sodium bicarbonate and citric acid make that foamy fizzy baking soda volcano effect when mixed with water, I would assume the resulting foamy rinse liquid is made to give an illusion of active “cleaning”. Just run a hot water rinse after every flavored beverage. Weekly The entire k cup holder can be removed by pushing it out (check the manual of your specific machine for detailed instructions) and washed with hot soapy water and a toothbrush. For more severe build up or a more through clean, soak the entire k cup holder assembly in hot water mixed with Urnex cafiza for 3-4 hours, brush off any remaining soil with a toothbrush and rinse. Urnex cafiza is what’s used to remove coffee/tea build up in nearly all commercial/prosumer machines. A jug of cafiza powder is cheaper, will last far longer, and work far better then rinse pods.

[@mikewalters8361]

Rince pods are biggest waste only thing they clean is bottom needle ,really do nothing for u

[@jim-uu2db]

Too bad you didn’t bother actually telling us how to do it.

[@TopOffMyCoffee]

I don't follow, just run water through it without a k-cup; there's no extra steps. Pretend you are brewing coffee without putting a k-cup in the machine.