How To Clean Aluminum Coffee Percolator Effortlessly!

This article is all about how to clean aluminum coffee percolator with next to no effort. By the time you have read this article, you will know exactly what you need to do to get your dirty percolator back to its best and make you a great cup of coffee that you love and enjoy.

These techniques will work no matter what your coffee percolator is made of, be it a stainless steel coffee pot, an aluminium coffee maker, glass coffee pots, or a percolator made of any material.

These techniques work, are effortless and will work for the toughest of coffee stains.

How To Clean Old Aluminum Percolator

This is a particular question that I have been emailed and PM’d on social media by people who have an old aluminum percolator that is still working perfectly well and by those that have a rather cool looking retro aluminum percolator.

If you are the proud owner of one of those types of devices, pay attention to the techniques I am about to reveal as they will help you to get your coffee pot nice clean and free from coffee residue.

How To Clean A Percolator With Baking Soda And Vinegar

Before I start detailing how to clean your coffee percolator with baking soda and vinegar, two unthought of cleaning products that work very well to get all types of coffee machines clean and clear of scale and mineral deposits.

Let’s get this cleaning process started with my favorite coffee pot cleaner, which is regular dish soap.

How To Get Your Coffee Pot Clean With Soap

Regular, unscented soap should be what you use for your daily cleaning of your coffee machines. Nothing gets coffee oils away like regular soap; good old fashioned unscented dishwasher detergent is best.

The technique is simple, but has a little twist and a special ingredient – uncooked rice.

First put an abundance of soap. The best type is unscented and gives the inside and outside of your percolator a good clean with a soft sponge or cloth.

Then fill with hot, almost boiling water and rinse well.

Now for the special treatment and the special ingredient.

Put a good amount of soap in your coffee maker. Add in some uncooked rice and a little warm water. Give this soap and rice water solution a very good shake and swirl. Give it a very, very good swirl for a minute or two and repeat a couple of time.

The rice acts as an abrasive agent and helps you to remove some of the coffee pot stains. For the tough stains, you will need to use either vinegar, baking soda or both.

Note: This technique works very well with a little cold water and crushed ice cubes. Filling only to the halfway mark. For some reason, it seems to have more of an abrasive effect.

Cleaning Your Percolator With Vinegar

Cleaning your coffee maker with distilled white vinegar is the best type of vinegar to use. Using vinegar will help you to remove some difficult-to-remove stains and any hard limescale and mineral deposits with little effort at all.

Simply pour in hot water to the halfway point and top up your percolator or coffee carafe to the top. Always put the hot or warm water in first. Always pour water first to any mix that you are making to clean your coffee pot or percolator.

The reason is simple, either it is flammable, as is the case of white vinegar or it is acidic or alkaline and may have a detrimental corrosive effect on the interior of your coffee carafe or coffee pot.

Now, simply switch on your electric percolator or put your stovetop percolator on the stove and run a percolating cycle for 20 to 30 minutes for a good proper clean.

Running a percolating cycle with your water and vinegar mix will get the tough stains removed and the hard-to-reach tough mineral deposits and scale.

One cycle is often enough to get the job done. However, if you need to, run a second and third cycle.

When you are finished, pour out and remove the dirty water and rinse well, very well with cold water.

Rinsing well is important as you don’t want your coffee to take on any taste of white vinegar.

Cleaning Your Aluminum Percolator With Baking Soda

If regular dish detergent and soapy water is not getting your coffee percolator clean, I am absolutely confident that baking soda will.

This method is simple, every bit as simple as the above method.

Put a cup of baking soda in your carafe and then fill with plain water, neither hot nor cold. Let your carafe steep for 20 minutes to 30 minutes.

Once you have let your carafe steep for 20 min, run a percolating cycle and let your solution percolate for 20 min to 30 minutes to get a real good deep clean.

Then rinse your carafe with water, a lot of water.

If it is still dirty, you can repeat the cycle and add an additional half a cup of baking soda.

For very stubborn stains, you can make a concentrated paste with baking soda and a tiny drop of water and rub it in over the stain and leave it for a few minutes to take effect.

When you are finished rinse well with clean water, don’t be afraid of rinsing with a crazy amounts of water. You absolutely must rid your coffee maker of any traces, hints and scents of the cleaning solution.

Coffee absorbs odors and will bring those odors into your subsequent batch or cups of coffee.

I always insist you give it a very good final clean by filling it with cool water and percolating the water for 20 to 30 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions About How To Clean Aluminum Coffee Percolator

How Do You Clean Tarnished Aluminum Coffee Pots?

To clean a tarnished aluminum coffee pot it is best to use a sponge, hot water and a few drops of dishwashing liquid. A second option is to make a solution of water and bicarbonate of soda (baking soda).

With an aluminum coffee percolator an alkaline solution is best as a every drop of acid, be it citric acid, descaling solution will provoke a chemical reaction on the aluminums surface.

How Do You Clean An Aluminum Coffee Urn?

You can clean your aluminum coffee urn by rinsing with hot soapy water and white vinegar to clean the bottom of the surface of the urn.

If mineral build up is stopping you from cleaning your coffee urn properly or is preventing the urn from functioning properly, you can scrub down the bottom with a steel wool or nylon brush. Allow to sit for 60 minutes.

Rinse properly with fresh water.

Can You Run Vinegar Through A Percolator?

Yes. To remove stain from your percolator, add 1.5 cups of baking soda. Slowly add distilled white vinegar to the mix until it starts bubbling. Then cover your percolator and give it a good shake for a couple of minutes.

Then rinse it well with an abundance of fresh water.

Will Vinegar Clean Oxidized Aluminum?

Yes, you can use a distilled white vinegar solution to help clean oxidized aluminum. You can use the solution in a lot of different ways, from letting it sit there to adding bicarbonate of soda to using a damp sponge to loosen and get the oxidized parts free.

Cleaning should only take a few minutes.

What Is The Best Cleaner For Aluminum Pots?

There are a few cleaners that you can use for aluminum pots, including lemon juice, vinegar and bicarbonate of soda. The best cleaner to use is bicarbonate of soda, commonly known as baking powder.

How Much Baking Soda Do You Use To Clean A Percolator?

1/4 cup of baking soda is enough to give your percolator a good general clean. 1.5 cups of baking soda is needed if and when your percolator is particularly dirty and needs to be descaled or if there is a strong build up of mineral deposits.

Mix your baking soda with warm water and run your coffee maker through a cleaning cycle and then flush with hot water.

Frappé-Ing It All Up – How To Clean Aluminum Coffee Percolator

Cleaning your aluminum coffee percolator is not difficult, and it does not cause you to use too much elbow grease. I don’t advise you to use steel wool or any abrasive cleaners that may cause the scratching of your coffee percolator.

Do clean it after every use with dish soap and every week or second week run a white vinegar or bicarbonate of soda to keep your percolator well maintained, clean and free from scale build up.

If you have a friend that needs to know how to clean aluminum coffee percolator send them a link to this article.

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Derek Marshall

Derek Marshall, a certified barista by the Specialty Coffee Association possesses over two decades of experience in specialty coffee shops. He holds professional certifications for coffee brewing and barista skills. Derek is also an author with authoritative books covering various coffee topics including specialty coffee, sustainability and coffee, coffee brewing, coffee recipes, coffee cocktails and books focusing on Brazilian coffee, Vietnamese coffee, Indonesian coffee and Malaysian coffee. As a barista for over two decades, Derek Marshall has worked in specialty coffee shops across the United Kingdom, Spain, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. His expertise extends to the distinct coffee cultures, specialty beverages, and brewing techniques of each nation. Functioning as a coffee consultant, Derek charges US$50 per hour. To learn more about Derek Marshall and Latte Love Brew, visit his About Me Page. For coffee inquiries, contact him at +34-639-410-375 or Derek@LatteLoveBrew.com, mentioning your name and location