Getting Burned Milk Out of a Keurig

As a graduate student, coffee is my staple form of receiving 64 ounces of fluids daily.  Although I drink a cup in the morning, the final two weeks of the quarter have created an increase in my consumption.  However, last night, I learned a valuable lesson: never, EVER put milk in your Keurig. Ever.  One of my grad school friends was over, and we were working on a paper. Considering it was roughly 1 a.m., he wanted some hot chocolate.  I always put milk in mine, but we agreed that we should try to brew the milk. Again, BAD IDEA.  This terrible smell came from the Keurig, it brewed a funky, burned chocolate odor, and the metal part was SCORCHED. Like when you burn milk and cheese at the bottom of a pan while making the cheese sauce to compliment your macaroni.  Disgusting.  And the smell...we burned candles and hoped for the best.  I used some Dawn soaking power detergent and vinegar. In addition, I used a spoon to scrape the residue out of the bottom.  It still stank. Bad. I Googled, searched Pinterest, everything for answers.  I soaked it overnight with Dawn, some baking soda and vinegar.  This morning, I rinsed it out, but there were still some spots at the bottom.  I went to Super1, bought some goods, and it was fixed. Beautiful. Now it's odor-free, shiny, the cleanest it has ever been and works like a charm. You may not have the same results as me, but best of luck! Note: I have the Keurig B30, which is the mini one.  I purchased it two years ago from Dirt Cheap (salvage) for $40.  I have never had problems with it and seriously though I was going to have to call customer service or fork out cash for a new one.  Also, I'm a grad kid...which means I'm broke...so it wouldn't be pretty. 

The supplies:

-White vinegar

-Dawn detergent (overnight kind is what I used)

-Mr. Clean Magic Eraser

-Coffee-Maker Cleaner (by Whink - comes in a white bottle)

-Dip-It (blue cardboard box with a spout on the side)

-Baking soda

Note: With the exception of filtering the water through in a brewing cycle, my machine was UNPLUGGED. Don't forget to do so...otherwise your Keurig might outlive you.

After soaking overnight in the vinegar, detergent and baking soda, I rinsed it out really well and ran some cycles through to try to get all that I could.  I cut about an inch vertically and horizontally off the Mr. Clean eraser and maneuvered it in the water reservoir with two fingers, intensely scrubbing out the stuff. What was once a white eraser is now a disgusting color, but it works.  From then, I filtered out the water about five times (I'm really anal about getting the smell out).  I then used about a teaspoon of Dip-It in addition to the Coffee Maker Cleaner, some water and some white vinegar.  It soaked for about 20 minutes, and then I once again used the Magic Eraser.  Holding the machine upside down over the sink, I used the extension hose and rinsed out all of the excess particles from the Dip-It.  Once all of it was out, I put a dab more of the Coffee Maker Cleaner and filtered it through with water.  I then checked a final time to make sure I got all of the scorched milk out and even used a spoon to get the final pieces.  It helped the most however when I scraped it off with a spoon while the Dip-It was in there.  That stuff is also designed to get odors out of dishes and pots, as well as to clean out residue...so it's definitely a keeper. Also, the Coffee Maker Cleaner is supposed to be used once a week. Good to know.  Considering my Keurig is a single-server, I'll only need to use about a tablespoon with it.  It was also amazing to see how disgusting my machine had gotten.  

Back on track now....

The final thing I did was brew water through it about five times.  Yes, stuff still came out the first two times, but the final three, the water smelled fine, and my machine was beyond clean. 

So lesson learned: NEVER use anything but water in that Keurig.