Daily Cleaning of Milk Jugs?

#1: Post by **dsc106** » June 27th, 2021, 8:07 pm

I make 1-2 milk drinks per day, AM/PM often separated by 6+ hours. Cleaning the milk pitcher + thermometer so regularly with soap and water is time consuming, and I'm wondering if I've been doing it unnecessarily?

Do you wash the jug/thermo with soap, water, sponge after ever use? Or just rinse out well with water only? Or rinse with soapy water? (Perhaps my scrubbing with the sponge each time isn't needed?)

My concern has been food safety with it being heated milk and all - not to mention residue build up on the jugs, but I am wondering if I don't need to worry if I just rinse well with water and wash with soap/water/sponge once weekly.

#2: Post by **Nunas** » June 27th, 2021, 8:22 pm

When I'm done, I rinse out the jug with hot tap water, giving it a swirl before emptying. I then give it a rub with a wet washcloth. After that, I fill it again with hot water and pour it into my drip tray, which rinses the jug and the drip tray (it drains to the sink). At first, I did not bother rubbing with the washcloth, but I noticed a tiny film of milk on the pitcher one day, which I suspect was due to the milk fat not being totally washed off with just hot water. It's like when you wash your car with spray...there's always this thin film of something that easily rubs off with a brush or rag. I never use soap or detergent on any of my coffee cups, jugs and so on; an exception is when I put them in the dishwasher. As for the thermometer, I wipe it with a damp cloth.

#3: Post by **baldheadracing** » June 27th, 2021, 8:25 pm

I do soap, water, and sponge/brush after every session. I use a pitcher rinser during a session. (I don't make milk drinks regularly, but when I do, I'm usually making multiple cups.)

I remove the steam tip from the wand and clean it and the wand whenever I drop and clean the shower screen. It gets gross inside the tip faster than I ever imagined.

#4: Post by **Peppersass** » June 27th, 2021, 10:49 pm

My routine is similar to Maurice's (great minds think alike

).

I rinse my milk jug thoroughly several times with very hot tap water -- 140F*. I dump the hot water into the espresso machine drain box, which is plumbed in, and use a paper towel to dry the milk jug and then wipe out any coffee particles/oils remaining in the drain box.

I don't wipe out the jug because I've never seen anything but shiny stainless steel at the bottom. Four reasons, I think: 1) I use skim milk exclusively, so no milk fat, 2) very hot rinse water, 3) perhaps the wipe with the paper towel is sufficient, and 4) I put the jug in the freezer immediately after cleaning. (The cold jug brings down the temperature of the milk, which, according to something I read somewhere, slows the steaming process to give sugars time to form.)

I rinse most coffee equipment and cups with our very hot water only. I don't use soap unless the pieces are going in the dishwasher. I use Jo Glo espresso machine detergent for backflushing and cleaning the shower screen and baskets about once a week, as well as to remove coffee oil buildup on the bottom of my wife's Bonavita thermal carafe. Jo Glo is great for cleaning coffee roaster parts, too.

[* Our plumber recently told me that 140F is way too hot and he's going to dial it down when he replaces our slowly leaking hot water heater with a heat pump hot water heater in a couple of weeks. He said there's a mixing valve on the new hot water heater to reduce the temp. That puzzled me -- why not set the hot water heater's thermostat to 120F? Maybe I need to learn more about heat pump hot water heaters!]

#5: Post by **BaristaBoy E61** » June 28th, 2021, 12:31 am

Peppersass wrote: -- why not set the hot water heater's thermostat to 120F? Maybe I need to learn more about heat pump hot water heaters!]

Legionella - You don't want to be inhaling and breathing this as an aerosol while showering. DHW should be 140˚F - Minimum!

IMPO

#6: Post by **MNate** » June 28th, 2021, 8:56 am

I use whole milk and thoroughly rinse my pitcher and thermometer in the sink after each use. This is not sufficient as I definitely get yellow residue buildup in the crevices of the thermometer and top bit of the jug.

So... more than rinsing is needed!

(I've wondered if the pitcher rinsers are better...) I doubt I'll scrub each use but every day would be better than the about once a week I currently do.

#7: Post by **Peppersass** » June 28th, 2021, 12:41 pm

BaristaBoy E61 wrote: Legionella - You don't want to be inhaling and breathing this as an aerosol while showering. DHW should be 140˚F - Minimum!

IMPO

Thanks! I had a feeling someone here would know the answer. We have a mixing valves in the showers with adjustable stops that prevent scalding, but not in the faucets. Would be nice to be able to feed 140F water to the dishwasher, though.

#8: Post by **Jonk** » June 28th, 2021, 2:48 pm

(most dishwashers use cold water)

I think hot milk is fairly difficult to clean, just rinsing is not enough for mine at least.

#9: Post by **Nunas** » June 28th, 2021, 3:27 pm

Jonk wrote:(most dishwashers use cold water)I think hot milk is fairly difficult to clean, just rinsing is not enough for mine at least.

We agree on the milk film. As for the dishwashers, perhaps in Europe, they use cold water but here in North America most of them are meant to be plumbed to the hot water line, even though they have inbuilt heaters.

#10: Post by **Jonk** » June 28th, 2021, 4:32 pm

Maybe there are regional differences

at least over here there has been a move to longer cycles and lower temperature, using enzymes (instead of the now banned phosphates) that won't work with too hot water. Warm temperature is also the reason why milk films stick - to keep this on topic perhaps a teflon jug or similar will work with rinsing only.