Cleaning a Centrifugal Juicer

A centrifugal juicer has fewer parts than a cold press machine and one genuinely annoying one. The lid, pulp bin and carafe rinse in seconds. The mesh basket is the entire cleanup job, and how you approach it decides whether this takes two minutes or ten.

The routine

1. 1.Do it before you drink the juice. The whole difference between easy and hard is whether the pulp is still wet. Pour the glass, set it down, deal with the machine.
2. 2.Empty the pulp bin. Line it with a bag and it never needs washing at all -- just lift the bag out.
3. 3.Unlatch and disassemble. Lid, basket assembly, pulp bin, carafe. On most machines that is four pieces and takes a few seconds.
4. 4.Rinse the basket from the OUTSIDE IN, under a strong tap. This is the single most useful thing on this page. Water running from the outside pushes pulp back out through the mesh the way it came. Running it from the inside drives pulp further into the holes.
5. 5.Brush the basket, also from the outside. Most machines ship a stiff brush for this. Short strokes, following the mesh.
6. 6.Rinse everything else and stand it up to drain. Do not nest wet parts inside each other.

Done immediately in that order, this is a two-minute job. Left until after breakfast, the basket alone takes longer than the whole routine would have.

Which parts go in the dishwasher

This has to be checked per machine, because brands differ and several do not state it at all. What is published:

The thing that actually ruins baskets

Letting pulp dry in them, repeatedly. Dried pulp in a fine mesh is removed by force -- a stiff brush, more pressure, eventually a pin -- and that is what deforms and blocks the mesh over time. A basket cleaned wet every time stays functionally new for years. A basket cleaned dry gets progressively worse at its job.

The symptom of a tired or blocked basket is thinner juice and wetter pulp, which is easy to blame on the machine wearing out. Before concluding that, clean it properly: soak in warm water for twenty minutes, then brush from the outside. Why your juicer is not making much juice covers the diagnosis.

Stains and scale

Carrots, beets and turmeric stain plastic, and turmeric is effectively permanent if you let it sit. Rinsing immediately is the only real prevention. For existing discolouration or dull mineral film, a soak in warm water with a little white vinegar helps. Check the manual before anything stronger, and do not use abrasive pads on mesh.

Can you skip a day?

Less damaging than on a cold press machine, because there is no auger with a long housing to seize up, but still a bad idea for the basket. If you genuinely have no time, the minimum version is: empty the pulp bin, and submerge the basket in a bowl of water until you can deal with it. Preventing the drying is the whole game. Do you have to clean a juicer after every use covers it in more depth.