Advice with coffee/tea stains

[johnb300m]

For a little over a year now, I’ve had a 23 series KitchenAid dishwasher. The series with the Powerclean derived pump.
It’s run very well and cleaned adequately in that time.
I had to do some detergent calibration with it. And what seems to work best right now are plain Cascade or Grove/7th Generation tabs in the main wash. And Cascade powder in the prewash. These are the few tabs I’ve found that don’t oversuds in the PC.

However, I still get substantial buildup of coffee and tea stains in my mugs. I’m not sure at this point in the 21st century, what to do about that with this relic machine.
Do any of you esteemed members have any recommendations?
Or does a KA23 with its fast wash cycles just need the bleachy, caustic detergents of yesterday?

(Side note: I stick with the pods in the main wash due to this model’s cup design. The cover has no sealing, so 3/4 of the time with powder, the cup is empty by the main wash. And if gel was used, 100% of the time the gel is washed out before the MW.)

 

[bradfordwhite]

Simply dump coffee containers/cups after use then fill with plain water to soak, then set in or next to the sink until loading time.
When ready to load dump the water, rinse and put in dw. You probably won't even need to rinse but doesn't hurt.

Same procedure for cocoa, oatmeal, and anything else that's cooked on.

 

[appnut]

Well, all I can say is: Since 2006 when I replaced the GSD1200 Potscrubber, I had 2 Whirlpool/KitchenAid produced Kenmore Elites that over time began not dealing with coffee/tea stained mugs which was disappointing after 19 years with the GSD1200 and not having this issue. Now I have Bosch 800 series dishwasher. It has even cleaned old stain remnants out of my mugs and fully takes care of scrambled eggs on SS skilets as well as cleaning completely the linr of my CrockPot, which I've never been able to experience before. I use Finish Max 3-in-1 tabs. The wash action reminds me of a 1-arm wonder KitchenAid. I absolutely refuse to go through any of the process Bradforwhite above suggested and that's been my belief since I was a teenager. I might as well wash stuff by hand and put back in the cabinet.

 

[qsd-dan]

Or does a KA23 with its fast wash cycles just need the bleachy, caustic detergents of yesterday?

One the nose. Grab some Cascade Fryer Boilout and prepare to be amazed.

 

[bradfordwhite]

I'm curions Bob

Why it's such a big deal to dump your cup, fill it with water, and let it soak?

Is it literally too much work or ...
is this a matter of appliance principles?

---
Anytime I can avoid getting my hands dirty or prevent other things from getting dirty I will put forth effort.

 

[johnb300m]

Fryer boil out doesn’t contain bleach. Nor does it even contain peroxide agents like the new enzyme formulas.
It’s just heavy in phosphate and washing soda. Not sure what it would do to coffee stains…..

 

[appnut]

John, it's just my principal of no rinsing at all unless absolutely necessary and coffee & tea aren't absolutely necessary.

 

[johnb300m]

Thanks for the feedback thus far.
Bob, I totally get it. I don’t rinse but in rare occasions either.
And the KA23 is happy to masticate anything I throw at it.

I was just curious if the AW hive mind had any tips mi might’ve not know about, in handling tough stains in an older dw with today’s detergents designed to work and bleach over a longer cycle time.
I may be stuck as I am, in using BonAmi to scrub the stains periodically, as I currently am.

Happy Holidays all!

 

[qsd-dan]

Fryer boil out doesn’t contain bleach.

Look up Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate Dihydrate

 

[DADoES]

 
Fryer Boil Out absolutely has bleach.  It handles tea stains on the funnel of my iced tea maker.  Enzyme detergents ... WM powder, Cascade Complete Powder, Cascade Platinum pacs (the time I tried them), or Finish Quantum (the couple I tried) ... don't touch the tea stains.

But the Boil Out doesn't work for scrambled egg residue in a mug.

 

[johnb300m]

Look up Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate Dihydrate

With pleasure:

[ It is mainly used as a disinfectant, biocide and industrial deodorant. It is found in some modern water purification tablets/filters. It is more efficient than the formerly used halazone water disinfectant. In these applications, it is a slow-release source of chlorine in low concentrations at a relatively constant rate. As a disinfectant, it is used to sterilize drinking water, swimming pools, tableware and air, and to fight against infectious diseases as a routine disinfection agent.

It can be used for disinfection and environmental sterilization, for example in livestock, poultry, fish and silkworm raising, for bleaching textiles, for cleaning industrial circulating water, and to prevent wool from shrinking. ] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_dichloroisocyanurate

From the Boil Out P&G Pro site:

Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate 2893-78-9 Whitening Agent

So I stand corrected.
However I’m skeptical. And boil out looks like a pain to buy in reasonable “home” quantities.
Why’s this whitening agent better than what’s in current detergent ?
Is it in more potent amount?

 

[bradfordwhite]

So, dumping your coffee, simply filling the container with water and allowing to sit and soak, then later simply dumping and putting in the dishwasher...

A simple habit that literally doesn't require:
getting your hands dirty,
buying any other products,
using any hot water or utensils,
getting the dishwasher dirty with drips and spills(ding, ding, ding)

is just too easy?

Sometimes the easiest most obvious things are right in front of our face. Been there.

 

[qsd-dan]

I'm not familiar with the cycles and times on a 23, but if there's a rinse between the pre wash and main wash cycles, you can experiment and try using Boil Out in the pre wash cup and an enzyme based detergent in the main wash.

 

[combo52]

Tea and Coffee Stains Left After Dishwashing

I still have and often use some Aldi liquid detergent that has LCB in it, I usually put it in the the prewash cup and a good pod in the main wash and everything comes out sparkling.

 

It is hard to find DW detergent with bleach in it so you might try adding some LCB to a bottle of LDW detergent that is 1/4 empty and try using that.

 

I would NEVER have dirty mugs sitting all over my counters filled with water and even worse have them sitting in my clean sinks. I always keep the sinks clean and ready to go for washing vegetables etc don't want to waste time cleaning up a mess to prepare food etc.

 

John L.

 

[frigidareu]

Once the dishwasher finishes filling and begins washing, open the door and dump 1/8 to 1/4 cup of LCB into the bottom. Close the door and allow the dishwasher to finish its cycle. See how that works for you. You might have to experiment with the amount of LCB that works for you.

 

[yogitunes]

never a bad thing adding some LCB to your dishwasher.....

 

[cam2s]

I was going to start a similar thread…I don’t really drink much coffee but I always have a glass of iced tea sitting around. My Bosch could clean out the tea pitcher, the filter basket and the cups I use to Like new condition, in fact I was quite shocked when I first started using it. The potscrubber and the ultra wash are great machines and fun to play with, but frankly the Bosch could out clean them. As noted, finding gel detergents with Chlorine bleach is difficult. I am using some Cascade gel that says it has bleach in it, it does help but it doesn’t completely take the stains away. Every now and then I’ll take the stained glasses and the tea pitchers and the filter basket to the tea maker and run it through a cycle with a splash of bleach and it will take it off. Might have to get some bubble bandit again or some fryer boil out…only problem is those products have to be orders online and they aren’t cheap.

 

[qsd-dan]

Just be aware that adding bleach to an enzyme based detergent immediately kills off the enzymes, rendering the detergent useless. It's better to use a chlorine based detergent from the get go.

 

For modern dishwashers that have a long pre wash cycle, you can use an enzyme detergent in the pre wash cup and chlorine detergent in the main wash. Using a chlorine detergent in the pre wash without a rinse between the main wash will kill off the enzymes.

 

[chachp]

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">I have to agree with the others who don’t want any dirty anything hanging around on the counter or in the sink.  There are so many advantages to having a dishwasher and one of them is so all the dirty dishes are out of sight until they are washed.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">We drink a fair amount of coffee in this house.  We don’t have the stains issue in our cups.  We have a Bosch dishwasher and use the Miele dishwasher tabs.  They seem to work best with our soft water and I never seem to have a reject unless I loaded them in a way the water wouldn’t get to the and even with that I push the limits sometimes and am amazed at how somethings can get clean the way we load it.</span>