How to clean burnt-on milk off a frother – rescue your coffee machine's steam wand fast with these 3 tried-and-tested methods

A good milk frother or steam wand gives you access to upgraded lattes, cappuccinos or even hot chocolates at home – but to keep it ship-shape, maintenance is key.

There are short-term and long-term jobs you have to do to keep your steam wand working at optimal levels and keep your coffee machine clean, as part of your weekly coffee machine cleaning schedule. Most importantly, you have to wipe down your coffee machine's milk wand with a damp cloth immediately after it's finished working to avoid that burnt-on catastrophe, as well as perform regular purges of the system too.

If you've fallen a bit behind on those jobs and are now left with a frother with burnt-on milk, then worry not, there are still ways to rescue it. Below, I've included tips for cleaning a built-in wand as well as standalone frothers so that everyone's covered.

1. Soak it in hot water

This is the first step to getting off burnt-on milk from a steam wand, as even if it doesn't entirely solve the problem, it'll show you the severity of the situation you're dealing with. If your wand has only been left a short time, this method may even work straight away.

For a built-in wand, fill your milk jug or similar vessel with hot water and washing up liquid and leave your milk wand to soak in it. Alternatively, for standalone frothers, fill with hot water and add washing up liquid.

Leave for 10-15 minutes and then see if using a microfibre cloth removes the burnt-on milk easily. If not, it's time for more extreme measures.

2. Use white vinegar

Laura Hartnett, founder of eco cleaning brand, Seep, recommends that 'For a more thorough clean, the best thing to use is white vinegar as this is naturally antibacterial and it's also a lot cheaper (as well as being environmentally friendly) than cleaning sprays.'

For a standalone frother, try using a white vinegar like this 5 Litre one from Amazon for £5.99 to get a deeper clean. 'Remove any pieces of the frother that you can and soak them in neat white vinegar' recommends Laura. 'Just enough to cover the parts.'

If you're dealing with a frother that's attached to a machine, Laura recommends that you 'Fill a cup with some white vinegar and dip the frother into it. You might need to prop the cup up on something so you're not wasting white vinegar by filling the cup up to the top.'

It should take 15-20 minutes for the vinegar to work. After that, for standalone frothers, 'Take the parts out of the white vinegar and give them a thorough rinse with fresh water.' For attached wands, just remove the cup and use your trusty microfibre cloth to get rid of ay remaining residue.

3. Lemon juice

If you're still struggling, there is another route you could go down. 'Alternatively, lemon juice is also acidic,' says Laura 'and will work just as well. This needs to be mixed with warm water for best effect.' To use it, follow the same steps as you would if you were doing the process with white vinegar, as above.

Laura adds 'If any residue remains then something lightly abrasive should remove it. I recommend our eco sponge with scourer from Seep (£9.50 for 4). The scourer is made from loofah so it has the perfect abrasive texture while still being gentle on metallic surfaces.'

Once you start seeing progress with any of the above steps, feel free to repeat them until you get your frother back to health.

Why do I need to clean my milk frother?

Cleaning your milk frother is not the most exciting job in the world, especially if you have to interrupt your coffee time to do it. But it's essential to your machine (or frother's) overall health.

Laura Harnett, founder of eco cleaning brand, Seep, says 'Milk frothers need to be cleaned after each time they are used to keep them hygienic. Bacteria can build up and cause stomach upsets if the frother is neglected so wipe it each time with a warm, damp eco friendly cloth and send out a spurt of steam to ensure the frother is cleaned from the inside.'

Now you've got that burnt-on milk off, be sure to be quicker to clean your steam wand next time to avoid a repeat clean!