What Do I Do If My Keurig Won’t Brew? 7 Ways To Fix The Problems You Can Try Right Now (plus Bonus Tips)

Imagine one fine morning; you make your way to the kitchen whilst anticipating a nice warm cup of coffee only to find your Keurig won’t brew! That nearly kills the vibe and hinders your enthusiastic morning mood.

Yup, most of us have been there.

If your Keurig doesn’t brew coffee in proper amounts or at all, this article will help you fix it. Here we are going to see the possible causes it won’t brew you a cup, how to deal with these problems, and how to prevent this from happening in the future. Most of the time, you don’t even need to be a tech whiz to solve this issue, simple techniques will do the job.

Isn’t that cool?

If your Keurig is plugged in, the water is all heated up but when you press the ‘brew’ button, it does not brew the cup of coffee- there is a possibility of a blockage somewhere in the unit. If everything seems to be in its place and you’re using K-cups, still if your Keurig doesn’t brew, you might want to clean or reset it. After hours of research, we have figured out different possibilities of what might cause this problem.

Below given are different methods to cleanse, descale, or reset your Keurig coffee maker, so it starts brewing as it should be.

Let’s get right into the solutions and learn how you can bring your Keurig coffee maker back to its normal operation.

Or if you prefer you can jump directly to the infographic by clicking here.

Quick Reset

You might want to quickly reset the machine to make sure it’s every part is seated in its place. The Keurig coffee makers are designed precisely, so even if a single existing contact fails, the machine might stop operating.

To see if this is why your Keurig is not brewing:

• Make sure you unplug the unit from the wall first
• Detach the water reservoir and put it back again to ensure the reservoir’s magnet is also placed properly. Misplacement of the magnet might cause the machine to totally NOT detect the water.
• Once you place the water tank correctly, try running just the water in the first cycle.
• Your Keurig might start brewing again.

Try the Spank Method

If the above method won’t work, and the machine is not warming up as it should be, try this spanking method.

As mentioned earlier, a Keurig coffee maker is meticulously designed for all its parts to work in sync. Only then, it can brew your cup of coffee. The water needs to be preheated before it is pumped into the coffee chamber. If this process is not happening, your machine won’t work properly.

Here’s what you can do to fix it:

• Unplug the coffee machine from the wall socket and plug it back
• Turn it OFF and then turn it ON again
• Place the water reservoir in its proper place.
• Hold the ‘brew’ button for a few seconds and allow the machine to dispense water from the water reservoir
• Now remove the water reservoir and drip tray. Place the unit over the sink upside down and pour the remaining water out.
• Lastly, spank or bang the unit on the bottom a few times. This will loosen and eradicate any coffee grounds or debris that was stuck inside the machine.
• Put everything back again and try brewing.

Clean the K-Cup holder

The area where the K-cup is inserted might get clogged, causing the machine to not brew.

• Lift the handle of the pack holder.
• Grab the sides of the holder assembly and push it up. Pull away the holder assembly from the machine.
• This will remove the K-cup holder as well as a base from the brew head.
• Press the side release buttons and separate the pack holder from its housing.
• Take a clean damp, soapy cloth and wipe out the interior of the holder, base, and the entire housing.
• Rinse everything thoroughly.

Clean the Clogged Needle

We all know that K-Cup comes with a needle, designed to puncture its lid and instigate coffee extraction. These Keurig needles are highly likely to get clogged with minerals present in water or with fine coffee grounds. This might cause your Keurig to not brew at all or brew only in small amounts.

Follow the below-given steps to fix this problem in no time:

• Take all the filters away and wash them thoroughly with the help of soap and warm water.
• Similarly, wash all the removable parts.
• Push the lever of the K-cup holder to reveal the needle. Blow air into the needle with the help of a straw. The pressure of the air might push away any coffee grounds or debris blocked in the needle. If blowing air doesn’t seem to be enough, you can put hot water and vinegar into the needle with the help of a straw. This will clear the blockage.
• Put these parts back again in their position. Also, insert the k-cup holder assembly into the brew head.
• Now run multiple brewing cycles without placing any K-cup into the machine.
• Your Keurig might start to brew.

If using vinegar to clean the unit, add 8 ounces of vinegar to the water tank and perform brewing at least 4 times. Now, fill the water tank with just the water and run the cycle again. This will brew large cups of water until the tank gets empty and all the vinegar will flush out from the unit.

Follow this procedure to thoroughly cleanse the needle and any other clogs that might be present in the machine.

Cleaning the Needle

If your Keurig still won’t brew even after the thorough cleaning method mentioned above, it’s time to switch to the next step and clear up the needle using a paper clip tool.

 

 

• Remove the plastic K-cup holder from the machine.
• There will be a tiny metal needle that works to puncture the bottom of the K-Cup.
• With the help of your paper clip tool, slowly unclog this needle and try to get rid of any remains which you might notice inside. Check whether Keurig has provided a plastic needle cleaning tool along with the product. If yes, you can use it to clear the clogs.
• Bend the paperclip and carefully insert it into the needle. Make sure you do not damage or break the needle.
• Do this unclogging whilst running water over the needle.
• Once done, now it’s time to clean the tubes that inject water into K-cups.
• Underneath the handle lid, there are several tubes that you need to unclog using the paper clip tool.
• Put them back again and run the brewing cycle multiple times without placing any K-cup inside.

This might cause your coffee machine to be ready to brew a cup of coffee again in regular quantities.

Unclog the water reservoir

There is a possibility that the bottom of the water reservoir is clogged by debris. This could happen when you are using the coffee maker for a long time without proper maintenance.

To fix this, you simply need to:

• Extract the water reservoir and wash the metal mesh thoroughly.
• For serious cleaning, use soap and water.
• This should clean all the clogged debris from the water tank.
• Once done, place all the parts back again and run the cycle.

Simply doing this step might cause your machine to be ready to brew again normally.

Checking electrical or mechanical problem

Oftentimes, it happens that your Keurig shows the ‘brewing’ symbol but there’s no output in the dispenser. This might happen due to some electrical or mechanical issue.

• To check electrical fault, you need to unplug the unit completely, allow it to sit idle for a short period of time, and plug it in again. This will reset the circuit boards in the coffee maker, thereby, solving the problem.
• If not, you need to run multiple cycles without inserting any coffee pod and check whether the water is running.
• The water isn’t running? Check the puncture needle and clean it if required.
• If that is not working, you need to descale the coffee maker and make sure the water pumping tubes are unclogged and cleaned.
• Refer to the user manual and follow the descaling procedure precisely.
• Run the brewing cycle again to see if the machine has started working.

Other brewing problems with Keurig

Keurig brewer pumping water continuously

This generally happens when the debris is present in the water tubes, potentially due to scale buildup.

To fix this, you need to descale the unit by following the procedure given in the manual and allow the machine to cool. Remove the water tank and puncture the needle to clean them thoroughly.

The problem might be solved and your Keurig might be able to brew again.

Keurig Leaking water

Overfilling the water reservoir might cause this problem. Or, it might be due to the use of non-compatible coffee pods with the unit or due to debris clogging the puncture needle.

To fix this problem, empty the drip tray and simply place a cup under the coffee dispenser. Add the proper amount of water to the tank and brew a cup of hot water only. This will most probably stop the leakage.

Coffee grounds seep in the cup

This might cause mainly due to the use of soft water in the unit, which Keurig does not recommend. It is recommended to use bottled or tap water with Keurig.

To prevent this from happening, run multiple cycles without using the K-cup. This way the coffee grounds won’t seep into your coffee.

Excessive Scale or debris build-up

 

The first thing you need to do is run the brewing cycle a few times without the K-cup.

• There might be too much calcium buildup in the machine if used for more than 6 months without cleaning.
• You need to purchase a descaling solution or take a mixture of water and vinegar and soak it in the unit for more than 30 minutes.
• Flush out the vinegar mixture and clean it again with fresh water.
• These steps will remove the calcium scale to build up nicely.

Air bubbles

Fill the water reservoir completely, turn OFF the unit and unplug it from the outlet. Now shake the water tank gently.

This will eradicate the trapped air bubbles from the brewer that often cause brewing problems.

 Brewer turns ON and OFF automatically

Check the water level and see if it’s low. This might cause the machine to turn off as it cannot brew a full cup with less water.

Another case is when the water level is good, the unit starts brewing but turns ON and OFF again and again.

• To fix this, check whether you have preset the automatic shutoff feature.
• Press the ‘Menu’ button and go through the programming options.
• ‘OFF’ should indicate that your brewer is programmed for an Auto-Off timer.
• If you cannot see ‘OFF’, simply reset the brewer.

Brewer has NO power

Plug the coffee machine and check if it’s secured properly into an independent outlet. If it does not work, insert the plug into a different outlet.

Still, if it does not turn on; reset the circuit breaker of your home. Then make sure the main power switch is turned ON and see if the LCD control center indicates ‘Ready to Brew’.

LCD Control Center shows ‘ADD WATER’

Add water to the water tank up to the ‘MAX’ fill line. If the LCD control center still shows the ‘ADD WATER’ indicator, check whether the water tank is properly seated in its base and connected.

If the problem still occurs, try unclogging the needle as mentioned above.

Light flashing in the water reservoir

If the Keurig LCD Control Panel indicates ‘ADD WATER” and the light in the tank is flashing, remove the water reservoir completely and clean it thoroughly. Do not overfill the tank above the MAX fill line.

Check whether the brewer is properly seated in its place and its magnet is connected to the machine.

If nothing seems to work, call Keurig customer service.

When nothing seems to work

If all the above-mentioned solutions fail, call Keurig customer care or email Keurig’s service center.

Check if your Keurig coffee maker is still under the warranty period. Provide the Keurig representative with the serial number of your brewer (generally found behind the water tank). If your brewer is still under warranty, Keurig will send you a brand-new brewer as a replacement.

Infographic

If you prefer to have a quick glance at the remedies we have set described if your Keurig won’t brew, here is an infographic that can help.

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Conclusion

It is a fact that Keurig produces some of the best coffee machines on the market, however there can be times something doesn’t go right when you use it. The tips we mentioned in this article are the tips and tricks that work for many people whose Keurig won’t brew, but it really depends on each particular case.

When followed or combined precisely, these solutions might work for you as well. Lastly, it all comes down to the trial and error method to see what works and what doesn’t. If you have tried all the possible tricks mentioned above yet nothing seems to work, contact Keurig customer care and explain your problem.

If you have any thoughts, suggestions, and comments, please feel free to share them with us in the comments section below.