How to Clean a Cloudy Vitamix Container

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I’ve had my Vitamix for just over a year and I absolutely love it! I use it every single day, sometimes multiple times a day. Over time, the blender container starts to accumulate a cloudy film. Mine stayed clear for almost a year. It only started to build up a film over the last couple months.

If your container starts to look cloudy, have no fear! This is completely normal. It is a buildup of mineral deposits from the food and water you use in the blender. So depending on what your blending and how hard your water is, you may have more or less buildup over time.

There are many resources out there with tips on how to clean a cloudy container, so in this week’s video I tried out the two most common techniques I could find: vinegar soak and baking soda scrub.

Check out the video to see how we these techniques worked, and find the instructions below for a normal cleaning cycle, a vinegar and water soak, or a baking soda scrub.

Normal Cleaning

Vitamix container completely covered with cloudy film
Before vinegar or baking soda

After every use, cleaning the blender is simple as long as you don’t let food residue sit for a long period in the blender.

  1. Rinse the container to get the bulk of the residue out.
  2. Add a drop of dish soap, fill about halfway with warm water.
  3. Secure the lid and blend for 10 to 15 seconds or longer if needed to clean the blade and sides of the container.
  4. Rinse the soapy water out.

If you’re blending something particularly sticky like nut butters, you may need to scrub a little in addition to blending with soapy water.

Then I usually let my container air dry in my dish drainer, but I’ve seen suggestions to towel dry the container to prevent some of the mineral buildup. Moving forward I am going to try this and see if it helps. But when the time comes that the blender has become cloudy, you’ll need additional cleaning techniques to clear it up again.

Vinegar and Water Soak

Vitamix container with a few areas of a cloudy film
After vinegar soak

This is the easiest and most hands-off cleaning technique.

  1. Fill the blender container about halfway with water and add 1 cup of distilled vingar.
  2. Secure the lid and blend for a few seconds.
  3. Set aside for several hours or overnight to soak.
  4. Rinse and dry the container.

For me, it did clear up some of the container, but not fully. But if you have just a small buildup on your container, this might do the trick. Most of the buildup was high up on my container, so I ended up adding about another cup of vinegar and filling the container to the top to soak everything.

Baking Soda Scrub

Vitamix container that is clear
After baking soda scrub

If the vinegar soak leaves some residue behind, you can try a baking soda scrub. This will require a little more work and patience, but it worked really well.

  1. Add a tablespoon or two of baking soda to a small container (more or less depending on how cloudy your container is).
  2. Add just enough water to make a paste.
  3. Dip a toothbrush or other small, soft brush in the paste and use that to scrub the blender container.
  4. Scrub the entire container (inside and out if needed), especially focusing on the areas with the buildup.
  5. Mix up more paste as needed and repeat until all the buildup is removed.
  6. Rinse the baking soda out of the container, then follow the instructions above for a normal cleaning cycle to make sure you remove all the baking soda paste.

If you’re thinking about buying a Vitamix, check out my video of my pros and cons and why I bought a Vitamix. Plus I show how I make a smoothie in the Vitamix.