Incorporating protein shakes into your daily diet is an excellent way to maintain healthy eating habits, lose weight or gain muscle mass. Purchasing the right kind of protein shaker is essential to making easy, delicious shakes. The Ice Shaker makes blending drinks easy with a pop-top lid, and it can keep drinks cold for more than 30 hours thanks to the double-wall, vacuum-sealed insulation. Once you’ve learned how to make a protein-packed shake, you’ll need to know how to properly care for your new gadget. Read on for tips from Chris Gronkowski on how to clean a shaker bottle and keep your Ice Shaker in pristine condition.
Tips for Cleaning the Ice Shaker
If you’ve never owned a protein shaker before, you may be wondering how to clean a shaker cup properly. The process is pretty simple. The Ice Shaker was designed for an easy, quick clean-up to avoid issues people often experience with other blender cups and protein shakers. The tapered shape of the Ice Shaker makes it easy to fit your hand inside and scrub the container while also still being the right size to fit into any cup holder.
Remove the Agitator
Most protein shaker bottles feature some accessory to help smoothly blend the protein powder with the liquid and other ingredients. In the Ice Shaker, you’ll find an agitator screwed into the container’s lid. The twist-off design makes it simple to access and remove the part. Now, you should scrub this part by hand with warm, soapy water to ensure that all remnants of protein shake are removed.
Wash the Lid by Hand
Though the newest line of Ice Shakers seem to be dishwasher-safe, they need to undergo more testing before this method of washing is recommended. Until then, you should always wash your protein shaker by hand with warm water and soap. The lid, in particular, should never be put into the dishwasher because the heat can warp the seal, which may cause the shaker to leak each time you try to use it in the future.
Clean Your Ice Shaker Immediately After Using It
The best way to keep your new Ice Shaker clean and free of crusty protein shake residue is to wash the bottle as soon as you can. If you’re bringing your protein shakes to the gym with you and drinking them before or after, try to fill the container with hot water as soon as possible after you’ve finished it. Once you’re home, if you want to get your bottle really clean, you can add some boiling water, a small amount of dish soap and let the bottle sit for 10 minutes. Swirl the soapy water around to help remove any leftover clumps but be careful not to shake the bottle with hot water inside as the lid’s seal will not release pressure.
Removing Odors
While the Ice Shaker is composed of kitchen-grade stainless steel to prevent the bottle from retaining odors, sometimes it’s impossible to eliminate this risk completely. The stainless steel will never actually absorb the smells in the way that other bottles made from plastic will, but you may notice an unusual odor in the cup should you forget to clean it out for a few days. If your bottle or the attached lid seem to give off a funky smell, you can try using vinegar and baking soda to remove it.
First, add three tablespoons of baking soda to 400mL of room temperature water. Then, shake the bottle up with the agitator attached. This chemical reaction should help to remove any pesky remains of protein shake that may have stuck to the bottle. Another method for removing odors is to add diluted vinegar—one part water, one part vinegar—to the bottle and let it sit overnight. The next morning, rinse the vinegar mixture out and clean the bottle thoroughly with warm water and soap.
Why Ice Shaker is Easier to Clean than the BlenderBottle®
When trying to figure out how to clean a shaker bottle, it’s important to realize the difference between an Ice Shaker and BlenderBottle®. The screw-on agitator featured on the Ice Shaker is larger than the BlenderBall® in other bottles. It can be difficult to scrub the inside of the BlenderBall®, especially if you forgot to wash your shaker out for a few days and protein powder is caked to the inside. The tapered bottle design of the Ice Shaker also makes it easier to fit your hand inside and rinse off protein powder that often gets stuck to the bottom of the container.