Cleaning Old Wine Bottles?

[Noz03]

I have a load of old wine bottles that have been left on the shelf, not properly rinsed and completely open for the air to dry on anything that was left in the bottom of the bottle. Is there any easy way to clean these without any special equipment? I was thinking some boiling water and a little dish soap and fill em up to the brim to soak for an hour, then just sanitize as usual... Would this be enough?

Thing is I don't have any kind of brush to use on the inside so I'm worried this might not be enough, and hard to tell if its clean with the dark glass bottles. I'd like to avoid getting a brush also as this is my last batch before I go travelling and it would be kind of wasted.

 

[Sammyk]

Use Oxy Clean and fill them with hot water. Let them set a few hours to overnight and they will be fine. Sanitize them when you are ready to use them for bottling.
I get used bottles from a winery and they generally rinse them after use but occasionally one gets missed from being rinsed. Oxy clean works great!

 

[Noz03]

What about using bleach or domestos? Also if this would work should I dilute it or?

 

[HBngNOK]

What about using bleach or domestos? Also if this would work should I dilute it or?

Those will work fine. Partially fill the bottles with the bleach/domestos solution, and vigorously shake the bottles several times during the day. Soak overnight, shake again and rinse well, until you can't smell any bleach. Dilute as desired. There should be dilution instructions on the side of the containers.

 

[cmiller356]

I've used bleach and boiling water. Pour bleach in first, boil water and pour in about halfway or a little more. Put a cork in just a little bit, and shake violently (be sure to wear gloves. The bottles will be pretty hot). Remove cork and pour in rest of boiling water and let it sit overnight. It's worked for me, and it's a fairly cheap method.

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

I just had this issue with improperly rinsed beer bottles (of course not found until bottling day). If the gunge is just on the bottom, a shot of hydrogen peroxide will do you. Let it sit overnight then rinse. I got a decent sized bottle for under a dollar.
Unless your bottles are super dark you should be able to hold the bottom up to a light and look through the top.

 

[Noz03]

Ok I dropped in some bleach and a tiny bit of water to make sure it covers the whole bottom of the bottle, will leave it for half an hour and then fill it up half way, shake and leave another hour or 2 then sanitize as usual, no time to wait over night because I'm leaving on a trip the day after tomorrow and am just too busy after tonight. Hope it will be enough!

 

[Waterguy79]

I use C Brite for all my cleaning. Even if you have a little junk on the bottom, C Brite and hot water usually loosens it up before the water turns cold. Just use a bottle brush if its really on there.