Sterilizing options?

Hi all,

I've just been given 30+ used wine bottles (leftovers from Christmas) for my Muntons Premier Merlot batch which is just about cleared and ready to rack off.
My question is sterlaising options, So far I have been using a Bruclens cleaner (sodium percarbonate) for equipment and the first batch of bottles, which is effective but quite pricey.
I wondered are there any cheaper solutions out there?

I have been looking around and thought of Milton Sterilising Tablets which are used for steralising baby bottles?
Has anyone had any bad experiences with these?

Any thoughts and feedback would be more than welcome

Have you ever considered dry heat as an option. Many frown upon it, many support it. I find I would rather sterilize than sanitize. Heat bottles gradually to 338°f let bake for one hour. Leave in oven to cool. Depending on whether you bottle that day or not, you could either drape them with Saran on bottle day. You could also wrap them in foil before the bake and they will remain sterilized indefinitely. Someone I'm sure will follow up by telling you not to bake. I have learned it is personal preference. I have a bit of OCD so I would rather kill ALL bugs than MOST.
Cheers

If the bottles have sediment or are dirty, I would soak in oxyclean free & warm water to clean. Then thoroughly rinse and dry.

Can't beat StarSan for the effectiveness and price. One small bottle at $7.99 should last you years at the recommended dilution rates. It's no rinse, no fuss, and extremely effective.

Remember though that most of these "sanitize" and do not "sterilize". Somewhere in the upper 99.9% removal ranges. To 100% sterilize you typically need very high temps (boiling water), or steam/pressure as in an autoclave.

edit - stupid comment that's N/A, didn't fully read the OP

Hi all thanks for the replys

I have decided to go with baby bottle steralising tablets, They do smell of swimming pools at first but after a thorough rinsing the oder is gone and theirs no tainted taste to the water.

They are amazing value to, I picked up 48 tablets for £2 (1 gallon of water per tablet)
So thanks for all your advice. Hope this also helps others in deciding on steralising options

On my bottles, they get a soak in generic unscented oxyclean and hot water to break up any gunk in them. I'll use a bottle brush to scrub them out if there are any tough gunk spots. Then, drain and dry on a bottle rack.

Come brew day, I like to use idophor. It's a food safe iodine based sterilizer that's also no-rinse. It's even cheaper than star san and works perfectly.

A home brewing friend of mine uses supermarket own brand baby bottle steriliser and it works well for him. I decided to go the Star San route and bought a 16oz bottle from the-home-brew-shop.co.uk for about £13. With the low dilution rate and the fact you can re-use a solution, I reckon it'll last me a few years. Best value for money in my opinion. There's no rinsing involved either, so it's a real time saver.

Leave in oven to cool. Depending on whether you bottle that day or not, you could either drape them with Saran on bottle day.

I'm going to chime in with another vote for dry heat.

I've bleached and star-saned bottles in the past. Can't beat the simplicity of the oven. I stack the bottles in there the night before bottling, set the timer and go to bed. The next morning they are cooled off and ready to go.

I agree this may make the bottle more fragile over several heat-cool cycles, but you're inspecting your bottles for cracks and damage BEFORE use, right? That should be standard procedure on any bottle day.