Though of course I mean no disrespect to Grunge the long ago Fashion choice. In fact My fashion choice for a very short period. I thought we needed a wee rest after all the excitement and Our John spent some time yesterday going through his bottle collection and cleaning a few of them with this new idea. We are cleaning out an area of the basement in preparation for the building of a new cellar/storeroom/distillery/fermenting room. It does not have a name yet. 
And when one begins a project of this kind it is like lighting the fire, you have to read every piece of old newspaper before screwing it up and loading on the kindling. So when Our John came across his bottle collection, wandering off onto a completely different tangent seemed appropriate. So.
Get your old bottles, soak and then scrub as much of the dirt out as you can with a little bottle brush. 
Here is the trick. Cut up a piece of copper wire into little pieces. Put copper pieces, a little vinegar, a little dishwashing liquid and some water into the bottle.
And shake and shake and shake and shake until you can shake no more. Or the bottle is clean. Which ever comes first. Of course you can build a machine to do the shaking but when living sustainably Me Power is the best power. Plus if your hands are busy you cannot possibly carry rubbish bags of important stuff out to the truck destined for the dump. And Voila!
The inside of the bottle is clean. Well cleaner anyway. After all some of this dirt is OLD and takes some shifting. 
Lovely. Lots of gorgeous clean bottles for more vanilla essence, and viniagrettes, and all kinds of stuff smuggled out to the truck while he was distracted. He had forgotton he was saving this junk anyway! No. I did not throw away the good stuff. But how many pairs of old boots complete with cracks and hardened tar, jars of rusted and broken pots and worn out rugs and bug eaten car magazines and empty boxes from the fan you bought ten years ago which never worked for long anyway, and old swimming pool hoses does a man need? And a raft? What? Of course I have kept the three legged chairs, antique ice skating boots, boxes of dubious tapes with no tape player and the disco ball. Disco ball? And why is there a full sized plastic model of the Millenium Falcon, that takes up an entire ping pong table. Why is this still down here? I thought you had found another home for that? Oh yeah, That!
This dust free, purpose built storage room will be magnificent. As soon as I can clear a space so the builder can get down here.
This morning is wonderfully warm. 48F (8C.) With a little rain. I hear the sheep wandering about outside so they will be a happy, if soggy, flock this morning. They love the rain. Daisy does NOT Like the rain thank you very much!
It will be a good day on the Farmy. Good morning!
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
77 responses to “How to Clean Grungy dirt out of Old Bottles”
That’s an impressive list of junk/antiques/really useful but can’t remember what it is 🙂 Borwnie points all round for making a start.
Exactly. Either it is very useful or very beautiful or it is junk. c
Hey, can you come over to my house? 😉 ~ Lynda
bet you have some good stuff in your basement! c
My boy friend has an old bottle he found while digging in the dirt. We live in central Illinois. The bottle is small & clear & it looks like it has specs of gold in iy. I clean it & he was very upset. I didn’t see the gold specs. What kind of mineral wou;d cause the gold coloring in the bottle? he is convinced it was real gold. I am not!
Such beautiful (& clean!) bottles! I am w/ you re: the cleanup (cleanout) – when we bought this house we had to shift a LOT of old wood and more.. 3 jumbo dumpsters worth, in fact. No need for a gym membership round these parts – or yours either!
Oh No.. dumpsters.. I remember those days. All our old wood we simply build back into the barn, but when we first started to turn the barn into a space for animals (gasp, what a radical idea round these parts!) There was serious dumpster filling! Exhausting work.. c
Ooh, your new room sounds very exciting! I love purging and paying things forward so I would be in my element on the farmy sorting through things AND I have a new real camera to take pictures of our progress. 😀 I have been bombarded with study material and am slowly working my way through everything even though all I want to do is just take pictures.
Awesome tip on cleaning out old bottles – you really are full of helpful information Celi.
🙂 Mandy
Go out and take pictures, right now!! You will have such fun. Pack a picnic and the camera and OFF you go! Taking pictures ON PURPOSE is tons of fun.!
what a good idea for cleaning the bottles. thanks for the tip. teddy would not set foot out the door this mourning. chows hate getting their feet wet. finally, the rain slowed down and we lured her to the car with a breakfast sandwich. she loves it when i make them for her. she will be fine at the park. somehow rain at the park does not bother her as much!
Well just think of the smells. The park is full of delicious smells. Have a great walk! c
Wow! So when do we get to see your infomercial on the telly? 🙂 I have a couple of old grungy bottles (including an old milk bottle) but I kind of like them that way, But if I ever change my mind I now know what to do! t
AHA an old milk bottle, well! I love those guys! c
Hi Cecilia, Great tip for the bottle cleaning. Will give it a go. You can never have too much swimming pool hose!!! lol!
Regards Florence x
He buys the replacement and never throws the old one away, Just In Case! and i cannot think of a use for it at the mo.. c
I really needed this. I have tons of those old little bottles I cannot get fully clean. My son and the kids in the neighborhood dig them up for me all the time. Thank you! I’m going to try this.
good for the kids recognising that old bottle need rescuing! Sometimes the outsides have been scratched to death, but John has been surprised at how clean he was able to get these ones! c
How I envy you, your resolve! I need to give this place a good de-cluttering. Great tips about bottle cleaning. I never would have thought to do it like this. When working behind the bar, we would clean the coffee pots with ice and about a tablespoon of table salt. Like the copper bits, the salt was an abrasive and those coffee pots glistened afterward.
I have no patience with rubbish. And I love this coffee pot tip, ice and salt! So sensible.. c
I would be very dangerous living on your land… more room would mean more stuff, I would become a hoarder, oh, yes, a major hoarder. Glad to hear you kept the “good stuff”, I’m in love with these bottles and have to buy mine from the local antique store.. lovely stuff for sure!!
My grandfather was a hoarder, luckily i did not inherit the gene. It is the piles of papers and cardboard and empty boxes and plastic totes full of plastic flowers! these things drive me BATTY! c
WOW! This was great what you shared with us… I’ll keep it in my mind… Thank you dear Cecilia, but also Thank you for these amazing photographs too… With my love, nia
Morning Nia, I wonder if you still have snow.. they say we might get more today! c
OH, old bottles, old anything. I have unearthed old bottles and the fender to an old vehicle (can’t remember which, but the fender is hanging in the garage) on a hillside behind our garage. At one time people just dumped all of their junk into a pile in the backyard or in the woods or along the river bank (shudder). Now I finally know how to clean these bottles thanks to you.
As for sneaking stuff out to the truck…I’m guilty, too, of sneaking a few times.
Now we are grateful they dumped stuff! Especially the good stuff. i am in love with enamel dishes and have found them under trees and in the backs of old trucks.. behind sheds. and I have to rescue them all! c
I adore old bottles. You pictures are wonderful!
Love this bottle cleaning thing – we have loads too that I have been filling with bicarb and vinegar and little stones to no avail! And eveyone needs a junk storage room – here they are used for cooking sausages in – duh!
http://chicaandaluza.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/the-sausage-cooking-room/
And don´t ever throw that Disco Ball away – you´ll need it when we all turn up for the party 🙂
Great tips, glad the red label is still intact. That’s cool.