Sterilising using nothing more than boiling water?

[b.all]

I remebering reading somewhere that it was possible to sterilise bottles just by filling them with boiling water and leaving for some length of time. is this the case, how effective is it and how long would they need to be left? the bottles in question have been very well cleaned and just need sterilising before use.

[MightyMouth]

Filling cold or cool bottles with boiling water may cause the bottles to crack, if you managed to do it without cracking the bottles then it would probably sanitise well enough but whats the point? Star san is cheap, bleach is cheaper and both are less hassle than boiling water. Either way you arent sterilising but sanitising and cleaning the bottles is the more important part.