Apfelwein, Damaged better bottle, early racking

Hi all,
Noobie here. I started my first batch of Apfelwein! But it came with a cost.

I wanted to rinse my Better Bottle Carboy with hot water after iodophor + some drying time because I'm paranoid (I can always still smell the iodophor!) I didn't see the operating temp labelled on the side and poured in some hot water (180F). Well, it didn't take long before I realized the bottle was warping.

Luckily, the Better Bottle contains no BPA so I continued with the batch. However, my 5 gallon carboy is now a 4.75 gallon carboy

I searched around and around looking for any info on how a damaged Better Bottle would affect my brew and I couldn't find much so I ended up emailing them directly. I thought I'd share the reply I got back for all other absent minded people like me.

Henry:

Part of what makes the Better-Bottle carboys so impermeable is the stretch, so carboys that have "relaxed" to a significant extent will be somewhat more permeable. That is why we would not recommend using a severely distorted carboy at all and suggest avoiding long-term aging in carboys that have suffered moderate, but obvious at a glance, distortion. Distorted carboys would be fine for storing other things that are not oxygen sensitive; the plastic has not been damaged in a way that will result in contamination.

Regards,

Walter

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First of all, props for the fast reply! I'm headed out soon to pick up a new better bottle carboy. Should I wait until the primary fermentation has picked up before racking to the new one? Or should I just let this one sit for the full 4 weeks and hope not too much oxidizing will occur?

FWIW....I've never seen StarSan warp a bottle!

Also, FWIW...Iodophor is a no rinse sanitizer. In fact, you want what ever it is you are sanitizing to be wet, it's a wet sanitizer. If your item is dry it's no longer being protected.

If you're smelling it I've got to think you are using way too much.

Just remember, Hot water and better bottles do not go together well. In this case 180 degree water probably wouldn't work too well in a glass carboy either.

Thanks for the comments guys.

So I double and triple checked the amount of iodophor I use. Its the I-T-F Iodophor. 3mL in 1 gallon = 12.5ppm but I can definitely still smell it. It does say no rinse but I wanted to rinse afterward with boiling water (cooled down a bit). I did that with the plastic Ale Pail but I guess that's different from the Better Bottle. Oh well!

So do you guys think I should rack over to a new bottle?

I would never rinse after sanitizing. There's no way you'll detect a properly mixed iodophor solution in your beer. The idea of a no rinse sanitizer is that it is no rinse. No... Rinse...

Also, I would rack to a new bottle. no sense in taking risks.

You're only going to be keeping the apfelwein in there for a month or two. I think it will be fine. The fermentation process will keep oxygen out of the solution.

Good to know that about the BB though.