MoreBeer PET Carboy vs. BetterBottle

Anyone have any input as to which one is better? Looking to purchase a few for long term souring of beers

I bought some of the BB knocks offs from Austin HomeBrew Supply, they had a 2 for 1 special, so I bought 2. The only difference I have noticed is the aesthetics. My BB's plastic has uniform transparency throughout. The knock off PET bottles have some haze around the top, the plastic looks a bit hazy as opposed to being transparent. Other than that, and from the research I have done, they are both made from the same PET material and the knocks-offs don't seem to have any seems on bacteria harboring sites on the inside, which was my main concern, being food grade but maybe not brewer grade. I am happy with mine.

Anyway, MoreBeer is a very well respected retailer, I have only had good experiences with them. And the site has good reviews on those PET Bottles. The items on the morebeer.com site do seem different than the ones I bought from AHS.

I've been using 5 of the MoreBeer PET carboys for the past 3 years and I love them. I prefer them to Better Bottles because the sides are smooth. The only issue I have with the 6-gal version is the shoulder flattens out just enough that bubbles can get trapped when they should rise all the way up past the shoulder and out the airlock. Note that this is only an issue for me when I'm making wine and not beer, since I never top up the carboy when I'm using it for beer. Also, the 5-gal shoulder slopes up toward the neck more steeply so it doesn't have this problem.

As RmikeVT writes, the plastic is a bit hazy near the top but that's never really bothered me - at least not enough to make me prefer the Better Bottles to these.

These are made by The Vintage Shop and their website used to have a lab report comparing them to BB. It claimed the walls are thicker than BB, and the PET material is better, for reasons I didn't understand.

One other note: the gallon markings on the sides of mine are not accurate - some are off by ~0.5 gal. You should definitely calibrate before using.

I have 2 "Vintage Shop" 6 gallon PET carboys. They do feel like heavier PET than the BB I have handled at my LHBS and they were significantly cheaper when bought on sale with Morebeer's free shipping over $59 deal.

I do wish there was an easier way to mark the volume on the sides. I have been using a grease pencil (china marker) and need to re-mark every couple brews.

Otherwise, these are excellent carboys.

FourSeasonAngler said:

I do wish there was an easier way to mark the volume on the sides. I have been using a grease pencil (china marker) and need to re-mark every couple brews.

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I marked mine with a regular Sharpie about 10 brews ago. Haven't had to re-mark yet.

Thanks for the replies! Looks like I will be buying some knock-off's!

How well do the orange carboy caps fit on those from MoreBeer? I use those to start a siphon to rack to the keg. They look awesome.

FourSeasonAngler said:

I have 2 "Vintage Shop" 6 gallon PET carboys. They do feel like heavier PET than the BB I have handled at my LHBS and they were significantly cheaper when bought on sale with Morebeer's free shipping over $59 deal.

I do wish there was an easier way to mark the volume on the sides. I have been using a grease pencil (china marker) and need to re-mark every couple brews.

Otherwise, these are excellent carboys.

Click to expand...

I have some vinyl decals specifically for marking carboys that you may want to check out.

beersk said:

How well do the orange carboy caps fit on those from MoreBeer? I use those to start a siphon to rack to the keg. They look awesome.

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I just bought a 3gal Vintage shop bottle from Morebeer and emailed asking about the orange caps. They told me that the "smooth neck" caps will fit and I did place the orange cap on while washing and tipped it upside down without any liquid leaking out (I know gas exchange is more of a concern). I have yet to ferment in the bottle yet but will be doing so soon.

I've used both. I would be hard-pressed to prefer one to the other.

terrapinj said:

I just bought a 3gal Vintage shop bottle from Morebeer and emailed asking about the orange caps. They told me that the "smooth neck" caps will fit and I did place the orange cap on while washing and tipped it upside down without any liquid leaking out (I know gas exchange is more of a concern). I have yet to ferment in the bottle yet but will be doing so soon.

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Sweet, thanks for the info. I use the orange caps and CO2 to start a siphon into the keg.

I wonder if these flex as much as Better Bottles. These are thicker right?

The Vintage shop carboys flex more than the better bottles.

FourSeasonAngler said:

I do wish there was an easier way to mark the volume on the sides. I have been using a grease pencil (china marker) and need to re-mark every couple brews.

Click to expand...

Bobby_M said:

I have some vinyl decals specifically for marking carboys that you may want to check out.

Click to expand...

I like Bobby_M's decals and may get some someday. I used a Sharpie when I got my first BB's just over 2 years ago. Still there. I used black and it is hard to see when fermenting a dark beer.

rayfound said:

The Vintage shop carboys flex more than the better bottles.

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Ah. Sh!te. Thanks for letting me know.