Measuring Beer in Kegs

I just thought of this idea and I wanted know if anyone had already done something similar or can think of a great way to make this happen.

Yesterday I went to my keg to draw a pint for my girlfriend and before I walked away I decided to gauge how much was left in the keg. I did this by seeing how light the keg was and estimating how much was left. I went back to my girlfriend and said "the keg is almost tapped, enjoy the beer before its out". "How can you tell its almost out?", she says, and thats when it hit me.

Can anyone think of an accurate way to measure the beer volume in our kegs?

COLLABORATE!

just put the keg on a scale empty and keep it on one while drinking and you will know when you are aproaching the empty keg weight

I open up my keggerator door for a bit and see where the condensation forms on the keg. It gives me a general idea of where the beer level is at.

ThreeRatBastards said:

I open up my keggerator door for a bit and see where the condensation forms on the keg. It gives me a general idea of where the beer level is at.

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Similar to the above. Pull the keg out for 2-3 minutes and read from the top of the condensation line.

Some issues with the scale idea:

I don't have a scale large enough to take that amount of weight.
A scale would take up floor space unless it was the exact size of the bottom of a keg and many keezers are already very tight fits. Aside from the floor space it would also make the kegs taller.

A leave in place solution that would not require too much if any modification of existing keezers would be preferred.

Condensation is pretty accurate but not exactly DIY, instant read, or easy to read (for non-brewers)

There was a thread going awhile back about this. I don't think much materialized about it but I'd love to see someone way over engenier a solution to this problem.

This is a neat start if you have not seen this yet, Sparkfun's the tweeting kegorator.

chi company sells stickers you can put on the side that would tell you the fluid level its similar to the stuff used to tell you your mountains are cold on coors cans. i dont know how well it works though.

I'm not going to search for it so you'll have to google for yourself. But I remember reading an article about this guy who use an arduino to twitter to status of his keg volume. I think he used a commercial kegerator, and a normal 15gal sanke keg. If I remember correctly, he had weight sensors which he used to weight the entire kegerator.

actually I will google it for you
http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/144
http://www.vachementcool.com/MooSpace/Blog/Entries/2009/11/1_I_built_a_Kegbot.html

Count the pints you pour. 40 pints per 5 gallon keg.

i use the lift to to guesstimate method. works good enough for me untill one day leaking beer dried under the keg and stuck to fridge floor. needless to say i could swear i had a never ending keg lol.. sure was surprised when the evil sound of foam started

Counting pints and lifting still not accurate enough.

So far the sparkfun examples show that a scale is possible but they took it a little farther than necessary. I was thinking about something that could go on the outside of the keg and it sounds like CHI company is on the right track. Also, maybe some sort of float switch could be feasible, similar to your car gas tank. It would have to be a vertical float instead of hinged though.

Will319 said:

chi company sells stickers you can put on the side that would tell you the fluid level its similar to the stuff used to tell you your mountains are cold on coors cans. i dont know how well it works though.

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is this what you are taking about? I think this would work pretty well. Plus it shows you the temp.

bcgpete said:

http://www.omega.com/pptst/LSC7000.html

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equally effective, but 3% of the price :

Luggage scale

Discussed in this thread -

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/measuring-beer-left-keg-284647/

This is funny, I am discussing using these Flow meters on a different thread for messuring strike water/sparge water and final kettle volumes, but if you look at the 1/4" flow meter that is sensitive to 0.8L/min it might work to mesure the amount of beer that has been dispensed from the keg. A major draw back is the beer will have to flow through the meter, I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Measuring weight would be probably the best solution, but would require a little bit of work to set up a system to do this.

ThreeRatBastards said:

I open up my keggerator door for a bit and see where the condensation forms on the keg. It gives me a general idea of where the beer level is at.

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That's brilliant! I can't wait to try this.

I like that flow meter link - and with this one, no programming - just set the little remote critters up to "total amount of water that has passed" and watch -

Hang Glider said:

I like that flow meter link - and with this one, no programming - just set the little remote critters up to "total amount of water that has passed" and watch -

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Not sure how much resistance this will add you beer line calculations though. Just some thing to think about, but it would be slick...or depressing to see how fast you can blow through a keg

You must develop beer intuition. My kegs tell me when they are almost out.

jfsp said:

equally effective, but 3% of the price :

Luggage scale

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But you don't have the fun of wiring it to a screen and having a little icon that looks like the battery life of your phone!

Bsquared said:

Not sure how much resistance this will add you beer line calculations though. Just some thing to think about, but it would be slick...or depressing to see how fast you can blow through a keg

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You could easily find the pressure drop from the manufacturer, then figure that into your line calculations. I still want a keg life icon like on a phone though. Maybe with an annoying beep when you get below 0.5gal, telling you to "recharge"

Hang Glider said:

I like that flow meter link - and with this one, no programming - just set the little remote critters up to "total amount of water that has passed" and watch -

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This for that price and the "smartstrips" for 2$ sound like the best options so far.

H-ost said:

This for that price and the "smartstrips" for 2$ sound like the best options so far.

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But for the Bling Bling factor the are surely lacking.

+ if you have a keezer they will be tough to use with out lifting the keg out to spray them with warm water.

Bsquared said:

But for the Bling Bling factor the are surely lacking.

+ if you have a keezer they will be tough to use with out lifting the keg out to spray them with warm water.

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You could use a soaked cloth to wipe them down but you bring up a good point about reading them while they are crammed in with your other kegs. This makes them less ideal.

I know nothing about electronics, but it seems you could use a pressure sensor, thermometer, and an LCD screen of some kind. Essentially make something like the Sparkfun tweeting kegerator but display on a small LCD screen at the taps?

This http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10936 +
This http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8685 + Smart HBTers (not me) =
Beer keg monitoring kit

Saw this in another thread. No clue on how well they work.
http://www.keg-meter.com/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/how-much-left-keg-211920/

Old thread
My tanks use a float switch.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/corny-level-monitoring-282465/


Cheers,
ClaudiusB

ClaudiusB said:

Old thread
My tanks use a float switch.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/corny-level-monitoring-282465/


Cheers,
ClaudiusB

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I like it! A float switch was the first thing I thought of.

I'm showing my ignorance but I don't really understand how it works though. How does that hook up to a display and how does it fit into the keg while still sealing. What is the rough cost of this?

The divide the weight of the beer-keg (in g) by the FG of your beer. You'll have an exact measurement

gstrawn said:

The divide the weight of the beer-keg (in g) by the FG of your beer. You'll have an exact measurement

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in what milliliters?

Not exactly quick or easy, but I have been thinking about this:

Why wouldn't sight gauges work? The top would have to be tied back in to the head space so pressure would equalize, but it should work? Right?

It would be a bit of an investment and hassle to install, but should last the life of the keg. Those of us with a full kegging setup probably average 8 kegs or so...

Personally, I'd want something external, to prevent all the cold-air losses.

MaverickBrew said:

is this what you are taking about? I think this would work pretty well. Plus it shows you the temp.

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What Maverick Said: http://www.micromatic.com/part-pid-SS100.html

I don't like to move my kegs after I let them condition since it stirs up the yeast which has settled out.

Has anybody every tried to gently tap on the sides of the kegs with something hard to see if they can "hear" how full the keg is by the note it makes? I think I'm going to try that myself.

arkham_razors said:

I don't like to move my kegs after I let them condition since it stirs up the yeast which has settled out.

Has anybody every tried to gently tap on the sides of the kegs with something hard to see if they can "hear" how full the keg is by the note it makes? I think I'm going to try that myself.

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I'm sure it would work. True brilliance

The fun of kegging is to learn how much is left in the keg. I tip a keg slightly. When it feels empty I figure I have about 5 more pours. Then each time you pour a beer you wait to see if the keg blows. You pour and wait for the blow... you pour and wait for the blow.. then it blows....done. Snap the out to the next keg in line and repeat.

iaefebs said:

The fun of kegging is

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pulling off a delicious pint at your house. The worst part IMO is pulling off 1/3 beer 2/3 foam and hearing that noise....