Easy way to tell how much is left in a keg

I was doing some maintenance on my kegerator today, and observed something that I wanted to pass along (it's free). If you've ever wondered how much beer was left in a keg, but you didn't want to open the lid (depressurize and/or contaminate), and you don't want to have to weigh the keg empty and full and do a bunch of math... just take it out of the kegerator and let it sit out for a few minutes. The condensation will form only around the part of the keg that is in contact with the beer. This will give you a good visual gauge of how much is left (i.e. 3/4, 1/2, etc.)

Obviously, I'm in Florida where we have some humidity in the air. I suppose if you live in a dry climate, this won't work for you. Sorry!

Hope this is useful to some of you.

Related, this is my method for propane tanks:

Hot tap water into a mister bottle, spray onto vessel, wait a few seconds, slide your finger down until you feel where the water goes from warm to cold. Again, the liquid in the vessel draws the heat faster.

Probably wouldn't work as well on a refrigerated keg.

danotts said:

just take it out of the kegerator and let it sit out for a few minutes. The condensation will form only around the part of the keg that is in contact with the beer. This will give you a good visual gauge of how much is left (i.e. 3/4, 1/2, etc.)

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thats how ive been doin it all along... i just leave the keggerator door open for 2 minutes. Then again i've got a pretty good feel gauge based on weight too...

This also works for your CO2 tank if you keep it in your kegerator.

Good tip!

I hate the unexpected "pfffffftftftftf" foam shooting empty keg sound....

chillHayze said:

Good tip!

I hate the unexpected "pfffffftftftftf" foam shooting empty keg sound....

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That sound is Pavlovian for me to fire up the brew stand and make more

at least with bottles I can see the end ... maybe a logsheet to count the beers tapped ... maybe too much work.