Hi,
Sorry, this is a bit long and rambling, but I'm trying to record my experience so far, and see if anyone already using the scales has any advice, pointers, etc.
I recently picked up some of the Plaato Keg Scales for my five keg keezer. The headspace in my keezer is very tight, and I was afraid even the 1" height of the scales would be a problem. The solution is to switch my kegs from pin lock to ball lock, and then use disconnects I found that come out at 90 degrees instead of 45, keeping all the tubing much closer to the tops of the kegs. I'm swapping out the posts and disconnects as I put in a new keg. Right now I only have one scale in place, which I put in last week.
I really like the design of the scale, and since I have shorter, wider, pin lock kegs, the keg diameter is pretty much exactly the same as the scale. I tared the first scale I installed, and weighed the empty keg on it. The keg came in at 9.25 lb, which is very close to the 9.4 lb I got from a bathroom scale and have been using all along. The keg that I put on it is pretty much full, and weighed 51.5 lb, using the bathroom scale.
The keg fit in my keezer is tight, like all five kegs almost, but not quite, touch each other. I have a false floor in it, so all five kegs sit at compressor height (reason for the tight headspace). The first issue I can see will be getting the kegs in the perfect position - perhaps I can mark that somehow. With just kegs, I could always scoot them around to reposition them a little. I was able to do that with the one scale, but it will get harder as I add more scales. And you obviously can't slide the scales with their three rubber feet.
Anyway, I got the scale positioned and the keg sitting right on top of it. At that point I had not connecting any tubing yet. I checked the scale in the Plaato app, and it was showing something like 55 or 57 pounds, which seemed way off from what it should be. I had already entered the OG and FG, which gave me the calculated ABV, and I believe is used in calculating the beer weight. Anyway, it was saying I had something like 105% of beer in the keg, based on the weight is showed.
After messing with the app some more, I entered the known keg weight (51.5 lb), which changed the keg volume to 4.99 gallons and the keg 99% full. This gives me the starting values I expected, but is this really the way to set the keg weight? And will it continue to be accurate as we drink from it? The beer I just kegged is a stout, so it's carbing on a nitrogen mix right now. I haven't poured any beer from the keg as it would be wasted as a flat stout. It probably needs another week before I pour my first pint and see how the scale reacts.
The other item I noticed was the temperature in the app. After it had been in the keezer for a while, it kept showing something like 57 degrees Fahrenheit. That was obviously way too high, so I messed with the temperature offset on the debug page. That seems to have really messed up the temperature. Right now I've set the offset back to zero, and it says the keezer temperature is 24 degrees all the time.
My keezer is controlled with a Johnson temperature controller and is set to 38 degrees. The controller probe is in a thermowell, inside a 16oz bottle of water, so it has a slow response to temperature changes. The keg scale should obviously show a much wider temperature swing, as the keezer cycles on and off, but that doesn't seem to be the case either.
The temperature issue isn't really a big deal for me as I really only care what the beer temperature is and not the air temperature in the keezer. But it still bugs me that this doesn't seem to be working. Much more important is the keg weight, and how accurately it measures how much beer is left.
I should also mention that I've installed one under my nitro tank. I had to guess at tank weight on that as I don't have an empty weight to base it on. I also don't know how full it is as it was filled almost two years ago. So for now I just entered data to show the tank was half full. That has dropped a little as the stout carbs, which it should. That scale shows a temperature of 79.25 degrees. It's just sitting on the floor in our basement, which is more in the 68 to 70 degree range right now.
So, what are your thoughts on this product? Did yours work correctly right out of the box? I really want to like it, especially after the money I've sank into it with the scales and new keg fittings, but right now I'm just not sure.
Thanks for your input!
Sorry, this is a bit long and rambling, but I'm trying to record my experience so far, and see if anyone already using the scales has any advice, pointers, etc.
I recently picked up some of the Plaato Keg Scales for my five keg keezer. The headspace in my keezer is very tight, and I was afraid even the 1" height of the scales would be a problem. The solution is to switch my kegs from pin lock to ball lock, and then use disconnects I found that come out at 90 degrees instead of 45, keeping all the tubing much closer to the tops of the kegs. I'm swapping out the posts and disconnects as I put in a new keg. Right now I only have one scale in place, which I put in last week.
I really like the design of the scale, and since I have shorter, wider, pin lock kegs, the keg diameter is pretty much exactly the same as the scale. I tared the first scale I installed, and weighed the empty keg on it. The keg came in at 9.25 lb, which is very close to the 9.4 lb I got from a bathroom scale and have been using all along. The keg that I put on it is pretty much full, and weighed 51.5 lb, using the bathroom scale.
The keg fit in my keezer is tight, like all five kegs almost, but not quite, touch each other. I have a false floor in it, so all five kegs sit at compressor height (reason for the tight headspace). The first issue I can see will be getting the kegs in the perfect position - perhaps I can mark that somehow. With just kegs, I could always scoot them around to reposition them a little. I was able to do that with the one scale, but it will get harder as I add more scales. And you obviously can't slide the scales with their three rubber feet.
Anyway, I got the scale positioned and the keg sitting right on top of it. At that point I had not connecting any tubing yet. I checked the scale in the Plaato app, and it was showing something like 55 or 57 pounds, which seemed way off from what it should be. I had already entered the OG and FG, which gave me the calculated ABV, and I believe is used in calculating the beer weight. Anyway, it was saying I had something like 105% of beer in the keg, based on the weight is showed.
After messing with the app some more, I entered the known keg weight (51.5 lb), which changed the keg volume to 4.99 gallons and the keg 99% full. This gives me the starting values I expected, but is this really the way to set the keg weight? And will it continue to be accurate as we drink from it? The beer I just kegged is a stout, so it's carbing on a nitrogen mix right now. I haven't poured any beer from the keg as it would be wasted as a flat stout. It probably needs another week before I pour my first pint and see how the scale reacts.
The other item I noticed was the temperature in the app. After it had been in the keezer for a while, it kept showing something like 57 degrees Fahrenheit. That was obviously way too high, so I messed with the temperature offset on the debug page. That seems to have really messed up the temperature. Right now I've set the offset back to zero, and it says the keezer temperature is 24 degrees all the time.
My keezer is controlled with a Johnson temperature controller and is set to 38 degrees. The controller probe is in a thermowell, inside a 16oz bottle of water, so it has a slow response to temperature changes. The keg scale should obviously show a much wider temperature swing, as the keezer cycles on and off, but that doesn't seem to be the case either.
The temperature issue isn't really a big deal for me as I really only care what the beer temperature is and not the air temperature in the keezer. But it still bugs me that this doesn't seem to be working. Much more important is the keg weight, and how accurately it measures how much beer is left.
I should also mention that I've installed one under my nitro tank. I had to guess at tank weight on that as I don't have an empty weight to base it on. I also don't know how full it is as it was filled almost two years ago. So for now I just entered data to show the tank was half full. That has dropped a little as the stout carbs, which it should. That scale shows a temperature of 79.25 degrees. It's just sitting on the floor in our basement, which is more in the 68 to 70 degree range right now.
So, what are your thoughts on this product? Did yours work correctly right out of the box? I really want to like it, especially after the money I've sank into it with the scales and new keg fittings, but right now I'm just not sure.
Thanks for your input!
