How much left in the keg?

[conebone69]

My guess is no, but is there any way to know how much beer you have left in the keg? Sometimes I'd like to know how much I have left before the keg dies... ie. preparations, etc.

 

[JoeyChopps]

This has been answered before try the search function
But some people ( including me ) pick the keg up and guesstamate
Some people keep a tally count to estimate how many more brews and one guy on here is building a scale system to estimate beer consumption hope this helps

 

[certaut]

tried scales,,lasted a month in the keezer,
tried counting but couldn't find a "designated counter"
so now I just try to pick em up without allot of force
if it's "soon" it picks up easy
practice makes perfect
if it's a worry for you make sure you have another ready

 

[day_trippr]

I saw something pretty darned cool here a few months back that solved much of this question: someone had developed a Corney mod that used an extra, straight SS down tube coupled to the lid through a gas-tight fitting, that had a series of donut shaped floats (3, iirc) with magnets within, positioned on the tube such that when each one was floating at the top of its range it held a corresponding magnetic reed switch closed.

Said down tube then had the wiring for the reed switches daisy chained through series resistors, so that each switch closed lowered the total resistance (presumably, all three switches closed with a full keg provided near-zero total resistance). The output of the assembly traveled to a detector board that had differential comparitors that would determine whether the keg was full, or 2/3rds full, or 1/3rd full, or less than 1/3rd full.

As an engineer, I thought the whole thing was freakin' epic!

Cheers!

 

[Eisendrath]

I saw something pretty darned cool here a few months back that solved much of this question: someone had developed a Corney mod that used an extra, straight SS down tube coupled to the lid through a gas-tight fitting, that had a series of donut shaped floats (3, iirc) with magnets within, positioned on the tube such that when each one was floating at the top of its range it held a corresponding magnetic reed switch closed.

Said down tube then had the wiring for the reed switches daisy chained through series resistors, so that each switch closed lowered the total resistance (presumably, all three switches closed with a full keg provided near-zero total resistance). The output of the assembly traveled to a detector board that had differential comparitors that would determine whether the keg was full, or 2/3rds full, or 1/3rd full, or less than 1/3rd full.

As an engineer, I thought the whole thing was freakin' epic!

Cheers!

As another engineer, agreed, frekkin epic. A home made wheatstone bridge may be less expensive than the board. Another approach might be a home made coarse resolution linear variable differential transformer on said dip tube... My approach might be more one of pressure decay reading during a 16oz sudden volumetric change with no backfill.

My homebrew buddy, Master OB Wayne if he were to become a member here, always says "Think like a farmer, not like an engineer". I think he'd say "if you can pick up the keg with the tip of your pinkie, there's at least another night in it, and that's all ya need to know."

 

[Hammy71]

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

1.95. Cheap and they work. Damn engineers have to over think everything.....

 

[jakecpunut]

You could take the cold corny out of the kegerator and into warm ambient temps and see where the condensation builds on the side of it ?

I realize that would stir up sediment but it should settle back out... just a thought.

 

[beaksnbeer]

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

1.95. Cheap and they work. Damn engineers have to over think everything.....

+1 on engineers but with my keeser I'd still have to pick'em up to see scale, use the SWMBO method we she can lift it it's half empty/or half full take your pick............

 

[WhiskeyR]

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

1.95. Cheap and they work. Damn engineers have to over think everything.....

Awesome. I am trying to keep a good pipeline going, so I'd never put a lot of time into knowing how much is left in a particular keg, but this is as simple and cheap enough solution that I'm going to buy some.

 

[conebone69]

Awesome find Hammy71!

I'm gonna order some for my cousin and myself!

 

[Eisendrath]

Looking down from the top of my chest freezer kegger I can't see the side so the smart strip won't work.
Engineering ideas aside, this works pretty sweet.



Samsonite Luggage scale.
Empty keg = 7 lbs.
Full 5 gal cornie keg = 46 pounds.
Do the math if you want to mark off individual gallon increments

Tried it and it works great.

They've got more, lots more. Shipment came right from Samsonite:

Samsonite Manual Luggage Scale GREAT PRICE + FAST SHIPPING why go anywhere else? | eBay

 

[Tommytomtom17]

Or this