Simple DIY Keg Management

[LBussy]

I love watching the progression of a person who has never done one of these DIYs and they see one and “just need to get a cheaper printer.” I’m not sure they ever come back and admit having a printer is a project all by itself.

 

[yowzers]

The ol' ball and magnet thing was a good idea, but way too annoying and cumbersome.

Just wondering, did you try the Ballandkeg unit? I have a few and they are anything but cumbersome. In fact they are pretty stupid easy and reliable. They are definitely not as flashy as your concept though.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Just wondering, did you try the Ballandkeg unit? I have a few and they are anything but cumbersome. In fact they are pretty stupid easy and reliable. They are definitely not as flashy as your concept though.

Oh, for sure, and you're right. Their accuracy is unparalleled. Aside from unsuccessfully trying to connect it to Wifi, my two biggest complaints are, one, in a three keg kegerator, you can't see the back keg rendering the ballandkeg pretty useless. The second thing is that I will rock and roll the keg to carb a lot of times. Most of the time the magnets will get separated. It's fairly easy to get them to connect again, but can be annoying.

 

[yowzers]

OK, great, glad to hear you did try them as they could save you quite a bit of money. I do like the tech projects though and yours looks very cool. My friend uses the Ballandkeg units in a keezer, but he does kind of stagger his kegs so he can see the level indicators from the top. I have the old fridge kegerator that holds 4 kegs and they are definitely perfect for that.

 

[Jonakr]

OK, great, glad to hear you did try them as they could save you quite a bit of money. I do like the tech projects though and yours looks very cool. My friend uses the Ballandkeg units in a keezer, but he does kind of stagger his kegs so he can see the level indicators from the top. I have the old fridge kegerator that holds 4 kegs and they are definitely perfect for that.

I'm also using them in a kegerator, and it works well enough I haven't upgraded to anything more involved, although I'm intrigued with both the pour monitors and scales.

 

[GoeHaarden]

OK, great, glad to hear you did try them as they could save you quite a bit of money.

I just looked into pricing these Ball and Keg level indicators and they are $22.95 + $5 shipping for just one. Seems overpriced honestly.

FWIW, I just put together 2 of these keg scales for less than $22.95.

 

[yowzers]

I just looked into pricing these Ball and Keg level indicators and they are $22.95 + $5 shipping for just one. Seems overpriced honestly.

FWIW, I just put together 2 of these keg scales for less than $22.95.

Well, you could probably make the Ballandkeg thing for $10 if you wanted to do it yourself and ignore all your time. My time has value so I tend to understand why I would pay an extra $10 for something versus spending hours of my time trying to replicate it.

 

[GoeHaarden]

Well, you could probably make the Ballandkeg thing for $10 if you wanted to do it yourself and ignore all your time. My time has value so I tend to understand why I would pay an extra $10 for something versus spending hours of my time trying to replicate it.

Right, I was just giving some insight into your saving money claim. If you compared the cost savings of this keg scale to a real plaato scale then you could see more of a justification for doing it yourself...

I enjoy tinkering so for me the 15 minutes wiring/soldering up the scale was enjoyable to me. Can't say I'd find the same pleasure getting a magnet inside a ping-pong ball but YMMV.