Monitoring Keg Levels

Systems, Gear, & DIY
1

I’m on a tangent today - I have my brewing calendar all planned out for the next few months, so I need a side project.

How does everyone keep track of or know the level of beer in ones kegs? Or does anyone even do that?

I’m tired of blowing a keg before I think I’m going to. I get all excited about a good beer on tap, and it’s gone in 3 weeks without something new to put on at the ready. My fiance has been trying to kick a keg of APA for like two weeks now. He’s been drinking about 3 glasses a night every other night and can’t kick it. While it’s kind of funny, I would really like to just know how much is left.

Does anyone have any solutions? I’ll go for cheap ‘n’ easy or super nerdy and complicated.

2

Smart Strip on the WWW, it looks cheep & easy

3

Weight?  Sometimes I’ll tip them or lift them to see what’s left, but that always gets some yeast up into suspension.

It seems most of my kegs are lasting a long time these days.  Except for the ones I don’t want to blow.

4

The snarkiness in me is screaming Get a Bigger Glass  ;D At 3 pints a night, it should be gone after about 2 weeks.

As for checking levels.  I do the lift and/or tip method too.

5

How about a bathroom scale?

If you did a tare on the empty keg you should be able to go pretty close to 1 lb = 1 pint of beer

6

These kegs are inside of a chest freezer type kegerator, so those won’t work from what I’ve read.

For the same reason, I can’t fit a bathroom scale.

Yeah, I know. I didn’t do the lift/tip method when he started, so I have no idea how full/empty it really was. though.

7

I’ve always gone low tech. Mark # of pints until you get ~ 40, so I don’t have to lift and stir up sediment. Bigger glasses tend to throw it off quite a bit though!

8

I use this.  Amazon.com

It maxes out at 20 pounds so I start using it when I think the keg is 1/2 full.  One day I’ll calibrate it with markings

9

i just always have something good on deck so I don’t cry too much when one goes since there’s something new to try now!

10

I’m getting better at this, but having a Munich Dunkel blow about a month before I wanted to put on the Maibock was a bummer. Hopefully my new lagering freezer will help to alleviate that part of the problem.

11

Why not use a hand scale? you could get a couple of hooks and a short piece of rope, hook the keg, attach the rope to the hand scale( they usually have a hook as well) and then just pick up the keg with the hand scale.  Any good sports store that sells fishing gear should have that kind of scale.

2C

Edit:
Example
http://www.amazon.com/Luggage-Scale-Hand-Measure-Travelon/dp/B0019TUU56/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367268608&sr=8-1&keywords=hand+scale

12

“How does everyone keep track of or know the level of beer in ones kegs? Or does anyone even do that?”

When the beer turns absolutely crystal clear and tastes better than it ever has, then its about one or two pints away from blowing.

13

THIS. so many times…

Personally if I was going to pull a keg out of the fridge to weigh it I’d instead just leave it on the basement floor for several minutes, after which the condensation line will tell me where the level is.

14

This works for me as well.  Although I don’t like to move kegs around once they are pouring clear.

15

Agreed.  Although I feel like I can control my 2.5 and 3g kegs well enough to move gently and stir up very little.  I only have a few 5’s and lifting them in and out of the chest freezer aint so much fun.  I don’t think I would do so just to figure out a fill level.

16

You guys could just keep a record how many oz did you drink from it. You know the keg size.

17

+1. I have a blank spreadsheet with lines for about 10 kegs, I tick off in columns for growlers, pints, 12oz bottle fills, etc.  I usually forget to mark a growler in there somewhere… but it gets me close.

I used to use a bathroom scale calibrated at zero for an empty keg, but once I expanded above 2 serving kegs (I often have 5 or 6 on tap now) I dropped that idea.