Weighing Kegs for level checking?

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simonind

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Whilst I usually have a second keg ready to switch over to, I think it would be useful to know when I'm about to empty one so I can get another brew going to fill the void and maximise conditioning time.

To this end I've been thinking about getting some postal scales to put in the kegerator under the keg I'm drinking so I can see the weight at a glance. These look like just the ticket for £20 as the platform is no wider than a Cornelius keg and space in the fridge is tight: https://cpc.farnell.com/perel/vtbal500/weighing-scales-postal-40kg/dp/IN08169

There's obviously a slight inaccuracy due to the connected lines, pressure etc, however I figured if I zero them with an empty keg whatever they read in kg gives me a good approximation to the litres I have left.

Anyone got any experience of doing this? Any reason not to give it a whirl?

Cheers
Simon
 
The obvious problem I can se there is that the scales (presumably) won't hold their zero when they turn off. You'll have to record the complete weight of the filled keg when it goes in and then track the difference in weight to see how much beer has been pulled I think.

There are these if you want to pay for a high-tech solution: https://plaato.io/products/plaato-keg
 
From reading the manual it sounds like they're calibrated to an absolute weight so worst case I'll be subtracting the weight of the empty keg. The Tare function might do that for me if it remembers that weight or it may be possible to calibrate the scales to think an empty keg is 0kg.
 
simonind said:
Whilst I usually have a second keg ready to switch over to, I think it would be useful to know when I'm about to empty one so I can get another brew going to fill the void and maximise conditioning time.

To this end I've been thinking about getting some postal scales to put in the kegerator under the keg I'm drinking so I can see the weight at a glance. These look like just the ticket for £20 as the platform is no wider than a Cornelius keg and space in the fridge is tight: https://cpc.farnell.com/perel/vtbal500/weighing-scales-postal-40kg/dp/IN08169

There's obviously a slight inaccuracy due to the connected lines, pressure etc, however I figured if I zero them with an empty keg whatever they read in kg gives me a good approximation to the litres I have left.

Anyone got any experience of doing this? Any reason not to give it a whirl?

Cheers
Simon
Click to expand...
I try lifting or rocking my kegs by hand to check how much is left. An empty keg is really light so I can tell with some precision when a keg is very near to empty. I usually have a second full keg as a reference.
 
I just write on my fridge with a white board marker as to what's in the keg, the date I started carbonating it, and how many pints it contains.

I then keep a tally of each pint I pull with the marker. When the tally equals the original number of pints I know I'm about to run out. It's been pretty accurate to within +/- 1 or 2 pints to date. Just don't get so ****** that you forget to chalk up each pint :D

Low tech but it really works :hat:
 
Hmmm. Don't know if you're supposed to leave a weight on a strain gauge (those scales) long term. They might not return to zero.
 

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