Flow meter?

[Dro]

Anyone know of any kind of flow meter you can put in-line to keep track of the amount of beer used? It would be helpful to know when I have to order a new keg BEFORE my current one runs out.

thanks!

[Scott Zuhse]

If this is just for home use, there will be a keg strip which incorporates liquid crystal technology available from Micro matic soon. Otherwise, there is a device which tells you exactly how much beer you have left in the keg - cost around $1500. great for retail. Pricey for home use.

Scott Zuhse, Instructor Micro Matic Dispense Institute

[flashlite]

yeah i know one, lift your keg every once in a while. when it gets light get a new one ready, duh.

[diet069]

My 2 cents:

Like flshlite said.....lift the keg every once in a while.

Here is a trick that works with propane tanks (might work with kegs too). Pour a some hot water down the side of the keg. A noticeable hot/cold line can be felt with your hand to indicate how much is left.

Regarding what happens when your keg runs out of beer (quite often at the worst possible time)....i keep a few cans of beer tucked in the kegerator to be used for just such a crisis.

[Sudz]

This is what you (and I) want. Unfortunately they want $286 for the meter, $170 for a power supply ($10 at Radio Shack) and $85 shipping! Bleah! And oh, did I forget to mention you also have to buy a $235 "Reset fob" to reset the pint counter back to zero? Double bleah!

http://www.flowmeters.co.uk/turbine_meters.htm

Why can't anyone make one similar to this with a reset button: ?!?!?!
http://www.omega.com/pptst/FTB4000.html

Don't know if the beer would be foamy after going thru the turbine.

Also, Google for "KegBot" for a fun idea.

[johnski]

hey mmcscott..when will that liquid crystal strip thingy be available? if not soon..where can i get one? have any more info and cost?

thanx
john

.. recent happy owner of micromatic kegerator conv kit

[Scott Zuhse]

It will be in the 2006 product catalog as well as on the on line site. Keep posting and as soon as it is in inventory, we'll link to it.

Scott Zuhse, Instructor Micro Matic Dispense Institute

[Colin Kaminski]

I would very much like a flow totalizer. It must need a key to reset. It should be stainless, tolerate beer line cleaners and be accurate to 1%. I would like it to have 3/8" barb fittings and a smoothe bore (no threads). Is there any chance Micro-matic will have one of these? My efficiency varies from 9% to 34% lost. My MicroMatic draft system produces very little foam even in pitchers so it is mostly given away. I would like to be able to audit a single shift so I can focus my training to specific bartenders. In order to do this I have to know within a pint per shift how much someone is using. I have 9 flavors but I would be happy with a unit that could count from 8 meters.

Even being able to rotate it through one flavor would be of help.

Cheers!

[Scott Zuhse]

Check out this link - http://www.auper.com

Scott Zuhse, Instructor Micro Matic Dispense Institute

[Sudz]

Do you dump a lot of beer/foam after a keg replacement? You may want to look into a Foam On Beer (FOB) auto-shutoff. Micromatic has some wall mounted ones. (Search for FOB).

Plus, you'll want a FOB if you put a flowmeter in-line.

[Sudz]

My flowmeter/totalizer is up and running!

I'm currently performing calibration. (uuurrrp) Ok, ok, I'm just drinking the 1st keg to see how many flowmeter ticks are in it. After that, the totalizer can be set to display in pints.

Guess it'll take TWO kegs to see if I did it right

[CSweet]

I've had pretty good success with Sprint Enterprises' Beer Guardian.

It's based on a in-line turbine design that measures beer usage for each beer line without weighing, etc. The best part is also its simplicity.

A simple digital counter is mounted in our office (the measuring turbines are at the kegs in the cooler) and we take beginning and ending shift reads of each meter. A simple calculation of sales into ounces vs. usage in ounces and voila instant control. A simple form can suffice for perpetual inventory tracking and later calculation.

Of course, depending on the number of stations, etc., you may want to add more meters for finer accountability. But it won't impact the beer quality or taste.

I like the fact that it can't be reset. That's too easy for someone to cheat the system. Sort of like rolling back the odometer.

You can get more info at www.sprintent.com

[keg-meter]

An inexpensive metering device is the Keg-Meter. It isn't tamper proof and doesn't track inventory. But if you just want to know when a keg is about to blow this will tell you. www.keg-meter.com

[shiftyjason]

I own a small bar in Syracuse,NY and have come across a company called US Beverage Net. They monitor your draft beer being poured (with flow meters) and receive data from youe POS system and deliver that information on a login section of their website in real time. This gives you a real time reconcilliation of what's being poured and what's being rung up at any time in the day.It's pretty amazing. I think their website is www.usbeveragenet.com.

[uncre8tv]

I ran across this (dead) thread in google, am wondering why no one has suggested scales? I'm thinking of putting a cheap-ish digital scale with remote readout in the bottom of the fridge. Weigh it full, weigh it empty, watch the scale. Has anyone tried this? Is the constant weight, or cold, an issue?

[Scott Zuhse]

For home use, scales are a great method of determining usage. For commercial application, there is a firm out there called Bevinco that uses scales to weigh tapped kegs to determine removals. The carry this from store to store.

Unfortunately, no one has come up with a scale that can stay in the cooler and stand up to the abuse from the kegs moving in and out.