Flow meter?

[JamFlowMan]

I see that this is an old thread, but I thought I would try to contribute for those that find it via search.
I just saw a meter from Assured Automation that will not only show flow rate and track total (resettable) but also tell you the temperature of the fluid.
It is pricey, but it would be nice to have one.
The tri-clamp ends make it easy to connect and remove also.
It's called the MAG series Magnetic Inductive Flow Meter
MAG.png

Well its nice to measure beer usage as excess of everything is bad

[Luc Dupere]

Before you buy anything, you can actually figure out how much that draft beer flow meter system is worth to you using simple maths and common sense.

The very first thing that you should look at is your glass sizes. Very few bar owners do this and they should. You need a graduated container. Pour a glass and measure the amount served in one. Repeat for several glasses and average the amount served per glass. Draft beer pours at 2 oz/sec so several measurements will give you a much more accurate figure than just one. If you don't want to wait for the foam to go down, just spray a little WD40 in the measuring container before pouring the beer in it. Oh and make sure it goes in the sink when you are done with it. You repeat for each glass size you sell. With these figures you can easily calculate your real pour cost for each glass size.

Look on your invoices and find the oz/keg (1984oz or something like that). Calculate you cost per oz and figure your expected cost for each glass size (for each brand as well)

There is a simple method called the pour cost percentage (Cost per glass/selling price X 100) that you can use to figure out if you are doing OK or if you need to worry.

For example: A glass that contains 10 oz costs you 50 cents and you sell it for $ 2.00. That gives you a 25 % pour cost or if you prefer, a profit factor of 4 (50 cents X 4 = $2)
If you spend $100 for a keg then you should expect $400 in sales for each keg purchased.

If you spent $10K last year for a specific brand but total only $35K in sales, it doesn't mean you lost
$5000 in sales but it does mean you bought more beer than you should have. Some of it went down the drain or was overpoured but there cerlainly is a % of it that you could attribute to unregistered sales.
You know your staff and your operation, so only you can guess how much you could attribute to lost sales.

So, going back to this $5K difference in sales, you know that if you could save that beer from being wasted that you would save $1250 ($5K/4). If you figure that 1/2 of the $5000 is due to unregistered sales, then you could add another $2500 in your pocket. Mulitply by the number of years you expect to be in business.

If you can print a report that gives your sales totals by brand and pour size, you can achieve a very accurate analysis.

There is company from Canada that has been in the beer flow meter business for 25 years. The Canadians have been buying beer meters for a long time. They have all kinds of beer meters. There is a lot of info available on their web site at index including an Excel calculator you could use for this.

[HBSean]

Liqour and Draft Beer Control

I have 19 taps but soon to get a few more. For 2008 I did roughly$220k of draft beer sales.

A good draft beer monitoring system will increase your sales volume by maybe 10% and cut your waste in half. So assuming a 6 month ROI, you don't want to spend more than $10k. Keep in mind once your staff knows you have the ability to detect theft, the problem is 95% solved. Don't spend a bunch of money of some fancy system that requires installation contractors, maintenance contract and monthly fees. It would suck to write a check every month for a problem that's no longer there.

Try installing something simple like TapMate on your top six sellers, which is probably 80% of you volume; that's a $1,200 installed solution. If you pour a lot of liquor as well, check out some type of liquor control solution like Accubar. Then you will have it all covered.

If you have a long draw system (more than 40 feet) make sure your glycol system is solid and use FOB's. That will reduce your waste drastically.
Also with something self installed and mobile like TapMate, you can move it from keg to keg to get an idea of what is being given away the most.

Bartenders are smart. A crooked one will rob you blind. If you decided to manage your bar correctly, the thief will quit and work down the street.

[krwell]

I have 19 taps but soon to get a few more. For 2008 I did roughly$220k of draft beer sales.

[HBSean]

What about the Berg Draft Sentinel system?

Krwell,
How many kegs are you wanting to meter and how much beer do you pour? Some draft beer systems are expensive to install and maintain but cost effective if you pour a lot of beer; >$350,000 annually. If you have four handles and pour, say $150,000 annually, you could justify a $1,000 investment, not $20,000.
HBSean

[krwell]

What about the Berg Draft Sentinel system?

[Scott Zuhse]

How about using a very simple device as the Smartstrip?

[HBSean]

I'm not sure what a keg-meter is. I'm glad my dad didn't have a draft beer meter on his keg when I was growing up. We would fill 1-gallon water containers twice a week. His keg would go dead a week early and he would freak. He had 20% shrinkage under his own roof.

The Tapmate looks like the simple solution because it goes on in two minutes and doesn't have moving parts that will jack up your beer.

[vipola]

So.. ? For a simple home use who don't want to have an empty keg in a middle of a party..
TapMate or Keg-Meter??

[HBSean]

Aberle, what is your company?

[HBSean]

Flow Meter

Shane,
Since TapMate is connected to the coupler, it will measure cleaning solution. You have to make sure you read the meter after the lines are cleaned and before you start selling beer.

[shane34652]

How does the Tapmate deal with the cleaning issue I brought up earlier?

[pgaeast]

Draft Beer Metering

has anybody used the Tapmate? seems like a good solution...

Yes Karamuru. I've seen Tapmate in action at a Las Vegas trade show demo and at a restaurant. It works like a "meter" should work--at the source. For example, as the bartendar pours a 21 ounce Coors Light beer, the Tapmate counter on the Coors Light keg tallies the ounces (e.g., tamper-proof counter moves from 790 to 811 as beer is being poured).

You should see the stunned reaction of bartendars when they see this hardware in action for the first time. The reality sinks in as they watch it. They know the Owner will be able to pinpoint how many draft beers of Coors Light were given away during the shift.

And this Tapmate is truly a METER, so you'll always know exactly how many ounces remain in the keg--just read the meter. I watched a self-install demo on the keg coupler with a crescent wrench in a couple of minutes, and they also showed how to replace the triple-AAA battery. It's clear that with Tapmate you don't rely on a third party for anything. It's 100% do-it-yourself. No salesman. No contractors changing your draft beer system. No long-term contracts. No O&M retainer fee. I suggest you give Tapmate a try for the $195 and post your own experience.

[Karamuru]

has anybody used the Tapmate? seems like a good solution...