How to tell when keg is empty...Newbie question!!

[Pat8338]

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but this is my first kegerator. When I try to poor a beer, nothing comes out. It just spits out some foam. It was working fine previous to this. I'm guessing the keg is empty, but how do I know for sure.

[psychodad]

It will be very light.

[Sketch]

To elaborate:

Pick it up and slosh it around - you should be able to guesstimate how much remains. Some liquid will still remain in the bottom of the keg after it stops pouring - so don't stress yourself to get every last drop.

[FCSquid]

I'm guessing the keg is empty, but how do I know for sure.

When all your freeloading buddies who were your best friends just minutes before mysteriously disappear, then it's official: It's booted.

[Pat8338]

Thanks for the answers guys. I sloshed it around and there is only a little bit left.

[Kegerators]

usually I reach in with one hand and try and lift it, once it starts moving easily it's only got about 1 - 3 gallons left. Also from experience the beer pouring out seems to get really big bubbles toward the end of the barrel.

[FCSquid]

If it's quiet where your kegerator is, you can often hear the last of the beer going up the liquid tube just before it starts drawing gas up to the beer line. I can usually predict within about 5 or 6 pints when the keg is about to kick, and then start listening closely when I know I'm close to the end.

You'll hear a small 'burble' inside the barrel. Immediately close the faucet when you hear this, because within one or two seconds you'll get your first blast of CO2 from the faucet. If that happens on a nearly-full pint it tends to spray beer and foam everywhere.

The trick I've started using is to immediately close the faucet when I hear the burble regardless of how much I draw into my glass. Finish the pint, murmur a short prayer of thanks to St. Lupulin, the patron saint of hops for another well-enjoyed barrel, and then head back to the kegerator.

I shut off the gas at the canister and then open the faucet again into my empty glass. The CO2 pressure already present in the keg pushes out the remaining foam/beer mix from the beer line which I find to be helpful when I get ready to clean my lines (I always clean my system between kegs, even if it's the same beer going back in next time). Then when you push the cleaning solution back though the beer line, you're discharging much less beer into the bucket.

Hope that's a helpful tip. After 13 barrels, I'm getting this system down to a science.

[bonefish]

It's pretty inconvenient to run out of beer. When mine is close to empty, I go ahead and empty it into my growlers. Then I can grab a new keg on the way home from work, instead of a Saturday morning.
SEAN

[Brewdude]

Empty keg

Prekegerator days, all I had was a bucket full of ice and when the keg was empty it was always pretty easy to tell, it would just float.

Now I live the good life and have a kegerator, a little harder to tell when it is empty. So if it foams when you pour, just pick up the keg.
I usually tell by how easy it is to lift with one arm.

Homemade Kegerator

[Sherifftruman]

Micromatic sells a stick on guage that works pretty well. Spray it with wram water and wipe it off and the cold of the liquid makes it work. The lift test works well also, but the sticker gives a littel more warning and is nice to guage it a feww days or a week or so before you have people over to plan and empty into growlers as mentioned or think you will have enough.

[cubby_swans]

When it starts spitting foam, it's empty.