KegBB

Hi everyone.

I'm building a kegbot for my uncle. He however has a 4tap'd kegerator for homebrew. The cheapest I've seen flowmeters for is around 40 bucks, which is too much if I'm going to do 4 taps. Right now I'm planing on putting a switch on each taphandle and counting the seconds for which its on. If I measure the flowrate, then I should be able to at least estimate (hopefully with 1 sigfig) the percentage of beer left in each keg.

Edited softmoo (Aug. 1, 2005 19:09:58)

What flowmeter did you find for $40?

Sensing the handle seems like an okay way to guesstimate, most beers seem to pour at around 2oz/second or thereabouts. But I think the error measuring this way is going to be very high. I know at least with my kegerator, several of my friends have issues when pouring (they don't open the handle all the way somehow)..

Hugh

Edited hugh (Aug. 1, 2005 19:32:04)

Mike's the only one who knows exactly how much the flow meters cost, but last I heard it would still probably hurt to have to buy 4 of them.

Are all 4 kegs pushed at the same pressure? I'm betting that you'd see a difference in vol/sec depending on the CO2 pressure. Also, is it in a situation where only a few people will be operating the taps, or is it a free for all? At the defcon party we definitely witnessed a wide variety of pouring techniques, some of which involved not opening the tap all the way, which would cause you a bit of trouble.

dan

Edited asynch (Aug. 1, 2005 19:37:04)

I ordered a Logitech Quickcam 4000 specifically to capture people pouring. It's amazing how these people I know managed to get through college without learning how to pour!

Nevermind the way people tap kegs and pump kegs when there isn't a CO2 rig.. Nothing like pouring a pint of foam on a hot summer's day at some bbq.

Really though, I don't have enough beer drinking friends here in LA. I always keep around a variety of bottles in addition to my kegerator.. All too often people will pass on what's on top (Anchor Steam most frequently, lately a lot of Newcastle though) and go for a bottle of Corona or Rolling Rock.

Hugh

Edited hugh (Aug. 1, 2005 19:46:56)

The plan for my kegbot right now consists of several kegs, each with their own solenoid valve, merging into a single flowmeter that goes directly to the tap. Through the software, the user would select which of the kegs they'd like to pour from, and it would open that solenoid. It's a little clumsy, but it saves on the price of the flowmeters. I posted a link a few months ago for some cheap solenoids, as long as you're willing to disregard Dan's justified warning about using a 120V component in a liquid environment . There's also the issue that some beer will be left over between the solenoid and the tap... but I like to think of it as continuuing that ancient and estimable practice of blending (It's a feature, not a bug!) I've been working on some software on my own to accomplish this, but since I plan on looking at Mike's code once he releases it, I'll GPL mine as well (Damn that viral licensing!)

-Andy

Edited kegbot (Aug. 1, 2005 21:39:16)

$40 serial reader

http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id(140

Cheap tags <$3

http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id(142 http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id(141

Edited orion242 (Aug. 1, 2005 21:44:14)

Ah, I remember that discussion. For the record, I'd have little problem putting 120v through a personal kegbot, but when it comes to reccomending (or selling) parts I think I'll stick to the less deadly parts.

dan

Edited asynch (Aug. 1, 2005 21:54:48)

On Mon, 1 Aug 2005, Dan Nies wrote:

Ah, I remember that discussion. For the record, I'd have little problem putting 120v through a personal kegbot, but when it comes to reccomending (or selling) parts I think I'll stick to the less deadly parts.

dan

I (and a friend) kicked around the idea of using a 12v nitrous oxide selenoid, since we have a few laying around the shop. need to check the inlet/outlet diameter...

I figured if it's good enough to hold gas at 1200psi in, it ought to hold liquid.. not sure if that'll work or not..

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Edited nester (Aug. 1, 2005 22:14:33)

I bought a flowmeter off Mike for $40. I think he had bought it in a
batch of 10, so maybe if he bought a larger batch the price would
come down an but, but they are still quite expensive.

Edited aduggan (Aug. 1, 2005 22:55:07)

There's some definite possibilties there. Since the range is only 4 inches, it would take care of the proximity issues. I'm thinking I could mount it under a pad with a "Place Keys Here" label on it. You set you keys on the pad, pour your brew, then pick up your keys... Plus, I could design custom keychains with the RFID tag inside of them

-Andy

Edited kegbot (Aug. 1, 2005 23:23:29)