Question 1

How accurate is the Keg Check?

Accepted Answer

One of our most frequent questions – there’s little point in beer inventory control without some degree of accuracy in the measurement! The Keg Check scale is marked off in 1-gallon increments. Now when you look at any given measurement the pointer will be either directly on a line (a complete 8 gallons etc. – see diagram a), or the pointer will be between lines (showing 3½ gallons etc. – see diagram b). Now for the math – since we can measure to a full or half gallon, and there are 8 pints in a gallon, we can see the Keg Check is measuring to 8 or 4 pints. Therefore it is accurate to + / – 2 pints on any given measure. This inaccuracy is not ‘cumulative’ – i.e. you won’t measure 2 pints under or over every time, it will average out over time. Finally, because the Keg Check is measuring the weight of beer, when you are down to the last gallon or two it becomes difficult to measure accurately. Again, this relatively minor issue disappears with the averages over time.

Question 2

How does the Keg Check account for the weight of the Keg when measuring gallons inside? Don’t you also need the weight of the empty keg as well to determine how much beer is in there?

Accepted Answer

The Keg Check works on a torque-wrench principle – the heavier the keg (more beer) means the more effort or ‘force’ is needed to tilt the keg off the floor using the leverage of the Keg Check. The scale on the handle is calibrated to measure standard 13.2 gallon and 15.5 gallon kegs. Its scale is set from 0 to 15.5 gallons, and is calibrated based on ‘0’ being the weight of a typical empty keg, and 15.5 being a new full 15.5 gallon keg.

Question 3

Can the Keg Check be used on 5 gallon kegs?

Accepted Answer

The Keg Check is designed to work with (clip on to) the standard 13.2 and 15.5 gallon kegs. The 5 gallon kegs (and other sizes) may have a similar lip that the Keg Check can clip on to, but there are many kegs out there so we cannot verify the Keg Check working on them all. The only keg we’ve had a problem with is the rubberized ones since the Kegcheck won’t clip onto the smooth lip of the keg.

Question 4

Does the keg have to be lifted off the ground completely?

Accepted Answer

No! This is one of the big advantages it has over other weighing scale type solutions to measuring your draft beer. You do not lift the keg up completely – instead you use the Keg Check to tilt the keg over (much easier on your back!)

Question 5

Isn’t it better to get a flow-meter type of system?

Accepted Answer

We have customers who use flow-meter systems (they tell you how many pints have been drawn at the tap). The reason they use a Keg Check is to find out how much beer is actually left in the keg – the flow-meter may tell you that a keg is empty, but if there is any kind of calibration issue you could be throwing beer away!

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KEG CHECK – draft beer keg scale