FAQ - PRO
GENERAL
Kegtron Pro can improve your profits in several ways:
- Increased Efficiency – Get a complete, up-to-the-minute view of your inventory on tap. Improve your planning and eliminate guesswork.
- Understand Usage Trends – Use reports and graphs to see exactly when and where your servings are happening.
- Detect Losses – Compare usage reports against your register sales to see if all of your servings are paid for. See exactly how much was poured and when to discover over-pours and giveaways.
- Realtime Alerts – Use email and/or text alerts to be notified when kegs are running low or are being served outside business hours.
- Detect Maintenance Issues – Analyze serving data to uncover excessive foaming requiring draft system maintenance.
- Maintain Product Quality – Know exactly when your kegs were tapped and the last time your lines were cleaned to ensure the best product for your customers.
There is no practical limit. You can use any combination of keg monitors to cover your desired installation. If you have more than 5 physical keg monitors on one site, please contact us for appropriate power supply & wiring configurations.
Yes! Any size keg can be used. Standard commercial keg sizes are pre-loaded, but you can always define your own custom sizes.
Yes! The Corny and half-Corny sizes are pre-loaded but you can always add your own custom size.
Yes! If you are pouring directly from serving tanks, just define a custom keg size to match the size of your vessel.
Kegtron Pro is designed to be easily installed by anyone familiar with kegs. The keg monitor hardware is wall-mountable and is placed inline between your kegs and faucets. There is no complicated data wiring or network hubs required, only a single power wire.
If you’d prefer to work with a professional installer, please contact us and we can refer a draft specialist in your area.
Yes! Only one component comes in contact with your beverage: our flow meters. These flow meters are NSF (National Sanitation Foundation) approved.
Yes! You can use nitro, CO2 or blended gasses to dispense your product.
Any kegged beverage can be used: wine, cider, coffee, kombucha, cocktails, craft soda, water and more.
Yes! When you are serving out in the field, you can either tether your keg monitors to a smartphone hotspot or you can use Bluetooth and the Kegtron iOS/Android app.
A WiFi+cloud connection is required to setup the keg monitors, but Bluetooth can be used to track your keg level stats when WiFi is not available.
No. Kegtron Pro is WiFi+cloud based whereas Gen 1 is Bluetooth+app based.
CLOUD DASHBOARD
The Cloud Dashboard is accessible from any browser on any device (desktop, laptop, phone, tablet). It is a Web App which means it can optionally be installed as an app on your device as an alternative to using your browser.
There are no physical distance limitations when using the Cloud Dashboard – it is accessible anytime you have web connectivity.
For the best Kegtron Pro app experience, we recommend installing the Cloud Dashboard as a “Web App” on your PC, Mac or mobile device. The Web App is not installed from an online store, rather it is installed from your browser. See the User Guide for details.
There is also an option to use the legacy Kegtron iOS/Android app. To do so you must first enable Bluetooth on all of your keg monitors via the Cloud Dashboard. Once Bluetooth is enabled you will be able to see limited keg data on the Kegtron app but you must be within Bluetooth wireless range to do so. This is can be useful for mobile applications where WiFi is not available. At this time the native app operates in read-only mode: any configuration changes must be performed via the Cloud Dashboard or API.
You may encounter an incompatibility with some browsers when using the Add Device routine. Please try any of following options:
- iOS: Chrome or Safari
- Android: DuckDuckGo
- macOS: Safari
- Windows PC: DuckDuckGo
NOTE: The steps above apply to just the Add Device routine. Once you’ve successfully added your device(s) you can use any browser for normal Cloud Dashboard operations.
The accuracy of our Pro sensors is better than +/-2% for typical flow rates. If you wish to improve the reporting accuracy, use the ‘Calibration Offset’ feature to apply a correction factor as shown:
- Carefully pour a single serving into an accurate measurement container (e.g. graduated cylinder or measuring cup). If there is foam, wait for it to dissipate and record the actual volume.
- Go to the Keg Details page for the tap to be calibrated and note the recorded volume from the serving history.
- Subtract the actual value (#1) from the recorded volume (#2) to find the difference.
- Example: If the serving history reports 490mL and your measured serving is 500mL, then you have a difference is 490mL – 500mL = -10mL
- Divide the difference by the actual value to determine your measurement error.
- Example: If your difference is -10mL for your measured 500mL serving then the measurement error is -10mL / 500mL = -0.02 = -2%
- A negative measurement error means that the keg monitor is under-reporting. A positive value means your keg monitor is over-reporting. To zero-out this error, go to the Device Settings page and apply a Cal. Offset value with the opposite value and Save.
- Example: For a measurement error of -2%, use a Calibration Offset value of 2 to zero it out
NOTES:
- Larger servings generally produce a more accurate calibration value than a very small ones.
- Once a calibration offset is applied, it will affect all new servings. Previous serving history will not be changed.
Keg serving data and telemetry is first captured by the keg monitor hardware. Updates are pushed to the cloud via your local WiFi connection. Once data reaches the cloud it is stored in a database which is accessible via the Cloud Dashboard or our API.
Yes. Data collected by the keg monitors is sent to the cloud using industry-standard TLS 1.2 encrypted data transfer.
The Cloud Dashboard is secured using HTTPS and is password-protected.
Yes! We have a REST API that gives you complete access to all keg monitor functions and data. Please contact us for application examples and support.
Yes! You have several options:
- Generate a report and print or save as a .PDF
- Generate a report and export a .CSV for use in your spreadsheets
- Use our REST API to extract data directly from the cloud
HARDWARE
Wireless range is comparable to conventional WiFi devices.
The keg monitors use WiFi operating at 2.4GHz which has significantly greater range than 5GHz WiFi. This enables good performance even when installed inside a cooler. In the rare instances where WiFi coverage is not adequate within your cooler a low-cost range extender can be used. Please contact us if you need assistance.
Each keg monitor stores serving data to local, nonvolatile flash memory before pushing it to the cloud. If you lose your WiFi or Internet connection, serving data is queued within each keg monitor until network connectivity is restored.
After completing your initial setup your WiFi credentials are saved to the keg monitor hardware. To change your WiFi name and/or password follow the reset procedure described in Installation & Setup Guide or watch this video. You should now see the green network status light in a constant fast blinking state.
Once your WiFi settings are reset, you’ll need to repeat the Add Device setup process. If you have more than one keg monitor, repeat the WiFi reset and Add Device process for each device.
Yes!
The keg monitors are designed to be installed within the same cooler (e.g. kegerator, keezer, walk-in cooler) as your kegs. This ensures that your beverage lines stay at the same temperature as the keg to prevent foaming and/or spoilage.
Yes! The keg monitor hardware is splash-resistant and the internal electronics are protected from humidity and liquids.
Please note the hardware “splash-resistant” but not “waterproof”. With that in mind, wipe up any spills to ensure the longevity of your device.
The keg monitors are powered by a low-voltage AC/DC wall adapter that is placed outside your cooler. A thin, low-voltage (5VDC) power cable is passed inside the cooler to the keg monitors. Multiple keg monitors can be wired in series to share a singe power source.
No. Keg monitors are powered by 5VDC from an AC/DC wall adapter that sits outside your cooler.
Here’s how it works:
- When you first setup your keg monitor you define the keg size and starting volume.
- As you pour drinks, the keg monitors measure the flow of liquid out of the keg. Serving sizes and overall keg volumes are dynamically calculated.
- When your keg is empty and a new one is tapped, you should manually reset the keg volume counter via the Cloud Dashboard or use the “Auto Keg Reset” feature to do this for you.
No. The keg monitor hardware has a processor that stores your keg stats within internal nonvolatile flash memory and on the cloud. All of your data will be safe even it you unplug it or lose power.
Note that servings that are poured when the keg monitors are unplugged will not be counted.
Determining keg volumes can be done in multiple ways and there is no one right answer. Determining volume by weight is a legitimate method and can be used successfully. Our keg monitors use flow sensors for a few reasons:
- Physical Constraints – Placing our sensor inline allows the keg monitor to be physically placed where convenient vs. a scale which must be placed underneath a keg. You can even stack kegs which is not an option for weight-based systems.
- Accuracy – Measurements are not influenced by different shell weights, keg coupler weights or whatever box was stacked on top of your keg! In addition, flow monitors do not drift over time which can happen with load cells or scales. Further, flow meters are much more precise in measuring small changes (such as an individual serving) vs. scales.
- Flexibility – Flow meter accuracy is independent of keg size and specific gravity of the beverage.