Imagine a keg that can order more beer – that’s just what Binary Beer’s IoT solution can do, and it can also potentially reduce costs for brewers.

Binary Beer has created smart beer keg sensors that can attach to standard beer kegs to track their location and their fill levels, so replacements can be proactively scheduled.

This sensor platform reports back to a cloud-based monitoring system that records relevant data and keeps the brewer updated via a mobile app.

The platform itself contains wifi, Bluetooth Low Energy and LoRaWAN technologies, allowing for a myriad of connectivity options for brewers depending on where the keg is at any given point in time.

It also contains indoor geolocation technology to allow keg tracking indoors, where GPS signal is unavailable.

Along with the tracking of keg location and fill level, the platform is also able to record knocks and bumps during transit, and can monitor ambient environmental conditions so brewers can be assured keg contents are still fresh when they arrive at their destination.

All data collected can then be presented in monthly reports to help brewers track the usage of their kegs and collect valuable key metrics to help them optimise their businesses.

Binary Beer has partnered with Five Barrel Brewing, a Wollongong-based brewery in developing a pilot program to trial the device.

Significant cost savings for brewers

According to Binary Beer, the goal is to increase ROI on kegs for brewers.

“Our reports help brewers maximise the use of their existing kegs by reducing their time left out in the field, and our sensors aim to lower their incidence of theft and damage, increasing their expected lifetime from three years to over ten years,” said Binary Beer’s CEO Michael Burton.

The cost of maintaining a keg fleet is significant. On average, each keg costs $250 each, and has an expected lifetime of three years before they are lost or damaged.

If a brewer has a fleet of 6000 kegs, this equates to a cost of $42,360 a month.

Binary Beer’s goal is to halve the amount of kegs a brewer uses and increase their longevity.

Based on the same brewer using only 3000 kegs with a lifetime of ten years, then adding the $5 per keg per month charge that Binary Beer charges brewers, this equates to monthly costs of only $21,250, which represents just over 50 percent in savings.

This project has been named a finalist in the Secondary Industry category of the Australian IoT Awards 2017. View the full list of finalists here.