DIY: Beer Tap Handles

Pouring a beer without spilling isn’t the easiest thing in the world. But with a little practice, using your new beer tap handles on your kegerator is fun and easy. This will soon come second nature to you while entertaining guests.

How Does Beer Tap Handle Works?

Rotate the threaded handle onto the faucet lever, and complete the installation. Use the lever collar to change the placement of the beer tap handle at the end. The handle of the beer tap opens and closes the faucet. Pulling the handle of the beer tap forward makes beer flow from the faucet. Pushing back the tap handle locks the faucet, and prevents the beer flow.

The stout faucet dispenses beers. When you pull the stout tap handle, the diaphragm opens the faucet and dispenses beer. The Creaming technique that creates the foam works when you push the handle back. When the beer tap handle is in the upright position, stout faucets will turn off. Beer tap handles are easy to install.

Step By Step Guide For Making Your Own Tap Handle

Tap handles are more called as faucet handles. The tap is the thing you attach to the keg coupler to get the beer out of. What makes this beer to your glass is the faucet

With all that, do-it-yourself handles are fun and easy.

STEP 1. Choose your Tap designs

Two key elements when designing your custom tap handle are sizes and shapes. After all, it’s not about visual presentation—but also about how usable your tap handle is. The bartender may not like it if your tap handle is too tall or too big. It may turn on its side, killing all that hard work you put into the design. Ensure that your tap handle is the proper size. Follow general guidelines about size and weight.

Tap handles at the bar should be 3″ apart, meaning the average width will be 2.625.’ The height should be 10-12 “tall and the weight should be less than a pound, to use it in a busy bar.

Step 2: Step Gather your tools needed. 

If you already have a modern standardization type of beer faucets that feature either a 3/8″-16 UNC (United States) or M10×1.5mm (everywhere else) external threaded post for mounting a faucet… This means that the things you need for making your own handles are:

1. Something you can drill a hole into
2. An internal thread within said hole
3. Whatever tools needed to bring item # 2 into item # 1

For those confused, 3/8″-16 UNC means the threaded feature has a diameter of 3/8-inch (9.5 mm) and 16 threads per inch. (UNC means it’s a coarse thread)

An M10x1.5 mm thread has a diameter of 10 mm and a thread pitch (thread distance) of 1.5 mm. Some automakers use the M10×1.5mm pattern for gear shifter knobs.

Step 3: Find a way to get an internal thread of the right pattern into your chosen material. Metal items would allow you to tap the right thread into the material itself. But with a knife thread inserts or a T-nut, it is used to transform wood and plastic very quickly. 

Knife thread inserts assembled in wood or plastic using a special broad drill bit. It’s connected to a power drill or electric screwdriver’s business end. First, use a 1/2″ Forstner bit to drill a hole for the insert. Depending on how hard the surface is when you drill in, a standard 1/2″ bit should work. Forstner bits provide a cleaner hole. It shouldn’t need sanding nor repairing after you drill.

Step 4: With the hole drilled, attach the knife thread insert installation bit to your drill. Drill the insert into the hole until the surface is full.

Or you can screw the insert into the hole using a bolt and hex nut screwed into the insert, and a socket driver of some sort (either a bit, handheld socket wrench, etc.). Be careful when screwing the insert to ensure it enters the hole straight.

Step 5: Installing a T-nut, on the other, is as simple as hammering it into the material. When you’ve got a strong thread in your ideal tap handle, screwing it onto the faucet itself is easier. 

Whatever sort of handle you use, when pouring beer, always grip it to the bottom. Taking the handle from the top is a rookie error and can cause harm due to the increased leverage. The longer the handle, the harder it is to break something. Instead, use your index and middle fingers to pull the handle base forward. Then force it back with your thumb until the glass is full.

Tip: 

Ceramic tap handles are the perfect combination of design and durability. They are elegant and simple to customize, unlike plastic handles. When crafted with the right methods, they can be durable.

Here’s Another DIY Option: Wood

List of parts and equipment (to make eight tap handles 7 inches/18 cm tall)

• 48-inch or more (122 cm) 3.5-inch wide, 0.5-inch thick decorative wood trim
• 24 or more inches (61 cm) of 0.5-inch (1.25 cm) thick plain trim
• 64 inches (163 cm) 3.5-inch (9 cm) long, 0.5-inch thick simple wooden boards (for mounting beer labels)
• 8 3/8-inch-16 faucet adapters
• 8 small drawer pulls (0.5-inch/1.25 cm across)
• Wooden dowels
• Wood glue
• Liquid Nails adhesive
• Mitre box
• Saw
• Drill with a 15/64-inch drill bit
• Vice
• Metal snips
• Measuring tape
• Pencil
• Spray mount glue
• Spray paint

Step 1: Measure the handle to be about 7 inches (18 cm) tall. Since the poplar planks were 3 1⁄2 inches (9 cm) wide, the printed labels should be about 3 1⁄4 inches (9 cm) wide. If you want a bigger name, make sure that the handle surface will have wider planks. Lay the markdown on the wall, and make a line with a pencil, and cut the plank. The piece should be about 4 inches (10 cm) from top to bottom. Since the wood (poplar) is only 1⁄2-inch (1.27) thick and the stem was thicker… Cut two pieces of poplar and place them back-to-back and glue them together. You can also use 1-inch-thick pieces. Next, cut the trim pieces into 3-inch (7.6) lengths. Position the pieces facing out with the leaf pattern. Put a piece of flat trim (which was the same width) between them and stick together.

Step 2:   When the glue is dry, drill a hole in the bottom of one of the poplar pieces. The drilled hole is to accept the wooden dowel so it is important to make the hole as straight as possible. Place the poplar face into a vice and drill the hole and then another one at the top of one of the stems. Fit the dowel in place and assembled the two pieces. The square cuts and the holes for the dowel need to be straight. Then placed the stem into a vice so you could drill out the 15⁄64” hole for the faucet adapter. Do this with the trim piece in a vice and standing over it with a corded drill. Drill the hole and grab one of the adapters. Place it into the hole and start to turn it.

Step 3: Take the handle down to your faucets and try it out. Then place some glue into that hole to keep the adapter where you want it. This step takes a bit of time and an adapter thread makes it tricky. Once you get one done, it becomes easier. Take the dowel out, put some glue into both holes, and fix the dowel once you have it working as you wish. Put the whole handle together, straighten it up and lay it to dry.

Step 4: The last step is to drill a hole at the top of one of the handles. Use a drill bit that matches the size of the drawer pulls you prefer. Once drilled, cut the head off the screw with a pair of snips. Then place the cut end of the screw into the central hole. Then screw the finial onto the top.

Finally, prim all the handles and then paint them in various colors. When the paint is dry, glue the final screws into the holes and attach the hardware.

What Makes a Good Tap Handle?

Today there are so many options for making tap handles that it’s easy to put too much focus on a flashy design. A marketing strategy and consumer behavior must be considered for your tap handle to surpass the competition… And get your brew the attention it deserves.

Some beer tap handles are that – handles. They don’t have a fancy look to them and are usually made of plastic. Those are boring, to say the least. There is also what we call a pub-style handle. It is tall and with slender and gentle curves. These are the beer tap handles you see at sporting events. It has a customized brewer’s logo on them.

Here are 5 tips for designing the perfect tap handle:

1. Make the beer style clear.
2. Have consistent branding.
3. It should be legible from a distance. Your tap handle will make your beer style and brand noticeable from a distance. And from several angles. Laser-etching is a perfect technique for creating designs that are legible.
4. Use contrasting colors. Use contrasting colors between glaze and art to make your style and brand stand out from a distance. For example, it would be easier to read a white glazed tap handle with black typography… than a dark blue glazed tap handle with a black typo.
5. Choose a custom, unique shape. Creating a custom tap handle that fits your brand’s story is a fantastic way to make your brew stand out. When designing your handle, keep in mind that tap handles are spaced 3″ apart at the bar… so shouldn’t be any wider than that.

With a DIY Beer Tap Handle, you can also Build Your Own Home Bar With Kegerator.