Brewing – Pimp my Beertap

Recently my carpenter Brother-in-law came to visit. I quickly quenched his thirst with a nice cool pint of homebrew. I then explained that there is no such thing as a free beer and he would need to assist me in ‘pimping’ my beer taps. So this is how we went about it .. (click on any image for more detail)
We started with a standard beer-tap available from most homebrew shops. We then unscrewed the black handle and removed it. The next trick is to align a drill bit that matches the width of the protruding screw.

We used a steel bit as my drill set didn’t have a wooden drill bit that small. You really want the drill bit to match the metal as if the threads didnt exist – so this means the bit should appear slightly too small. Put this drill bit aside for later. Now lets move onto the wood. I used a couple of balusters or spindles – (ok I didn’t know the name of them and looked it up in here you got me!) I had these spare from when the attic was converted. I believe they are quite cheap and easily got.

You have a few options with the wood. We went for two simple cuts and left a flat top on the handle. This is so I could fit a wooden block painted with blackboard paint at a later date. Take it handy with the saw so you leave a nice smooth edge. Once you have the ends cut off you are ready to drill the guide hole.

First start with a the smallest drill bit you can find. Mark the centre with a pencil and use a measuring tape, its important that this is centred as this will be where the handle is attached.

Drill a 2-3cm deep hole. Once this is complete take the bit you aligned earlier and drill a 2-3cm deep hole with that. Finally take a drill bit that is slightly too big and drill a tiny 2mm deep ‘starter’ with it. You are now ready to screw on the handle onto the tap. You have a choice at this stage. You can use epoxy resin or another glue to permanently attach the wood. You will still be able to remove this from the tap when cleaning – but a small piece of metal will come with it. If you decide to use glue –  fair enough  – but either way I would recommend screwing on the handle just to ‘thread’ the wood.

So here is the finished product – I was most surprised at sturdy the tap was – I was expecting it to be quite delicate due to the leverage. Thanks for the help Maurice !

The Flowers are optional !

Its a real easy project and great fun to do  – best of luck !