Making tap handles out of beer cans?

[kanzimonson]

If you've seen Oskar Blues on tap anywhere, you know how freakin' cool their tap handles are. I've been trying to think of a couple ways to do this myself and I thought HBT would have some good input.

I don't think getting the beer out will be too difficult... maybe messy, but not too hard. Obviously you want to maintain the top of the can, so you have to drill a hole in the bottom to drain it.

The biggest problem I can see is making the whole thing sturdy enough... an empty can would get crushed the first time you pull a beer on it. So you have to somehow fill the can so its walls are strong and almost "squeezeable." I thought of several solutions but I can't really decide:

-bag of flour (or some sort of tight-packing dust)
-ball bearings
-some sort of resin that will harden

I think the resin idea would be best, though I'm not sure what material is best. I think it also depends on how you're actually going to screw in the tap. Morebeer has the two options for making a tap handle, a ferrule/screw combo or just a dual thredded insert. I suspect you would need to have some sort of wood installed into the beer can to make sure you can screw something in.

You can either have a single small hole that mostly maintains the bottom of the can, or you can cut the bottom of the can out and put some sort of wood disc in there. Or maybe the wood you put in wouldn't necessarily be a disc, but would brace up against the walls of the can.

So these are all the things running through my head, and I suspect it's going to take some trial and error before getting it right. Anybody got some more advice?

 

[kgfitz]

you could try some spray foam that you use to seal up gaps in your house i think that gets pretty hard and it is still light to

 

[PantsOffBrewing]

Thats the first thing that popped into my head too, followed by epoxying in a threaded insert.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Freeze the can to slush, drill the hole large enough for the insert, invert can to thaw and drain, fill with expandable foam and let the foam epoxy the insert into place.

I once thought I'd foam in around the garage door with the Great Stuff min expanding.

Some of it expanded and glued the door shut. PITA to separate.

 

[camiller]

you could try some spray foam that you use to seal up gaps in your house i think that gets pretty hard and it is still light to

that was my first thought

Thats the first thing that popped into my head too, followed by epoxying in a threaded insert.

If you get the insert in the bottom of the can first with some epoxy to hold it in place, then spray in the foam so it will expand into the threads I think that would be pretty good. Although the durability of the foam over time might be questionable.

 

[brewingmeister]

Drill a big hole in the bottom of the can to accept the wooden dowel that will hold the threaded insert(may be easier to just use an old tap handle for this). Fill the remaining space with wax so the can holds it's shape. Foam would be easier but I doubt it would hold the can's shape for long. good luck and report back.

 

[shortyjacobs]

I made one out of a Strohs Light can, (for my soda water tap...I figure Strohs light is pretty close to fizzy water). I used a hammer to pound an awl into the bottom center of the can, (got a bit wet, oh well). I drained it and bored out the hole with a drill bit. I bored it out so it was just a bit smaller than the threaded insert. I then filled it with sand, then epoxied the threaded insert into the hole. Works like a charm.

 

[shortyjacobs]

Just for fun, I was bored, so I took some pics:

The lineup:

Closeup:

Side view:

Underside (5 minute epoxy):

It's got a real nice heft to it when you pull the tap open. You don't ever really GRIP your tap handles, (at least I don't), so the sand is enough to stop any crushing and give it some real weight.

 

[I_B_Mongo]

@shortyjacobs-
where did you get the tap handle on the second from right? very cool!

 

[shortyjacobs]

@shortyjacobs-
where did you get the tap handle on the second from right? very cool!

(sorry OP for the Hijack...)

It was the handle for an ancient awl my father in law gave me. The awl was useless, all rusted and stuff, but I was able to unscrew that flange you see on the bottom, which was really a collar around four fingers of wood which grabbed the steel awl. Removing the steel, I reattached the collar, then screwed a threaded tap insert in. I really like how it came out:

 

[alex_B-Q]

I made one out of a Strohs Light can, (for my soda water tap...I figure Strohs light is pretty close to fizzy water). I used a hammer to pound an awl into the bottom center of the can, (got a bit wet, oh well). I drained it and bored out the hole with a drill bit. I bored it out so it was just a bit smaller than the threaded insert. I then filled it with sand, then epoxied the threaded insert into the hole. Works like a charm.

what kind of epoxy did you use?

 

[Genuine]

what kind of epoxy did you use?

This is a Decade old thread

 

[Jayjay1976]

But inquiring minds want to know!