beer bottle taps

[corkybstewart]

I want to use beer bottles as tap handles. I think I could epoxy the ferrules to bottle caps and use upside down bottles, but is it possible to epoxy the ferrules to bottle bottoms? Has anybody done this?

[gallowd7]

The torque you'd put on the bottle may cause the epoxy to fail. You can try to drill through the bottom or possibly use a glass cutter (dremel tool?) to cut off the bottom and then insert a wood disk for mounting.

[corkybstewart]

That's a whole lot more work than I'm wanting to put into this. I was thinking of epoxying the cap and then drilling through it and epoxying the ferrule to the cap also. We have some pretty stout glue at work. The torque issue has been bothering me. If I can find Ventmatic taps I'ld feel better about it. I don't use all of mine every day so sometimes they get a little stuck.

[HarkJohnny]

could you fill the bottles somehow? with foam or something?

[corkybstewart]

I thought about that but I don't know of any type of foam that would add any significant rigidity. I have seen bottle tap handles at morebeer.com so I know it can be done, but their's are a little pricey for me, compared to the cost of a recently emptied bottle.

[fretlessman71]

Look for this stuff at the hardware store called "Great Stuff" - it comes in a red and yellow aerosol can. It's pretty cool!

[zoom6zoom]

why not just epoxy into the open neck of the upside down bottle, remove the labels, and reapply the labels the other way about?

[corkybstewart]

That's pretty much the idea I was working on. I have an employee designing labels so I was planning on removing the labels anyway. My real concern is breaking the bottles, but I don't think that's too likely as long as I don't pull too hard or let the faucets get too grundgy and sticky.

[I'mRocketMan]

BE CAREFUL!!! I bought one of those from ebay and after using it for a few days, it cracked!!

I HIGHLY recommend AGAINST it!

Cheers! Rocket

[corkybstewart]

Thanks rocketman. That was my biggest fear. I might go ahead and try one anyway(I'm pretty stubborn) but at least I won't have very high expectations.

[zoom6zoom]

I'll have to look into this... it wouldn't be too hard to turn a bottle shape from wood, with a threaded insert in the bottom, and it wouldn't break like glass.

[corkybstewart]

It probably wouldn't be hard if I had a lathe and a day or two, and if I knew how to do it.

[chazwicke]

I've seen wooden bottle shaped tap handles before.

[gone_fishing]

I'd look into making an rtv mold of a bottle, coloring some lucite and casting them up.... but maybe that's cause I used to make rtv molds and know how to do it.

[Grog]

or just fill the upside down bottle with rtv silicone, shove a wood dowel down the neck of the bottle, drill the wood dowel with a 5/16" drill bit and screw in a hanger bolt (http://www.morebeer.com/browse.html?PHPSESSID=2da4e61e8afd609e426b6593398d 6ac0&keyword=hanger+bolt) (lag/wood screw threads on one side machine screw threads on the other side) and screw the end of the hanger bolt into the ferrule.

I had some RTV come back to my store as defective because it solidified in the tube (small puncture hole in the tube). I would be amazed if the bottle cracked if it were filled with silicone.

[HarkJohnny]

my father made me a custom turned tap handle for my birthday :D

it's made of tulipwood. when i get around to actually taking pics of my setup i'll include a shot of the handle

[I'mRocketMan]

Hark- Tulipwood is beautiful!! You might consider Kingwood, Padouk, Amaranth; Zebrawood, etc... All are very nice!

Grog- Even with the RTV, I would bet that the glass WILL crack.

Cheers! Rocket

[zoom6zoom]

I've made a lot of pens from tulipwood. It's nice to work with.

[Grog]

Grog- Even with the RTV, I would bet that the glass WILL crack.

Cheers! Rocket

Well, I'm no... ;)

[corkybstewart]

I thought about just using glue.