Beer faucets and beer tap handles: How does the tap handle get onto the faucet?

Screwing a tap handle onto a beer faucet may not be as simple as you thought.

I had never worked a beer faucet before in my life. Never being a bartender, I did not know exactly how the beer handle showed up on the beer faucet. I presumed that because there's a hole in the bottom of the tap handle, and there's a bolt coming out of the faucet, you screw them together like a nut and bolt. I knew that the handle gets pulled and the beer comes out, and I drink the beer.

Until we started making our own tap handles, I did not realize the importance of the locking nut.

The locking nut is an important piece that separates your tap handle from the beer faucet. The locking nut is important because it moves up and down, tightening your tap handle onto the faucet

Torque is a measure of the force that can cause an object to rotate about an axis.

If you over-screw your tap handle onto your faucet, you may have problems with the tap handle seizing onto the faucet threads. Screwing the tap handle down too far can lock the handle onto the faucet. This results in the ferrule or lock nut breaking from the torque force, or having to break them to get the tap handle off the faucet.

It is incorrect to screw the tap handle as far as you can screw it down on the faucet. I made this mistake; then when the face of the handle is not where it is supposed to be, I screwed it some more. WRONG! Torque: it works well in a car engine, not on your tap handle.

When a tap handle is screwed on properly, the handle can be turned in whatever direction you'd like it to face. Lock it there with the locking nut. It's the best way to keep your tap handles in great shape, and facing the right way.