DIY Beer Drip Tray
A working tray is essential to any home draft beer system. The tray is set under the tap and catches any drips or spills produced in pouring the beer so you can avoid big messes and time-consuming cleanup. Drip trays can be purchased, but they are a relatively basic item and can easily be made at home with a few tools.
Tray Body
Shallow trays that can be used as the bottom half of a beer drip tray are quite easy to find. If the look of your tray is not that important to you, a small shallow baking pan or even appropriately sized plastic food storage containers will do the job with no problem. However, since keeping your tap area looking neat and clean is the primary purpose of a drip tray, you may want to consider making your own. The easiest way to do this is to purchase a sheet of stainless steel, aluminum or brass that is slightly larger than the desired size of the tray (or cut a larger sheet down), cut the corners off by cutting out small squares from each, then fold the edges of the sheet up to form a shallow tray. This tray base will allow beer to leak out of the edges, though, so you will need to seal them on the inside with solder or epoxy. Make sure the tray is sealed by filling it with water and checking for leaks before using it under your tap.
Tray Grill
A tray grill is necessary to be able to set glasses down while pouring without setting them in the spilled beer in the tray. There are two basic ways you can make an effective and attractive tray grill. First, you can solder straight pieces of thick wire together to make a grid pattern, then cut the wire down to fit in the tray lengthwise and bend the widthwise ends at a 90 degree angle and cut them so that the entire grid sits in the tray snugly with its top flush with the top of the tray. If you do this, you will need to use thick enough wire that it will not bend under the weight of a full beer glass, and make the grid tight enough that glasses placed on it will not tip over. Alternately, you can use another plate of the same metal you used for the tray body, cut and bend it in the same manner as the wire grid, and drill a number of holes in the top surface to allow spilled beer to pass through. Again, you will need to ensure that the metal is thick enough to withstand the weight that will be put on it.
Tags: drip tray, will need, beer drip, Beer Drip, beer drip tray, make grid