Tap Handle Numbering for a 30 to 40 Tap Wall

To number the handles on a 30 to 40 tap wall, tie each number to the physical line: mark it on the tower or drip tray and on the line at the coupler, count left to right as the bartender faces the handles, and never renumber to close a gap. On a 36 handle wall with 2 banks, count straight through from 1 to 36 unless more handles are coming.

The sections below cover where the marks go, 3 schemes for a second bank, which lines to zone, what to do with a dead line, board sections past 30 taps, a filled-in handle map, and renumbering day.

Why should a tap number belong to the line and not the beer?

A tap number should name a physical line, meaning 1 coupler in the walk-in, 1 run of tubing and 1 faucet, because that is the part of the system that stays put while beers rotate through it.

Put the number where nothing gets swapped out:

• On the tower, the drip tray or the backsplash above each faucet. If you pour from brewery handles that travel with the keg, a number on the handle ends up over the wrong faucet. The faucet itself is a poor spot too: the Brewers Association's Draught Beer Quality Manual says faucets should be completely taken apart and cleaned every 2 weeks, and a tag clipped to one comes off with the parts.
• On the line at the coupler end, with the same number, so whoever changes a keg in the walk-in hooks it to the right line.

The same Brewers Association manual lists a check at the tower before service: pour 1 to 3 fl oz from each faucet and confirm the tap marker matches the beer in the line. That check only works when the mark over the faucet and the tag at the coupler carry the same number.

If your lines have no tags, or tags nobody trusts, trace each line from coupler to faucet and tag both ends on the same day. On a long-draw system with a trunk line, do it with whoever cleans your lines, since a cleaning already takes them to every faucet and every coupler on the wall.

Never renumber to close a gap or tidy the board. Tap 14 is tap 14 whether tap 13 is pouring or not.

Where should you start counting on a big wall?

Start at the left end and count right, as the bartender faces the handles, and write that rule at the top of the handle map so the next hire doesn't have to guess. Use the same rule on a tower that faces guests, because the bartender is the one matching a number to a handle.

A wall without a written rule drifts. Ask 2 bartenders to find tap 12 on a 36 handle wall: one counts from the walk-in door, the other from the service well, and on a long wall those are 2 different handles. The guest who ordered "a 12" gets whichever one the bartender counted to.

Count every bank in the same direction. A second bank tagged by someone standing on the other side ends up running backward, and staff then carry 2 rules in their heads.

Which numbering scheme fits a wall with 2 banks?

A straight count fits most walls with 2 banks. A gap count fits a wall you know will grow, and letters fit only banks that sit in separate spots. The examples use a made-up 36 handle wall with 16 handles on the backbar and 20 on a second bank.

Use letters only when no guest orders from both banks at the same spot. If you aren't sure handles are coming, use the straight count, since a held gap that never fills just confuses people.

How many numbers should a gap count hold back?

Hold back as many numbers as the backbar has open spots for new faucets, and no more. Here is the math for the made-up wall with room for 4 more faucets on the backbar:

• Backbar handles today: 16
• Open spots on the backbar: 4
• Second bank handles: 20
• Second bank starts at 16 + 4 + 1 = 21
• Second bank ends at 21 + 20 - 1 = 40

Numbers 17 to 20 stay unused until those faucets go in. Write them on the handle map as "held for backbar" so nobody mistakes the gap for 4 dead lines.

Should beers be zoned to certain handles or free to move?

Zone only the lines with a physical reason to stay fixed, and let the rest rotate. Numbering tells staff where a handle is. Zoning decides which handles a given beer may go on.

A fully zoned wall costs you on the day a hoppy tap kicks and the only cold keg is a porter. The zoned wall makes the porter wait for a dark handle. A free wall puts it on the empty handle, and the board lists it in the dark section with its real tap number, out of sequence.

These lines have a physical reason to stay fixed:

• A nitro faucet. The Brewers Association manual says nitro beer needs its own gas blend, typically 25% CO2 and 75% nitrogen, and a nitro faucet with a restrictor plate. It also says beers that aren't nitrogenated should not be poured on that blend, because they go flat with no creamy head.
• Cider and flavored lines. The manual warns that beer lines may need replacing after pouring root beer, flavored beers, margaritas, wines or ciders, which may permanently contaminate a line and possibly the lines next to it in the same bundle. Once a line has poured cider, treat it as a cider line.
• Sour lines, if your house rule keeps souring bacteria out of your other lines.
• A non-alcoholic line, if you pour NA on draft. Caring for an NA draft line has its own post.
• Fill lines at a growler counter, if to-go fills come off only certain handles. Pricing growler and crowler fills covers the fill side.

Every other line is open. Tap rotation planning covers keeping the open lines balanced across styles.

What do you do with a dead line?

Pull the handle, take the line off the board, leave the gap in the numbers, and log it on the handle map. A dead line is different from a kicked keg. A kicked keg comes back as soon as the next keg goes on, while a dead line stays out longer: a faucet waiting on a part, a line pulled for a leak, a handle you've decided not to fill this week.

If the line will be back this shift, treat it like a kick. What to do when a keg kicks mid-shift covers the call, the sub and the board fix. If it's out longer:

1. Pull the handle off the faucet.
2. Take the line off the board. A "line down" note left up for days looks like neglect.
3. Leave the gap. Every other number still matches its handle.
4. Log it on the handle map: the date it went down, why, and who is fixing it.

In this made-up example, the tap 13 faucet is waiting on a part:

DARK AND STRONG
12 | Barleywine                 | 10.5% | 8 oz $9
14 | Barrel-aged imperial stout | 12.4% | 8 oz $9

If you call the stout tap 13 so the list looks continuous, the board says 13, the tower says 14, and someone walks to a dead handle.

If a line is gone for good, retire its number on the map. Reuse it only when you renumber the whole wall.

How should board sections change past 30 taps?

Past 30 taps, give every section a line cap before you write the list, and split a section in 2 when it passes the cap. Style sections that read fine on a 16 tap list get long at 36. A cap of 8 lines is a reasonable place to start; test it against your own board.

Here is the made-up 36 handle wall with a cap of 8:

36 lines divided by a cap of 8 is 4.5, so a 36 line board needs at least 5 sections. This one lands at 6 because the hoppy group alone runs 14 lines.

A few rules keep the sections steady from week to week:

• Never split a section by bank. "Backbar IPAs" and "tower IPAs" describe your plumbing, and guests don't shop by plumbing.
• Keep section order fixed. A new section sits right after the one it split from, so regulars find it where the old one was.
• Merge back the same way. Once both halves fit under 1 cap again, merge them before the next open, never mid-shift.

The order of beers inside each section has its own post: how to write a tap list guests can read fast. If your 36 lines run across more than 1 screen, give each screen whole sections so no section starts on one TV and ends on the next. How many menu screens you need and where they hang covers the screen count.

What goes on the handle map?

The handle map holds 1 row per handle: its number, its bank, the job the line is kept for, whether it's live, and what's on it now. Keep 1 copy at the walk-in door and 1 behind the bar. The Brewers Association manual recommends clearly posted line cleaning and servicing records in all keg coolers, so the walk-in copy can hang next to your cleaning log.

Here it is filled in for part of the made-up 36 handle wall:

HANDLE MAP
Counted: left to right, bartender facing the handles
Scheme: straight count. Backbar 1 to 16, second bank 17 to 36
Held numbers: none
Retired numbers: none

TAP  BANK     LINE JOB     STATUS                    ON IT NOW
1    Backbar  open         live                      Helles lager
8    Backbar  sour only    live                      Gose
13   Backbar  open         DOWN since ____ (part)    nothing, off the board
15   Backbar  cider only   live                      Cherry cider
17   Bank 2   nitro only   live                      Dry stout

Your own map lists every handle. Leave prices off. They live on your cost per ounce sheet and the board, and a third copy is 1 more place for a price to go stale.

Check the map against the wall at every line cleaning. The manual sets cleaning at a minimum of every 2 weeks, with faucets taken apart and couplers cleaned by hand, so the person doing it already handles both ends of every line.

When do you have to renumber, and how?

Renumber only when the wall itself changes: a remodel, a new tower, or a bank that grew in the wrong spot. When it happens, renumber once, on a planned day before open, and change everything that carries a tap number in the same session:

• Tower or drip tray marks, and the line tags at the couplers
• The handle map, the board, the sub map and the kick card
• The shift handoff card and the on deck list
• Any flight menu, fill price sheet or table card that names taps

On a 36 handle wall, the tags alone come to 36 x 2 = 72, 1 at each end of every line, before you touch the board or any paper.

Then walk the rail before doors open. At each faucet, pour 1 to 3 fl oz, check that the beer matches the board line with that number, and tick it off on the map. Anything missed that day sends a bartender to the wrong handle next week.

How does TapDisplay show a 36 tap board?

On the TapDisplay board, each tap shows its name, brewery, style, ABV and a price per pour, with 2 pours per item by default and up to 4. Each screen can show its own sections, which lets you give every TV whole sections, or you can split a single list across several screens. A long list adjusts its type to fit, then turns pages.

For a short outage, marking a beer kicked keeps it on the board, struck through. The label comes from the business type: KICKED on keg menus such as a brewery, bar or cidery, and SOLD OUT on other menus. For a dead line that's out for days, remove the item from the list instead, and undo puts it back if you remove the wrong one.

Staff can edit the menu from a phone, a tablet or a computer. Each connected screen checks for changes every 30 seconds, so an edit shows within about 30 seconds, and the activity log records who changed what.

The bottom line

Tie each tap number to the physical line, mark it on the tower and at the coupler, and count left to right as the bartender faces the wall. Use a straight count unless handles are coming, leave gaps for dead lines instead of renumbering, and zone only lines with a physical reason to stay fixed, such as nitro and cider. Past 30 taps, cap each board section at about 8 lines and split from there.