Reminder Rings & Filler Hooks

As homebrewers, we all create our own “small builds” — the minor tweaks we make to improve our brew setups. They’re not the flashy pieces of equipment that take thousands of dollars to buy or days to build. They’re not going to take our setup from extract to all-grain, or from a 3-gallon (11.3 L) in-house to a 10- or 20-gallon (38 or 76 L) garage setup. They’re the small stuff that just makes the brew day a little easier, quicker or less accident-prone. Things like the filling hook that allow you to fill your brewpot or carboy without having to hold the hose and reminder rings so you don’t forget your secondary additions.

They’re the small items that may alleviate some frustration and make brewing more enjoyable. These items can often be created using scraps lying around the house. If you don’t have the parts on hand, they are so inexpensive that it often costs

more in gas for the trip to the hardware store than it does to buy the required parts.
For this article, I will detail the construction of two small builds —reminder rings and filler hooks. Both are useful tools to add to your collection of brewing equipment.

Two weeks after brew day, I don’t always remember the recipe with everything else going on. The idea for reminder rings came out of my forgetting to dry hop or add spices. Reminder rings are also helpful when brewing 10- or 20-gallon (38 or 76 L) batches and experimenting with dry hopping and spice additions on that same base brew.

I’ve tried Sticky Notes and tape, but the Sticky Notes get lost, the tape can leave residue, and if you have a blowout they become hard to read with wet beer coating them. The reminder rings go on your primary fermenter so you see them when you’re about to transfer to your secondary fermenter. I use them on the necks of glass carboys and plastic Better Bottles, or they can be set on top of a bucket around the airlock.

A filling hook is an essential device to hold your hose in place so you can fill your kettles and carboys without the hose falling out. Nothing ruins a brew day like pouring perfectly good wort down the driveway when it should be going into a carboy or boil kettle. Filling hooks can also help direct your stream so you don’t aerate your wort on the hot side or so you do going into your carboy.

Use these ideas as they are, or tweak them to fit your own setup peculiarities or fabrication skill level, and you’ll have a couple less things to worry about on brew day.
As always, be careful with tools and materials. Saws are sharp and torches are hot.
Reminder rings, filling hooks made easy

Parts & Tools

Reminder Rings:
3- to 4-inch diameter PVC pipe, 1-2 feet (0.3-0.6 m) long
Chop saw, miter saw or hack saw
Markers or paint pens

Copper Filler Hooks:
½-inch copper Pipe, 6-18 inches (0.15-0.45 m) long
(2-3) ½-inch copper 90-degree elbows
(1) ½-inch copper 45-degree elbow
(1) ½-inch copper male adapter
Plumbing solder and Plumbing flux
Propane or map gas torch

CPVC Filler Hooks:
½-inch CPVC pipe, 15-20 inches (0.4-0.5 m) long
(2) ½-inch CPVC 90-degree elbows
(1-2) ½-inch CPVC 45-degree elbows
(1) ½-inch CPVC male adapter
(1) CPVC valve (optional)
CPVC cement and primer