Don't take your eye off the BOIL.

[Gerryjo]

Just thought I'd share a brewing experience I'll never forget.
Always first for health and safety at work and wouldn't even take a drink the night before work the following day so what would possess me to have one or two while brewing a beer at home, well that's what's recommended (Relax and have a homebrew) so they say.
On Monday evening I was brewing a lager for the missus and just as the boil had finished and into my second pint feeling relaxed I had hooked up the hose to the peglar on the tap of the boiler to but only over one barb thinking it will be fine.
Proceeded to attach a hop bag to the end to catch any leaf hops before getting into the fermenter then opened the tap.
Run well for the first 10 secs then whilst I stood in front to oversee the proceedings out shot a load of hops heavily weighting the hop bag and low and behold next thing I knew I was getting sprayed all over my arm/wrist with boiling wort.
Don't for one minute take this mildly when brewing as I have second degree burns due too hot sticky boiling wort.
Only saving grace was my wife who insisted I run my arm under cold water till it was numb which I did then later covered with vaseline and wrapped in cling film to be assessed the next day at the local clinic.
Be very aware when brewing and enjoy it you should but don't take your eye off the BOILING wort ..

 

[MmmBeer]

Sorry to hear that, it looks nasty and in this weather very uncomfortable. Just hope its a reminder to all not to take shortcuts when dealling with boiling liquids.

I had a minor warning a couple of years back, when just starting chilling, the outlet hose from my immersion chiller jumped out of its bucket and sprayed the hot water over my flip-flop clad feet. Painful, but fortunately no physical damage.

Hope it heals soon.

 

[terrym]

@Gerryjo
Thanks for sharing that, hopefully everyone will step back and think about the situation you described and its wider implications. Just like there are hazards at work of which we should be well aware and if necessary protected, there are hazards in the home and outside. Anything involving hot liquids, electricity, lifting, tripping hazards, pressurised systems, working with dangerous chemicals, not wearing the right gear, drinking before or during working etc etc the list goes on. And of the ones I mentioned all can apply to home brewing, and there will be others.
Anyway I hope you recover quickly and there are no lasting effects.

 

[strange-steve]

Damn that looks nasty, hope you recover quickly mate. It's easy to get lax (especially after a few beers) but it can be dangerous business brewing. I had near boiling water from an immersion chiller over my socked foot once, nowhere near as bad as yours but certainly painful enough to make me wary afterwards.

 

[Nicks90]

It's one of the reasons I like using my tea urn, after the boil it gets turned off and left to no chill for a few hours before I got anywhere near it. And the nozzle is downwards facing and not very big, so takes ages to drain.

Hope you mend nice and quickly!

 

[Gerryjo]

@Gerryjo
Thanks for sharing that, hopefully everyone will step back and think about the situation you described and its wider implications. Just like there are hazards at work of which we should be well aware and if necessary protected, there are hazards in the home and outside. Anything involving hot liquids, electricity, lifting, tripping hazards, pressurised systems, working with dangerous chemicals, not wearing the right gear, drinking before or during working etc etc the list goes on. And of the ones I mentioned all can apply to home brewing, and there will be others.
Anyway I hope you recover quickly and there are no lasting effects.

Cheers @terrym and the ironic thing is I work in the exact environment you describe with heated solvent baths @80°,N2 pressurised housings, pneumatics and all the other bells and whistles but like as all we relax at home cause we think we are safe.

 

[Gerryjo]

Damn that looks nasty, hope you recover quickly mate. It's easy to get lax (especially after a few beers) but it can be dangerous business brewing. I had near boiling water from an immersion chiller over my socked foot once, nowhere near as bad as yours but certainly painful enough to make me wary afterwards.

Cheers @strange-steve as you are aware vigilance is a priority...

 

[Banbeer]

@Gerryjo I hope all is well with you soon, accidents happen even when we are sober as I learnt out in Canada a few years back, went to a cafe and bought a cup of tea but it came in a polystyrene cup as it was an outdoor cafe, picked it up from the counter and the cup collapsed and scalded my hand and wrist, just trying to balance the drink/sober point. I have never had an accident whilst brewing even though I have a couple whilst brewing.

 

[Popey]

Crikey Gerry! I hope that it's not too painful and that you make a speedy recovery. When I started researching AG brewing, my original thought was to go with separate kettles, probably gas-fired. However, the thought of knocking over a kettle-full of boiling wort scared the bejesus out of me. I decided to wait and get a Grainfather on the basis that it should be safer, being a single, enclosed unit, which should be nice and stable.
Nothing would possess me to drink or use this when I'm tired. There is still a lot that can go wrong. My only mishap last weekend was not keeping an eye on the outlet pipe from the counterflow chiller which slipped out of the fermentation vessel and onto the floor when my back was turned for just a few moments. A few choice words were said, but no harm was done.

Thank you for posting this. It's a salutary lesson to us all.

 

[GerritT]

Get well soon!

 

[Clint]

Ouch! Take care fella!

 

[IainM]

F#ck! Hope that heals up soon, and thanks for sharing.

 

[Gerryjo]

Crikey Gerry! I hope that it's not too painful and that you make a speedy recovery. When I started researching AG brewing, my original thought was to go with separate kettles, probably gas-fired. However, the thought of knocking over a kettle-full of boiling wort scared the bejesus out of me. I decided to wait and get a Grainfather on the basis that it should be safer, being a single, enclosed unit, which should be nice and stable.
Nothing would possess me to drink or use this when I'm tired. There is still a lot that can go wrong. My only mishap last weekend was not keeping an eye on the outlet pipe from the counterflow chiller which slipped out of the fermentation vessel and onto the floor when my back was turned for just a few moments. A few choice words were said, but no harm was done.

Thank you for posting this. It's a salutary lesson to us all.

Thanks for sharing and as you can see from your own experience it was not much different from my own and the fact that it can happen to anyone is a lesson to be learned for us all regardless of Kit,Partial,AG,Wine or even making a simple cup of tea.
@MyQul would there be a possibility of adding a new heading to the forum for Health and Safety so we could all contribute to accident's,near misses and the does and don'ts of what is possible from a simple hobby regardless if brewing by oneself or having your partner or children helping.
It certainly won't put me off brewing but has certainly ****** me off with myself.Everyday is a schoolday folks.

 

[Brew Dad]

Jebus, that looks painful. Hope you recover soon!

 

[MyQul]

Thanks for sharing and as you can see from your own experience it was not much different from my own and the fact that it can happen to anyone is a lesson to be learned for us all regardless of Kit,Partial,AG,Wine or even making a simple cup of tea.
@MyQul would there be a possibility of adding a new heading to the forum for Health and Safety so we could all contribute to accident's,near misses and the does and don'ts of what is possible from a simple hobby regardless if brewing by oneself or having your partner or children helping.
It certainly won't put me off brewing but has certainly ****** me off with myself.Everyday is a schoolday folks.

Im not sure about a whole new (sub) forum but you could certainly start a new health and safety thread that I can sticky or sticky this one

Get better soon btw. That burn looks nasty. I never drink when brewing because I think it'll cause me to forget something in the recipe, but this is just another reason not to

 

[Gerryjo]

Im not sure about a whole new (sub) forum but you could certainly start a new health and safety thread that I can sticky or sticky this one

Get better soon btw. That burn looks nasty. I never drink when brewing because I think it'll cause me to forget something in the recipe, but this is just another reason not to

Cheers,a sticky would be a good idea even just to highlight the importance of being safe when brewing..
Thanks

 

[terrym]

+1 on that.
My contribution would be precautions whilst handling Starsan which in concentrated form is about 20% phosphoric acid which is nasty stuff. Certainly you don't want it near your eyes. I had a tiny leak from a bottle once and it corroded an aluminium shelf, destroyed some paper and a section of carpet under the shelf , and had started to eat into some floor boards before I found it. I now keep my bottle and anything to do with Starsan within the bottom half of an old HDPE milk container which appears to be corrosion resistant to phos acid.

 

[terrym]

Im not sure about a whole new (sub) forum but you could certainly start a new health and safety thread that I can sticky or sticky this one

I've created a new thread 'Safe Brewing' which you could consider for a sticky. It's in General Beer discussion. Hopefully others will be able to add to it.

 

[Gerryjo]

I've created a new thread 'Safe Brewing' which you could consider for a sticky. It's in General Beer discussion. Hopefully others will be able to add to it.

I'm sure that the Mods being the good people they are could transfer this to it...

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I'm sure that the Mods being the good people they are could transfer this to it...

We could but unfortunately the software works on oldest post first so it would push Terry's post to the back of the thread, members will find it as its now sticked.