First burn..LESSON TO ALL

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petep1980

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A lesson to all: It's winter, so I decided to stove top brew. I haven't brewed in my kitchen in over a year. Anyways I had a sweet boil over and I panicked, I grabbed the pot to move it, and some nice 212°F wort ran over my left hand. In that split second I was ready to have my wife call 911.

I don't have any redness or blisters and I consider myself unbelievably lucky. Two of my fingers hurt like hell, but I'll live.

I did hit an all time high efficiency though at 74%.
 
Good to hear you're in 1 piece. Best advice I can (medically) give if it still hurts: find a small tub (i.e. Rubbermaid) & immerse the burn in cool water for 5-10 minutes at a time.



A few brews won't hurt either. :mug:
 
Oil and butter should never be used to treat burns. Aloe is a far better choice. The sources are too numerous to cite, but a simple Google search should confirm the info here.
 
Don't worry about it pal. An assistant manager once accidentally hit my arm with a hot pizza pan who just came out of the Pizza Hut oven on my arm for 3-4 seconds before my assistant-manager realized this and pulled it out. I had a black burn on my skin for about a month or so, but time heal it all.
 
Sorry about the pain your feeling right now. I suppose the result will be that you'll probably not do that AGAIN. Just to let you know that "if" you don't feel any pain right now you have already scalded the outer layer of skin and eventually it will blister. But who knows, it might be okay for now. Use some aloe products and try some of the products that are good for sunburn they usually have aloe in them. Take some Ibuprophen also to help with the inflammation. Drink plenty of water too. Of course homebrew works to dull the pain, depends on the style. :D
 
I'm glad its not a bad burn.

I had the spigot pop off my MLT 3 times during my first AG mash. I thought holding back 158F wort back with my had sucked.

I'll second aloe, especially if you can find some raw aloe.
 
Best thing to do if you have a boil over and don't have anything else at hand is to blow on it. The foam will collapse right down.
 
I consider myself unbelievably lucky. I have 2 pretty bad red marks, but no blisters or charring.

Yeah, I would have never thought of using oil or butter until every website says not to use it. I just used cool wash clothes.

My wife still didn't ban me from the kitchen (she's a saint) but encouraged a bigger boiling pot and said if I can't stand the cold maybe I shouldn't brew.
 
I've not come close to a boilover since I added a water spray bottle to my brew equipment. Just spray it right into the foam and it knocks it right down.
 
Ah crap, I just realized I prob only had a 20 minute boil and I could possibly be facing some DMS.

It was a vienna malt based mash too.

AHHHHHH
 
Got scalded making tea as a kid. That was before I understood about glass and thermal shock. Had 2 quarts of boiling water all over me and the kitchen, when the pitcher exploded.
 
I know about your pain, I brew outside on a propane burner currently and during clean up process directly after a 90 minute boil I touched my calve to the burner stand which I would assume was in excess of boiling point still at that moment and it only took less than 2 seconds to completely bubble the skin on my calve. The worst part is the the burn happened on my tattoo on my calve, thankfully it didn't damage the tattoo that much or my skin for that matter.
 
Bah.....RDWHAHB. What's a couple of fingers, anyways?

In all seriousness, though, thanks for the heads up. I get boilovers pretty regularly and grab the pot and move it, but I've been lucky enough that whatever foams over drops back down immediately.
 
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