Burn warning!!!!!

I just want to let you fellow beginners in on my misfortune tonight in hopes that it doesnt happen to any of you. Tonight I was making a yeast starter. I boiled the water in an Ehrlenmyer flask first. When the water started to boil, I removed it from the heat and started pouring in the DME. The steam from the water caused the DME to glob up as I was pouring it in and started blocking the opening of the flask. I used a spoon to poke the globs of DME into the flask. After I got all the globs in, I poured the rest of the powdered DME into the flask. There was still plenty of DME stuck all over the inside neck of the flask. I tried pushing it down with te spoon but it couldnt reach. I then put a rubber stopper on top of the flask and proceded to shake the hot water to rinse the DME off the sides. Well this caused pressure to build up and eventually the hot wort came shooting out of the flask, splashing all over my face, hands and arms, not to mention the floor, ceiling and counter. Oh well, you live and you learn.

Oh no, I hope you're alright man. That really sucks...

OMG! You got a facial!

Hope you're okay. Put some burn ointment on it. You can also take a vitamin e gelcap on and poke a hole in it and squeeze it on the affected area.

Another warning is to not use too high of flame on any flask because I have see them go to instant steam and it shoots hot water out like a volcano!

I tried putting the DME in after it started boiling too, but had the same problem with it gobbing up. Now I put the DME in before the water. Works much better.

Adding DME to hot wort = bad. Adding LME to hot wort = ok. The opposite is true if you're dealing with cooled wort. If your wort is actually boiling, adding either type of extract can result in scorching...

The xME wasn't the problem. Anytime you have a vessel filled with hot liquid, shaking it will cause it to pressurize from air/steam expansion. And as you have discovered releasing that pressure can be dangerous.

I was frying chicken a while back. One of the pans was smoking a little and my wife went to carry it outside. She slipped, and got the hot grease on her arm and a little on her leg.

She is mostly recovered, but her arm was pretty bad for a while.

You just have to be careful with hot stuff.

If it is a really bad burn go to a doctor and have them prescribe some silvadine(sp) cream for you. It works great, pulls the burn right now.

Sager Brewing Co. said:

If it is a really bad burn go to a doctor and have them prescribe some silvadine(sp) cream for you. It works great, pulls the burn right now.

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+10

234567890

I spent 6 weeks in a burn ward and wanted to marry the guy that created Silvadene. Burns can take a day or two to declare. Keep an eye on things.

pldoolittle said:

The xME wasn't the problem. Anytime you have a vessel filled with hot liquid, shaking it will cause it to pressurize from air/steam expansion. And as you have discovered releasing that pressure can be dangerous.

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That's how I pressure test my kegs while cleaning them.

Fill with hottest water from the tap, seal, shake, pull release valve. Saves precious CO2 for initial leak testing.

Hope you're ok and were not burned too badly.