Caution - superheated water...

Just a warning / reminder to folks out there so they don't make the same mistake I did. When making my starter I had some burned / caked on DME on the bottom of my new Erlenmeyer flask that I wanted to scrub out. I soaked it and got most of it out, but there was still some I wanted to get. Having done this with caked on cooking pans in the past, I put some water in there and set it to boil on the stove for a minute to loosen up.

It wasn't a whole lot of water, and it was on there for a bit (certainly long enough where it should've been at a rolling boil) but i was still only getting a single bubble coming to the top every second or two from the same spot. Figuring it was hot enough for cleaning I put it in the sink and put in my long handled bristle brush. The second the brush hit the water - BOOM! Boiling water shot up out of the neck, scalding my hand and my chest (no shirt on at the time). I have some 1st and 2nd degree burns, but luckily nothing worse.

So if you see these same symptoms - what should be very hot water, but not really bubbling, please be careful. What's odd is that I know there was soap residue in there, it was tap water, and there was a minor amount of caked on crud - all of which should have provided for a bunch of nucleation sites. Not sure why it happened, but I know for sure painfully enough it did.

That sucks...

I have done this with water in the microwave

Maybe I should name this beer The Boilermaker RyePA.

This is a very real thing to have happen. It happens most often in the microwave. I believe it also needs to be plain water. Since this is mostly done for cleaning or cooking not brewing I now toss a toothpick into the glass vessel BEFORE heating it The toothpick disrupts the water surface and prevents this from happening.

Yep, it happens. Tap water is a bit safer due to the mineral content.....but still.