TIFU Brewing accident burned ear and neck

[havoc531]

Writing this from the hospital so forgive my grammar.

Started off as a typical brew day on my electric BIAB system. Today's plan was 12 gallons of Biermuncher's ever-popular Centennial Blonde.

All was going well until my wife walked in the garage and asked for a photo of all the guys brewing. Walked over to the kettle, somehow the recirculating hose got bumped, fell out and began spraying boiling wort directly into my ear and at my neck.

So, here I am at the ER with second degree burns on my ear and inside my ear canal. It feels like my ear is being attacked by a blow torch! I can hear fine out of both ears, and none of it got in my eyes so I guess it could've been worse. The crappy part of all this is I had thought about how unsafe that unsecured recirculation hose was, and never did anything about it.

Tl;dr - Boiling wort in and around my ear, because I was a dummy and never fixed an obvious safety issue. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1459633416.801168.jpg

 

[dmtaylor]

Oh man, son of a dammit. That sucks.

This is a good reminder that we need to be careful. There's dangers involved with brewing. The worst hazards of all possibly are bottle bombs and broken glass carboys, but burns are certainly way up there as well. Also could be carbon monoxide, propane bombs, etc. Can't be too careful.

Sorry this happened to you, man. But at least you're still alive, not permanently disfigured, and will be able to laugh about it later. Could have been worse, seriously.

 

[Inkleg]

Ouch! Sorry about that, glad you'll be ok and be able to laugh about it later. This hobby does have a few dangerous aspects to it.

I learned last National Homebrew Day that a bucket of Star-San will put out the small grass fire around your burner.

 

[Firewalker11]

I'm sorry you got burned, lucily it's 2nd degree and you will likely recover 100%. Hang in there!

 

[bobeer]

Is the beer ok???

Just joking man. I'm sorry that happened to you! At least you'll live to brew another day. Stay strong and brew on.

But for real... did you get to finish your brew day?

 

[havoc531]

Lol, yes the beer is OK. Thank the beer gods for that. My buddy who bumped the hose and sprayed me with boiling wort was able to finish the brew day. I still want to kick him in the nuts tho-- is that wrong?

 

[havoc531]

What do you think we should name the beer?
Hospitale
2nd Degree Blonde Ale
Face Melter Blonde Ale

 

[Firewalker11]

Lol, yes the beer is OK. Thank the beer gods for that. My buddy who bumped the hose and sprayed me with boiling wort was able to finish the brew day. I still want to kick him in the nuts tho-- is that wrong?

Nope!