Part of my responsibility during my day job is to keep an eye on folks in a research environment and to make sure everyone is doing their jobs safely. I often times find my role of keeping an eye on folks at work bleeding over to my family and personal life. I often see things or situations that are a bit risky and dangerous. This blog was sparked because Wick had a minor accident with a brew hauler and it made me think it was time to remind folks that homebrewing has some risks. Some hazards can cause bodily injuries, damage personal belongings, or ruin your brewday.
Every hobby has their inherent risks. Homebrewing is no different and the hazards range from mundane to potentially life threatening. In this post I will discuss some of the most common hazards you might encounter as a homebrewer. I will go also into detail a little about how to negate these hazards. The goal of this post is to not scare folks, but to remind folks that this hobby does have some hazards. Injuries are rare in homebrewing, but accidents do happen on occasion and it’s best to avoid or at least prepare for them. This post might be a little on the long side, but I feel this topic is important and should be shared. Please share this post with your fellow homebrewers.
Hot Surface and Liquids
Whether you are an all-grain or an extract brewer, you will have no choice but to deal with hot surfaces and boiling liquids. From my experience, burns are the most common type of injury in the home-brewery. Having to boil your wort has its risks. First, surfaces exceeding 140° F can produce second degree burns in approximately three seconds and third degree burns in five seconds of contact. This is usually enough time let go if it’s something you picked up or touched. However, if you were splashed by a hot liquid and it saturated your clothes, it might take a few seconds for you to remove your clothes and an injury can occur. The highest potential for burn injuries is during the boil. The surface of your kettle and the wort inside is at least at 212° F, potentialy higher depending on the sugar concentration. At this temperature, third degree burns are almost immediate if you are splashed with wort or if you touch the kettle or burner.