Bung-plugging perhaps?
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As a kid I can remember my dad having a mimeograph entitled “A Letter from a Polish Mother to her Son.” (Before you clutch your pearls, we are quite Polish. During the '70s it seemed appropriate for friends and family to gift you culturally insensitive materials. It was a different time.) Among the gems I recall:
“Your uncle that works in the brewery died last week. He drowned when he fell into a vat of beer. Three of his coworkers jumped in to save him, but he bravely fought them off. They cremated him, and it took 3 days to put out the fire.”
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If it was the mash tun then he’d be badly scalded. It looks like its the fermenter based on what looks like a conical bottom, and the tank says FV8 on the side, which I presume is “Fermenting Vessel 8”. The video on the Facebook page looks like it was filmed from the mash kettle platform. I’d bet that the blow off valve was left shut for some reason and nobody thought to check.
Also a homebrewer. Looks we have some pros in this topic too.
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There’s about 8 feet of liquid above that valve. That’s plenty of pressure even without carbonation.
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I 
Tupos.
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Ah, good point. “FV” makes sense. I saw the manway on the one to the right, which looks similar (based on the video quality) to the one that blew.
Thanks!
(Side note: Tomorrow is martzen brew-day! Woo hoo!).
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My first thought, was: “Some pressure, sure, but not that much pressure,” but…
A quick google says that water is about 11.4 PSI at 8 feet. If those are 3" tri-clamps (assuming a 2" inner diameter) that’s ~6 sq. in. (“pi is exactly 3”) that would be ~70 pounds.
No idea what the gravity of that beer/wort is in the vessel. If it’s just starting out it’s probably around 1.1.
That could mean he took 80+ lbs. right to the sternum. Caught off guard, that would knock anyone on their ass.
tl;dr I think you’re right.
Cheers!
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Blow Back: Get Flavor Blasted! 
Better than a Disney thrill ride!
Whoopdy-doo! 
He’s holding a carb stone as he pops the tri-clamp to the port where he intends to mount the stone. Seems like there was a miscommunication about which tank needed to be carbed. The tank was likely under considerable head pressure, in addition to the hydrostatic pressure. And contrary to the article, he didn’t “close the valve”. There was no valve to close. He’s trying to jam the carb stone into the port, which, good luck with that. I suspect he had to quickly slap a butterfly valve on the open port to minimize loss. Open valve, slap it in place, clamp it, close the valve. You only make this kind of mistake once. At least, once was enough for me.
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