Problem on my first beer

This is first attempt at a home brew and I chose the White House honey ale. I know I did everything correct as per the instruction but within 12 hours it was already bubbling out of the airlock. Then at about 4 in the morning the top of the airlock blew off my fermenter and broke the inside plastic piece and bubbles starting poring out. So I cleaned the airlock and put it back on and now all the bubbles have stopped. Any ideas of what I did wrong and do you think my beer is ruined?

There is really not enough info here to say definitely, but as a guess I’d say you fermented too warm. While it won’t be all it was meant to be, I won’t call it ruined.

What exactly broke? I’ve had some violent blow-outs, but not airlock breaking.

blowoffs usually happen for one or more of the following: 1. high fermentation temps (like mid 70s or 80s), 2. high alcohol/gravity beer, 3. not enough room in your fermentor

if you’re using a 5 gallon glass carboy, you might upgrade to a 6 gal or get a 6 gal primary bucket. you could also do some research on a blowoff kit

good news: your beer is probably fine. get another airlock from your local store. the worst is probably over

I too was assuming a 5-gal kit. Is this a 1 gal. or 5 gal?

I’ve never done a 1 gal; but blow-outs are pretty common because the fermenters they use don’t have headroom.

I am using a 1 gallon starter kit. Also the instructions say to keep at 60-75 temp for fermenting and I have a thermometer siting right next to the fermenter and it has not gone above 70 degrees. The internal plastic piece of the air lock cracked. I’ll have to order a new one my closest store is almost 2 hours away. Thanks for the info everyone!!

Buy a stick on thermometer strip to attach to the fermentor. Fermentation produces heat. If the ambient temperature is 70° the wort temperature was in the range of 75° to 78°.

Pitch your yeast when the wort is 60° to 62°. Hold the fermentation in the low 60° range. 65° or less is ideal for ale fermentation. After the first few days of fermentation you can let the beer rise to the ambient temperature. The flavors of your beer are set early during the most active fermentation. The rise in temperature later allows the yeast to clean up the naturally produced off flavors of fermentation.

Primary for two weeks and then take your first hydrometer reading to determine final gravity. Take readings two days apart. When they are the same fermentation is complete.

Your beer may still be good, but it will not be the best you can do. It is a learning process and take s patience.