Beer busted through airlock

Na, your beer shouldn't be ruined. Keep it covered with something sanitized as best you can. Clean the stopper and air lock, and put it back on as soon as you can. Here is how I made mine with a 3/8th double barb, and 3/8th vinyl hose going into a liter bottle. Some people use large vinyl hose that they just jam in the carboy, but that doesn't work for me. The opening in my carboy is too large for that. I haven't had a fermentation that the smaller 3/8 hose couldn't handle so far.

 

I didn't see the part about temperature. What temp are you fermenting at? Are you controlling the temp with some kind of fridge or freezer? What is the recipe and yeast?

 

Oh ya, definitely too warm. The recommended max temp of Nottingham is 70. If you don't have a fermometer (adhesive thermometer people put on the side of carboys), you could assume it was fermenting at lease a few degrees warmer than the mid 70's at your place. All may not be lost though, I did this same thing with my first homebrew. 6 month later it turned out pretty good. I bottle carbed / conditioned and just left them be in a closet. The first few were not good. At all. So don't toss it, just be patient. The hop flavor may fade over time as it conditions but oh well. And that's assuming the worst, maybe this turns out great. Try to relax and forget about it for now.

For future planning; check out craigslist or facebook buy/sell groups near you for used fridge, mini fridge, freezer, deep freeze, etc. They can go pretty cheap. Sometimes they can be had for free.

 

A simple way to cool down fermentation is to place the fermenter in a plastic pan or large bucket, fill it with cold water, and use refreezable ice jugs (e.g., 2 litter bottles) of blue blocks to keep things cooler (if needed). If ice is needed you will need to periodically swap them out as they thaw.

Alternatively you could use evaporative cooling where you place a T-short or towel around the fermentor to wick up the water. Directing a fan onto it will accelerate the evaporative cooling effect.

Cheers!

 

If you use a 1" dia hose jammed into the carboy for your blow-off tube, use plastic wrap that has been folded in half 4-5 times and then wrapped around the tube to fill in the excess space between the tube and the carboy's neck. The plastic wrap is more flexible than aluminum foil and seals well against the glass.