This week I started my first homebrew, a nut brown ale. I made a 5 gallon batch in a 6 gallon carbon. After only 12 hours the fermentation was extremely active and had foamed up to the airlock. The airlock became filled with foam, but being a beginner I just thought this was normal. Later that night I went to check on it to find half a gallon of my precise first born beer covering everything in my basement. The airlock had blown off and all the krausen with it. I cleaned up the mess, cleaned the airlock (after a long search for 2 pieces to the 3 piece airlock), and put the airlock back on. A few hours later I went to check on it and the airlock was only bubbling every minute. Now after pitching the yeast only 3 days ago the airlock is only bubbling every few minutes.

Should I be worried that something went wrong with this blow off? Does anybody know why this happened and is there anything I can do in the future to prevent this? There was a solid 4 inches of headroom in the carboy so I needed a blow off tube. Anybody else ever have something similar happen to them?

Also how do I know when primary fermentation is complete from the bubbling? I plan on using a secondary but I thought I wouldn't be racking it for at least a week. Should I rack before a week if the airlock is only bubbling every few minutes?

welcome to the crowd, what you got is messy and probably every brewer has had it happen to them, so don't worry. some yeast are very potent and all the conditions are just right they take off like mad, just make sure your temp. is right and let it work for a week or two to finish up. some yeast start strong and slow down in just a few days, others take a while to get started and work for a week or two. if your ferment looks like it might be strong i would put a blow-off tube on it until it slows down, then replace it with an air lock to finish up. you will need a hydrometer to be sure your ferment is done, you can't just go by the bubbles. give it time it'll be ok.
gary

You do not need to transfer to a secondary if you do not want to.
If you only have a few inches of headspace then a blow off tube should be used. The stuff that blew out isnt a big loss and the brew should be fine.
And the bubbles slowing after a couple days is normal. And once the airlock blew out the co2 has to build up some pressure again before it will bubble.
I had an airlock clogg once in a 10 gallon batch of 8.5% and the container has a metal lock down ring. The lid was pushed up about 3 inches. When i loosened the ring it blew krausen all over the place. I went to a blow off tube after that.