Hi all, im a new brewer from new zealand.

Am listening to my 4 day old bubble in the fermenter with all the pride of a first time parent.
Ive high hopes for the tasty dark ale I hope it'll one day become.

Im very much enjoying being a new brewer and look forward to when my first brewed is grown so I can spend quality time in my brews company.

I could use some advice.

On the second day of fermentation I checked the brew and the foam was coming out of the top of the airlock. Most of the water had been pushed out. I kept topping up the airlock during the day and it kept bubbling out.

I have an immersion heater and the temp is reasonably steady around 20C.

Is this normal.

Yes, it is normal. It's called blowoff, basically when the fermentation is so vigorous it creates a high krausen. You can use a blowoff tube that is either stuck into the top of the carboy or into the airlock hole in a bucket. Of course you need the proper sized tubing. The other end of the tube is placed into a bucket (or whatever) which is filled with starsan or vodka or something clean in case you get backflow.
Alternatively, you can get some Foam Control that will, as the name implies, control the foam so it doesn't get too high.

Thanks RM