If you're talking about the brown liquid that forms on the top, this is called hooch and, although it's kind of gross, it is perfectly normal. You can either stir it back into the dough or, if the dough is already too moist, you can just pour it off. It's OK though. It won't hurt the final product.

Theoretically refrigeration is only necessary if you don't think you'll be able to feed it for a few days or more, so that alone really shouldn't have caused a problem for you. I suspect what you're seeing is just one of the more gross-looking possible byproducts of the process.

Most recently I've been using this website (http://www.io.com/~sjohn/sour.htm) as guidance. I haven't made any bread from the resulting starter yet, but an experienced sourdough-making friend of mine corroborated the story about the hooch.