misc 50ml "Gimmie" woozies help

Downriver

Extreme Member
I call them "gimmies" because everybody wants to try your sauce but most can't take the heat, so why waste anything bigger?:) Plus, they're a good single-serving size and easy to carry. Well, that was my original line of thinking anyway. The problem is I apparently can't get them to seal properly.

I made six sauces in the Oct/Nov time frame. They were made with a variety of ingredients and I was able to produce red, yellow and orange sauces. The pH of all the sauces ranged between 3.2 - 3.8. I did the hot-pack / inverted bottle method and used both 1.7 oz (50ml) and 5 oz woozies. ALL the 5 oz are fine. ALL the 1.7 oz are turning a dark, off-color in the neck of the bottle which, I assume, means "bad".

Has anybody tried to use the small woozy bottles? If so, is there a secret to getting them to seal correctly? Or, should I just forget the little bastages?:confused:
 
I use those bottles for sample and retail packaging and have not had any issues with discoloration or spoilage. All of our sauces are all natural, so you would think if they were going to go bad, they would. The minis we use are 50 ml PET hard plastic with a standard tamper resistant cap which are hot packed. the bottles come from a variety of places, I have used as well as my packer, Penn Bottle or online, SKS Bottles has the minis.

http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/fin14e.html
 
Make sure you have the foam liner in the cap or air can always get in. When you tighten the lid it seals it.
 
thehotpepper.com said:
Thread moved.

Sorry Boss, thought I was in the right place.

racecitysauce said:
I use those bottles for sample and retail packaging and have not had any issues with discoloration or spoilage. All of our sauces are all natural, so you would think if they were going to go bad, they would. The minis we use are 50 ml PET hard plastic with a standard tamper resistant cap which are hot packed. the bottles come from a variety of places, I have used as well as my packer, Penn Bottle or online, SKS Bottles has the minis.

http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/fin14e.html

Interesting! I am using these guys, which are glass.

http://www.specialtybottle.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=87

I didn't realize plastic is an option (duh). Now, do I use the same process with plastic? i.e.

Boil bottles.
Boil sauce.
Fill hot bottles with hot sauce.
Cap tightly.
Invert for 15 minutes.
Done.

Heck, is this even a valid process? :lol:

thehotpepper.com said:
Make sure you have the foam liner in the cap or air can always get in. When you tighten the lid it seals it.

Yes Boss, the caps have a liner, but I'm not sure if it's foam. Seems to be more like paper. It's the same as the 5 oz bottles, and they're sealing fine.
 
Okay it says you boil the sauce, but is the sauce cooked first or is this just a boil for bottling? If it's not a cooked sauce you could be bottling some uncooked ingredients. All fresh sauces need to be refrigerated. This could be the case. Boiling does not cook right away, you need a slow simmer to cook your sauce properly. If you boil a pot of potatoes the centers are not cooked right away, right? Slow cook your sauce, if this is the case.
 
hey DownRiver,

You can't boil PET or other plastic bottles to sanitize or seal. They have to be sanitized with peroxide or bleach and then rinsed several times.

From online research, different plastics have different temperature melting points, some as low as 150F others are more like 180F. If the sauce is too hot the bottle will deform. There are some bottles coming out now that are rated for hot filling, but I can't give you a source. Maybe one of those from Racecity post.
 
thehotpepper.com said:
Okay it says you boil the sauce, but is the sauce cooked first or is this just a boil for bottling? If it's not a cooked sauce you could be bottling some uncooked ingredients. All fresh sauces need to be refrigerated. This could be the case. Boiling does not cook right away, you need a slow simmer to cook your sauce properly. If you boil a pot of potatoes the centers are not cooked right away, right? Slow cook your sauce, if this is the case.

Yeah, I was paraphrasing. I boil the bottles for 15-20 minutes (overkill) and I do cook the sauce on a simmer for about 30 minutes. Then, I fill the hot bottles with the simmering hot sauce, cap tightly, and invert for 15 minutes or so.

salsalady said:
hey DownRiver,

You can't boil PET or other plastic bottles to sanitize or seal. They have to be sanitized with peroxide or bleach and then rinsed several times.

Thanks for the info SL. I think I'll stay with glass, for now at least. I'm more comfortable with it.

Here's a few pics of what I'm talking about. It's kinda hard to get the right exposure, but here goes:

Batch #4 (w/o flash)
Batch4noflash.jpg


Batch #4 (w/ flash)
Batch4wflash.jpg


Cap w/liner
HotSaucecap.jpg


con't....
 
Is it just me? Do ya'll see the discoloration in the gimmies?:confused: Here's the next batch.

Batch #5 (w/o flash)
Batch5noflash.jpg


Batch #5 (w/ flash)
Batch5flash.jpg


Batch #5 closeup (w/ flash)
Batch5closeupflash.jpg
 
I see the discoloration you are talking about.

Do you have the bottles out in the light?

maybe keep the bottles inverted so the air is at the wide part of the bottle until giveaway time. I get that sometimes on some really old bottles, but a good shake takes care of it. You sauce looks thicker than mine, but try shaking it. If you've done the packing process correctly, which it sounds like you have, then I wouldn't worry about it if it shakes up.
 
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