No, I have a lot of uses for the preserved lemons, including stirring in a teaspoon of the thick juice into gravies, etc. But, I like your idea about a lemony flavor in the hot sauce. I make a green sauce out of the unripened ghost peppers that are still on the vine right before the first frost. I think that would be very tasty. Thanks for the idea!kjwalker said:
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If you have a question about commercial production or the hot sauce business, please post in The Food Biz.
tutorial Fermenting Peppers 101
- Thread starter RocketMan
- Start date
Good deal. With that long of a ferment, just simply letting it sit in a food processor for a minute or so will blend it as well as cooking it. What I have been doing to shorter ferments is to strain out a lot of the liquid, then adding more water to it and boiling it to get that consistency. Once it cools, I add back in the liquid to keep the beneficial bacteria. Because you let it sit for so long yours is probably fine with just a blender/food processor. I hope it turns out well for you.SavinaRed said:I have 2 sauces fermenting since last October and December. One is a mild and the other hot to superhot. I'm thinking about letting them do until the holidays before processing. And I think I will not heat them so I can benefit from all that healthy bacteria.
Hey everyone. First of all, what a great thread and forum in general! I've read all 44 pages of information here and it is all amazing. Being able to access 5 years worth of information on the subject is invaluable.
Now, before I found this thread and absorbed all of this wonderful info, I already started a ferment without fully understanding the process and WHY each step exists. So my process was less than ideal. I blended an unknown weight of Mustard Trinidad Scorpion peppers along with a couple of small sweet bells from the garden. Threw in a few cloves of garlic and 2 tbs brown sugar. So far, so good. But at this point, I didn't weigh my mash to figure out a salt percentage (I didn't know about salt percentages yet..). I just added 2tbs salt, which I think was too much. The mash is only about a pint.
I didn't fully understand the fermenting process when I started, so I originally covered with a coffee filter and then later replaced that with a loosely knitted rag and left on my counter. My reasoning was: I need to collect bugs from the air to 'wild ferment' my mash. After a day or so of stirring, I put a lid on the jar with no airlock. It smelled absolutely AMAZING. At this point, I didn't preserve the buildup of CO2 because I regularly opened the jar to look for mold and stir sometimes. ( i know..).
So, this ferment is around 1 month+ old and has been regularly opened during the process. Never once was there any sort of visible growth on or in the mash. No mold, no kham yeast, nothing. The smell has been great since the beginning. Late into the fermentation period, it developed this wonderfully sweet garlicy smell, very pleasant. I decided to take out a sample and test the ph with my pen and it was 5.2-.5.3. Seemingly wayy too high for a month of fermenting. It is possible that my pen needs calibration, but I don't think it is very far off. After this, I loosely tightened the lid an left it. It has been a week since this.
My worries/questions are this
Is it possible that my ferment could be infected from frequent opening even though there was no noticeable mold growth (if mold can't grow other things probably can't?) and it smells wonderful? I've read several times here that "the nose knows", but is that always the case?
How long do I leave the jar loosely sealed before checking for a reduced pH again? I told myself I'd let it go another month.
Would it be preferable to cook the sauce down with vinegar to bring the pH all the way down and go ahead and bottle it now rather than wait?
Given the frequent opening and lack of low enough pH after 1 month, should I just toss this instead of taking a chance even though there is no sign that can be detected by any of my senses that it might be infected (no mold, no smell, no growths)?
I know I'm probably being paranoid, but I just wanted to check in after reading the entire thread and realizing how non ideally my first ferment was executed. I appreciate everyone's help and contribution here that has really helped me.
Now, before I found this thread and absorbed all of this wonderful info, I already started a ferment without fully understanding the process and WHY each step exists. So my process was less than ideal. I blended an unknown weight of Mustard Trinidad Scorpion peppers along with a couple of small sweet bells from the garden. Threw in a few cloves of garlic and 2 tbs brown sugar. So far, so good. But at this point, I didn't weigh my mash to figure out a salt percentage (I didn't know about salt percentages yet..). I just added 2tbs salt, which I think was too much. The mash is only about a pint.
I didn't fully understand the fermenting process when I started, so I originally covered with a coffee filter and then later replaced that with a loosely knitted rag and left on my counter. My reasoning was: I need to collect bugs from the air to 'wild ferment' my mash. After a day or so of stirring, I put a lid on the jar with no airlock. It smelled absolutely AMAZING. At this point, I didn't preserve the buildup of CO2 because I regularly opened the jar to look for mold and stir sometimes. ( i know..).
So, this ferment is around 1 month+ old and has been regularly opened during the process. Never once was there any sort of visible growth on or in the mash. No mold, no kham yeast, nothing. The smell has been great since the beginning. Late into the fermentation period, it developed this wonderfully sweet garlicy smell, very pleasant. I decided to take out a sample and test the ph with my pen and it was 5.2-.5.3. Seemingly wayy too high for a month of fermenting. It is possible that my pen needs calibration, but I don't think it is very far off. After this, I loosely tightened the lid an left it. It has been a week since this.
My worries/questions are this
Is it possible that my ferment could be infected from frequent opening even though there was no noticeable mold growth (if mold can't grow other things probably can't?) and it smells wonderful? I've read several times here that "the nose knows", but is that always the case?
How long do I leave the jar loosely sealed before checking for a reduced pH again? I told myself I'd let it go another month.
Would it be preferable to cook the sauce down with vinegar to bring the pH all the way down and go ahead and bottle it now rather than wait?
Given the frequent opening and lack of low enough pH after 1 month, should I just toss this instead of taking a chance even though there is no sign that can be detected by any of my senses that it might be infected (no mold, no smell, no growths)?
I know I'm probably being paranoid, but I just wanted to check in after reading the entire thread and realizing how non ideally my first ferment was executed. I appreciate everyone's help and contribution here that has really helped me.
hahaha WOW I don't think you have any worries. i usually let mine run 90 days min. you should calibrate you meter to be sure. you can take care of salt during processing by adding a potato while you cook it . This will remove any extra salt. Does your jar have an airlock is so leave it alone let it work if not just twist cover and burp jar every now and then. Sounds like your ok so don't panic fermenting is easy just follow guidlines and be Patientjdf121 said:
I figured it should be ok, just wanted to double check. No airlock on this jar, but my current ferments are completely by the book and will not be opened. As far as nasties, am I correct in thinking that any nasty infection would be obvious? A ferment that looks and smells great is the guideline?
Started fermenting and it seems to be doing well and extremely fast. I used a drop of sauerkraut liquid and I'm keeping it opened with unscrewed lid (need to buy an airlock). It's bubbling like mad and I would need to mix it every couple of hours, because the solid parts start to float when combined with the bubbles and coloured clear liquid stays in the bottom. It's just 2 days of my ferment. I think that sauerkraut trick worked even too well. 
Homemade kraut juice works great for a starter. I use it all the time.
Thanks Rocketman! This made my life a whole lot easier.
I assume you're fermenting without an airlock. If you see a bunch of bubble in the mash, that's a good sign things are going well. I've never seen my pepper ferments actively bubbling...but I've never really sat there and stared at it for too long. A lot of people use air locks as you would in homebrewing, and the water in the airlock bubbles from the produced co2.jdf121 said:
If you start with a thick mash that has been through a blender, you will see a ton of air pockets. The mash will rise a lot in the fermenting container like a loaf of bread. If you start with a coarse chopped mash and plenty of liquid you will not see the same type of reaction. The CO2 does not get trapped in the coarse chopped mash. My fermented hab sauce is not thick and you cant see anything going on but it sure smells extremely sour.
Leave a good amount of head space if using a mash that is like a puree. It will easily grow by 1/3 during a heavy ferment unless you can find away to keep it pressed down.
Leave a good amount of head space if using a mash that is like a puree. It will easily grow by 1/3 during a heavy ferment unless you can find away to keep it pressed down.
Both. I have two pint sized jars with out airlock and those are just anomalies because of all the non ideal things I did in the process. You can see my first post a few back for details on those. They are still looking great though. One is about 2 months in. My newest ferment (a quart jar with about 2-2 1/2 inches head space from the top, mash was 500g. added 6% salt(30g) and 60g dark brown sugar) was started on 9/22 and has been under airlock since mashing.Jubnat said:
I've just read multiple posts of "vigorous fermentation" and I have yet to even see my mash rise at all.
ShowMeDaSauce said:
My mash is a blended, really thick salsa consistency. Like a slop almost. But I'm getting no rising at all. I can see fermentation of tiny tiny CO2 bubbles pressed to the glass, so I know it is happening. I just wanted to know if non vigorous fermentation is common? I have considered using a coarse mash, but didn't have a good way to keep it submerged. Which do you prefer?
Also to note on these ferments, I have never gotten any kind of kham yeast or mold growth at all. Even on the jars that were opened semi frequently and left open with cloth over them for the first few days.
Keeping a coarse mash submerged is easy. They make weights for crocks and for Mason jars. Cut a disk from a piece of dehydrator screen and place the weight on top of the screen.
http://www.makesauerkraut.com/fermentation-weights/
http://www.makesauerkraut.com/fermentation-weights/
I just processed my fermented verde sauce from October 2015. I left it uncooked and placed a quart mason jar in the fridge and made these 6 bottles to give to friends/family.
And in the background are this years attempt at Bonsai's that I did yesterday lol.
Also I can definitely taste the difference in a fermented sauce vs a non fermented cooked sauce. I still have a 1/2 gallon of super hot sauce fermenting from the same time last year. I'm going to see how this one lasts refrigerated and unrefrigerated before processing that batch of sauce.
And in the background are this years attempt at Bonsai's that I did yesterday lol.
Also I can definitely taste the difference in a fermented sauce vs a non fermented cooked sauce. I still have a 1/2 gallon of super hot sauce fermenting from the same time last year. I'm going to see how this one lasts refrigerated and unrefrigerated before processing that batch of sauce.
