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fermenting Fermenting Hot Sauce - GONE AWRY!

Hi all!
 
Moved this from "The Test Kitchen" -- I didn't know which made more sense. Sorry, new here  :rolleyes:
I am making some homemade sriracha sauce (delicious), and I've done it several times before with great results.
 
The usual process which worked in the past:
Finely chop chilis (I used fresnos), garlic, salt, sugar, toss into a glass jar, seal tight, and let sit for 2-3 days. Once a little bubbly, mix with vinegar, boil, and blend. Voila! Highly recommended.
 
This time, however, something went HORRIBLY wrong:
When I opened the jar after the fermentation period and dumped the chopped chilis into the pot, as it poured out, it was EXTREMELY viscous, like very thick mucous. Disgusting, really. (In the past, the texture had been the same as when the chilis/ingredients went into the jars, save for the natural separation of the liquids from the solids -- fresh and wet)
 
Possible explanations:
1) It was hotter in my kitchen as the sauce fermented this time around (around 80dgs F, vs 70-ish) 
2) The jar was filled almost to the top this time, with very little or no air remaining (in previous batches there was an inch or two of space)
3) Maybe the jar had some kind of bacteria in it and wasn't clean/sanitized enough?
 
If anybody has any ideas as to why this horrible thing happened -- or, alternatively, if it's not that horrible and is completely natural -- PLEASE let me know! Also, if anybody knows what would actually cause that strange mucousy thickening... so so strage...
 
I'm going to be scaling this recipe up big time and before I buy pounds and pounds of ingredients and destroy them I'd love to have some idea of what happened.
 
Thank you SO SO much to anybody who can help!
 
I would think that your Possible Explanation #3 would be the correct answer. For a fermentation everything has to be very clean. I wash everything that will touch the mash by hand ans then run it through the dishwasher and then use No-rinse Sanitizer as is used in Home Brewing.  
 
Forgive this rookie's naivete, but when using fresh ingredients, couldn't some bacteria be introduced from the veggies themselves? Like on the surface of the pepper?
 
jason
 
Yes, and when your doing a wild fermentation that's where you generally get the Lactobacillus from. Also why a high percentage of salt is requirwed to prevent tha bad bacteria from getting a foothold before the good stuff gets going. So, there in lies another possibility. It's just really hard to tell where you went wrong without your having posted the entire process you used to make your sauce.
 
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