fermenting Making Mash Into Sauce

JonMurphy556 said:

I have quite a few pepper plants growing outside, but they won't me ready for picking for at least another month. I was thinking of getting some pre made mash from LA Pepper Exchange to keep me occupied until then.
Question is, what's the best way of converting mash into sauce? I was planning on getting the raw kind, which needs further processing. I was thinking of mixing the mash with 1/3 vinegar and boiling it for 10 minutes and then strain it. In the past when I strain sauces after adding vinegar to mash it just tasted like....vinegar.
How do you turn mash into sauce?

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Fermentation brother!!!!!!

oldsalty said:

Fermentation brother!!!!!!

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Sorry short answer was checking my smoker!! Go over to sauce thread read up fermentation 101 then post any thoughts. This is my favorite way . Hope that helps busy day!!

Hey JonMurphy!  Welcome to THP.  IIRC Ken from Ken's Pepper Works uses mash that comes from LAPE.  Though I've never had or sampled their product, I have had Ken's sauces and they kick ass - so I'd imagine the product coming from LAPE is quite good.  I've looked at their website and I think you have 2 options; a 'fresh' ground mash and a 'fermented' mash - basically you can get buckets of either when you want.  Sauce made with either can be excellent once you've mastered your methods and process.
 
Depending on how you get your mash - you'll have a sizeable amount - and at that time you can decide to ferment it or make into sauce.  Kinda two schools of thought about it (of which I like both):  Ferment or vinegar; without one or the other you don't have an acidified shelf stable sauce product.  We all want (and need) to be food safe, so really it comes down to you deciding on how you want to process the mash when it comes in.  Get fresh if you want to process with vinegar and/or ferment on your own.  Get already fermented if you want to use it right away.
 
I second OS's suggestion about the fermentation 101 thread, also will add the hot sauce making thread is a great read as well.  Between both of those threads and the myriad hot sauce logs/threads you'd do yourself a solid to cover/take notes/evaluate for your tastes.  None of that reading is going to do you any good if you don't then use it to make sauce though, so I'd also suggest you get fresh peppers/mash from LAPE and start making sauces of your own.  Nothing will educate better than actually doing it - the wins and losses along the way are invaluable.  
 
Best of luck, and you've found a great resource for all things pepper.  
 
EDIT: I use vinegar in nearly every sauce I make to help lower pH and also to balance the hot/salt/sweet/sour ratio of the sauce.  A good sauce using vinegar doesn't taste of vinegar - it tastes of peppers and garlic and salt and vinegar and a lot of other things; all of which are good!