First Time Making Hot Sauce

Canes1 · Sep 5, 2016

I decided to try to make some fermented Jalapeno hot sauce since my wife a bunch of extra red Jalapenos left over. Wish I had time to bust out the smoker but I wanted to see if it would work.

oldsalty · Sep 5, 2016

Yum Whats yer plan or is that the finished sauce?

SmokenFire · Sep 5, 2016

oldsalty said:
Yum Whats yer plan or is that the finished sauce?

agreed it looks good. and are those a whole shit ton of roasted tomatillos in the background?

The Hot Pepper · Sep 5, 2016

looks like onions

Canes1 · Sep 6, 2016

SmokenFire said:
agreed it looks good. and are those a whole shit ton of roasted tomatillos in the background?

Those are my wife's onions drying

Might grow them next year though

oldsalty said:
Yum Whats yer plan or is that the finished sauce?

Let it ferment out, food mill and bottle.

Canes1 · Sep 7, 2016

Well something is going on, hope it's good. It grew, a lot and probably would have overflowed so I split it. Hope it's doing what's its supposed to be doing.

sirex · Sep 8, 2016

First pic in the last two looks real good. Second lic- waaaaaaaaay too much headroom. Personally, I wouldn't.have split them up. All that head room gives the oxygen too much room to wreak havok.

Have you put caps on or is it just cheesecloth? I'd put caps on so no new oxygen gets in there to facilitate the growth of something undesirable.

Looks good but with that much headroom and ( I'm guessing ) oxygen from no cap, I wouldn't run it that long.

But damn. Looks good.

oldsalty · Sep 8, 2016

sirex said:
First pic in the last two looks real good. Second lic- waaaaaaaaay too much headroom. Personally, I wouldn't.have split them up. All that head room gives the oxygen too much room to wreak havok.

Have you put caps on or is it just cheesecloth? I'd put caps on so no new oxygen gets in there to facilitate the growth of something undesirable.

Looks good but with that much headroom and ( I'm guessing ) oxygen from no cap, I wouldn't run it that long.

But damn. Looks good.

I'm with sirex way to much headroom def invest in some airlock's nothing worse than a ruined ferment that was working. I would make this one a quick ferment. How long has it been running ?

sirex · Sep 8, 2016

Let it run for a week is what I'd do. Enough time to get a nice fermented taste. When I ferment I start the head room a little above the shoulder of the jar. Enough room to rise about an inch and a half.

It does look really, really good though!

oldsalty · Sep 8, 2016

Yup I'm with sirex again looks fantastic! A bubbling bottle of Love right there !!

ShowMeDaSauce · Sep 8, 2016

Try one of these fermenters and never worry about headspace again http://www.shoplivart.com/kitchenware-1/food-storage.html

They work great with kimchi and pickles too.

Canes1 · Sep 8, 2016

sirex said:
First pic in the last two looks real good. Second lic- waaaaaaaaay too much headroom. Personally, I wouldn't.have split them up. All that head room gives the oxygen too much room to wreak havok.
Have you put caps on or is it just cheesecloth? I'd put caps on so no new oxygen gets in there to facilitate the growth of something undesirable.
Looks good but with that much headroom and ( I'm guessing ) oxygen from no cap, I wouldn't run it that long.
But damn. Looks good.

Thanks for the heads up, poured in back into one jar and will probably put a cap on it ,not overly tight. I have a glass pickle jar I just finished that I'll put an bung n airlock on. I'm not that crazy to put a hole in my wife's canning jar,bsd things will happen.lol.

Here's a new pic of progress

sirex · Sep 8, 2016

Shoot, I dont use airlocks.

I just screw the lid on and burp it until the main ferment ceases, then throw it in the fridge.

ShowMeDaSauce · Sep 8, 2016

Ball sells plastic lids for storage and they are cheap. The rubber part on an eye dropper makes a fairly good grommet in a pinch too.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ball-Wide-Mouth-Storage-Caps-8pk/16213251

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These work ok too,'

7e1f3cf5-1c10-40e5-91b6-e9b365d5757a_1.ecc847a43df7465aa8972a9c6a8b7c6d.jpeg

Mason's ReCap are nice but they are about $8 each and you need the cork for a airlock also.

dfc7dbe0-a0f5-11e5-a190-0ef7535729df--2013-0823_reCap-lids-004.jpg

Canes1 · Sep 8, 2016

sirex said:
Shoot, I dont use airlocks.

I just screw the lid on and burp it until the main ferment ceases, then throw it in the fridge.

My thoughts exactly,was doing that.

thanks again

Canes1 · Sep 8, 2016

ShowMeDaSauce said:
Ball sells plastic lids for storage and they are cheap. The rubber part on an eye dropper makes a fairly good grommet in a pinch too.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ball-Wide-Mouth-Storage-Caps-8pk/16213251

These work ok too,'

Mason's ReCap are nice but they are about $8 each and you need the cork for a airlock also.

I was just at Walmart today. Wonder if a #6 Carboy bung would work in there

Canes1 · Sep 11, 2016

sirex said:
Let it run for a week is what I'd do. Enough time to get a nice fermented taste. When I ferment I start the head room a little above the shoulder of the jar. Enough room to rise about an inch and a half.
It does look really, really good though!

Just wondering when the fermentation is done,how long does it take?v I covered the top so to keep the air out,here is a pic of the progress.

Thanks

ShowMeDaSauce · Sep 11, 2016

Fermentation can continue until there is no more sugars for the lactobacillus to "eat". They can tolerate acidity down to nearly 2-3pH before dying off.

Just for the sake of argument you could process at 3pH and pretty much consider it done although more aging might have a better overall flavor. I can make a drinkable blackberry wine within a month or two but it sure taste better after six months. Any some ways, hot sauce ferments are no different than a decent wine.

Canes1 · Sep 11, 2016

ShowMeDaSauce said:
Fermentation can continue until there is no more sugars for the lactobacillus to "eat". They can tolerate acidity down to nearly 2-3pH before dying off.

Just for the sake of argument you could process at 3pH and pretty much consider it done although more aging might have a better overall flavor. I can make a drinkable blackberry wine within a month or two but it sure taste better after six months. Any some ways, hot sauce ferments are no different than a decent wine.

I have made a lot of wine and hard cider not really sure about checking ph I usually wait till fermentation is done then check sugar level.

Just wanted to know how long everyone lets it go, I'll wait a couple of months before I finish it.

I have waited 10 months on a batch of hard cider I did.

oldsalty · Sep 12, 2016

Ha ha great job. Ferments can last years and may never stop until they are properly processed. I let most of my ferments run for 90 days. Have a few that are past a year right now. But ive gotten fantastic results after 90 days. The longer they run the more complex the flavors get.

First Time Making Hot Sauce

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