fermenting Salt ratio for mash ferment?

Hi cgibsong002!
 
Salt ratio will depend on if you are making a brine or if you're "dry salting" (that is adding salt to a pureed mash by weight).  I have experimented for the past several years and usually use 4% salt by weight if I am dry salting a pepper mash.  For fermented cucumber pickles I will use a 5% brine and submerge the cukes in the brine under weights.
 
You could perhaps lower the salt by weight in the actual mash and then top the ferment with a higher % brine which would help keep your mash safe from molds and still not be too salty - say 3% by weight topped w a bit of 10% brine.  Or you could make additions like vinegar and even some roasted red bells to your current (too salty) batch to even out the flavor.  Here is a link to a tutorial I did a while back that might be of help.  I have a couple of ferments made w supers that are wayyyy too hot for all but the highest tolerances, but I cook them down with roasted sweet bells and apple cider vinegar to yield a final sauce that's not near as fire as the mash it starts out with.
 
Here is a brine calculator that I have used that might help, along with a link to a salt ratio 101 post over at fermentation recipes that is good info.
 
Keep in mind that salting and fermentation are among our oldest food preservation methods, and different ferments take different times.  My pepper mashes do not ferment with anything approaching the activity of beer and wine (or even sauerkraut) that I have made.  If you're seeing tiny bubbles suspended in the mash that's a good thing, and it could take weeks (months even) for all the sugars in the mash to be fully consumed.  
 
Other options would be to purchase a commercial starter such as Caldwells to jumpstart your ferments so you don't have to put so much salt in them.  
 
You'll find a range of salt and fermentation times that suit you the more you practice cgibsong002 - keep going!!  Also pics - we love pics.  
 
 

Ive used Caldwells and another brand of lacto culture starter They certainly do work but the cost is nuts. For the price of a head of cabbage and some salt you can make GALLONS of a starter brine and have fresh kraut to eat. Kraut is a no brainer ferment. Ive never had one fail. A couple tablespoons of kraut juice per quart and a sugar source is all it needs to jump start nearly any ferment.
 
Now, you can make a lot of brine from the Caldwells too. 1 packet makes something like 4lbs of fermented veggies. Feed it some veggies and a sugar source plus way more water than is needed for the ferment. You could easily make several gallons of a starter brine from one packet. The stuff will keep in the fridge for ages.
 
I do all my ferments with way less salt than is recommended and ive had one failure. That one went in the fridge too soon and molded. A little lactic acid or even vinegar carefully applied to the top of a ferment will usually prevent any problems. Brew shops sell 80% or higher lactic acid and its not terribly expensive considering you use very little to adjust ph.