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Bold Badger 2018 grow log

So I have about 200 plants this year, about the same as last year.  Here's the breakdown:

Pepper Quantity
Yellow 7 Pot 80
MOA Scotch Bonnet 39
White 7 Pot 9
Carolina Reaper 4
Yellow Devils Tongue 5
Moruga Scorpion 3
Tobago Seasoning Pepper 8
Red Bhut 24
Yellow Fatali 19
Yellow Bhut 2
Indian Carbon Bhut 1
Yellow TS Moruga 2
7 Pot Jonah 2
Choc Scotch Bonnet 1
Red Fatali 5

I started them on 3/12, then started a bunch more two weeks later to replace the ones that didn't sprout, so 40 or so of them are a bit behind the others.  After a couple of weeks of moving them around the yard to harden off, I got them in the ground last weekend, 5/20.  About a week later than last year, and about two weeks later than I really could have, given the better weather we've had this year.  These plants will all be used for my sauce.
 
 
The story so far:
 
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3/12.  The bionic seed starter rack returns, now with an extra level.                                                                                     
 
 
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Closeup, those are the curry trees on the left.
 
 
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3/22.  We have liftoff!
 
 
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4/8.  Aren't they adorable?
 
 
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4/13   The two trays on the upper right are the ones I replanted on 3/30.
 
 
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4/27   32 very snug Yellow 7 Pots.
 
 
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5/11   The day I moved them outside to harden off.
 
 
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5/13   A very healthy looking Yellow 7 Pot.  They started growing much faster once I got them outside.
 
 
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5/20   Plant out day!
 
 
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Roots.
 
 
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5/25   Today.  This is site #2, 24 Ghosts in this spot.
 
 
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Site #3, which is about 100 feet away from site #2.  19 Yellow Fatalis, 3 Yellow TS Morugas, and 3 7 Pot Jonahs.
 
 
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The big spot, 152 plants here total, all of the following: Yellow 7 Pots, MOAs, Reapers, Yellow Devil's Tongues, Moruga Scorpions, Tobagos.
 
 
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The two big curry trees doing well.
 
 
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The baby curry trees, looking pretty scraggly.  I'm hoping recover and wind up producing a ton of leaves for me.
 
 
That's all for now folks!  I'll keep this updated as the season progresses.
 
 
Here's a link to my 2017 grow log for those interested:
 
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/64240-2017-grow-log-200-plants-30-varieties/
 
Turns out I did have enough superhots for a carboy.  Not quite as many white 7 pots as I'd hoped but I went ahead and made a batch out of them anyway, I have high hopes for that one.
 
 
 
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White 7 pots on right.
 
 
 
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Reapers and morugas.
 
 
 
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A lot of ghosts in here.
 
 
 
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a few reapers.
 
 
 
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Smoking a load of peppers today.  I figure I'll do one more about this size, maybe more if I have a lot of leftover peppers.  I still have 4 empty carboys.  I'm planning two plum, one chipotle, and one curry.
 
 
 
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Getting there.
 
 
 
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I went to Nashville to see Ween on Tuesday, was an awesome show.  I got back on Wednesday and proceeded to pick like I'd never picked before because they were predicting frost last night.  I was totally stripping the plants, picking all the green peppers too.  This is most of what I picked, probably another 150 lbs.  Turns out no frost so I have a few more days to pick more of what's left, I just ran out of daylight.  I haven't really even started on the yellow fatalis yet.
 
 
 
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Ween.
 
 
 
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Yellow 7 pot sauce is looking good..
 
 
 
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White 7 pot and superhots.
 
 
 
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The seed pile, bigger than ever.  There's a fan pointed at it, and I just stir them from time to time.  I think I'm going to do a little seed giveaway with these, like you pay only shipping for a cup of seeds.  They're all mixed together so what you wind up with will be a mystery.  Just in time for Halloween.  I mean like 80% of them will probably be yellow 7 pots, but there are also seeds from the volunteers, and who knows what's crossed with what.  It might be fun to grow them out and see what you get, like the pepper lottery, lol.
 
I'll take you up on that!  Sounds fun.
 
But I don't do PP, so just let me know where to send the $$ too.  Bhuter can vouch for me.
Bold Badger Sauces said:
The seed pile, bigger than ever.  There's a fan pointed at it, and I just stir them from time to time.  I think I'm going to do a little seed giveaway with these, like you pay only shipping for a cup of seeds.  They're all mixed together so what you wind up with will be a mystery.  Just in time for Halloween.  I mean like 80% of them will probably be yellow 7 pots, but there are also seeds from the volunteers, and who knows what's crossed with what.  It might be fun to grow them out and see what you get, like the pepper lottery, lol.
 


 
 
Cool, I'll post an update when they're all dry, which will probably be a little while, but I'll shoot for before Halloween.  I'll have the seeds from that last big picking to add to it when I chop them up this weekend.
 
Finished up the eighth and last carboy last weekend.  It was a lot of work, although not having to load everything up and drive to the kitchen is definitely nice.  I always listen to audiobooks when I'm chopping peppers, this year I made it through Harry Potter books 3-5.  They were all great, goblet of fire being my favorite so far, but half blood prince is shaping up to be even better.
 
 
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Upper left are the two plum, then a "regular," which will be either chipotle or curry.  On the bottom is a yellow 7 pot, the first that I've capped off.  I've been shaking it around to try and get the mash to sink.  I have a heater in there keeping the temp at about 65.
 
 
 
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White 7 pot and superhot.
 
 
 
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The other two yellow 7 pots.
 
 
 
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The seed pile, still not totally dry.
 
 
 
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Smoked peppers, I did 3 big batches on the smoker.  Wound up with 5 gallon-sized ziplocks full.
 
 
 
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The curry trees.
 
 
 
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Sadly the plants are now dead.  I'm going back to dig them up and clean up the ground sometime in the next week or so.
 
 
 
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More dead plants.  I miss summer already.
 
Wow! Very cool having that basement in and approved, congrats. How do you prepare the curry leaves? Fresh, dry, whole, ground, hypnotized, intoxicated?
 
Last year I used them fresh, but this year I'll probably have to dry them or freeze them.  I'm debating which way would preserve the flavor the best.  I'm leaning toward freezing, in which case I'll vacuum seal them first.
 
Not much new to report.  One of the plum carboys did get a pretty bad case of yeast.  It took longer for those two to start bubbling than the rest, but once fermentation started in earnest the yeast kind of stopped in its tracks, presumably because of all the CO2.  I scooped off the top couple of inches of mash, sprinkled some salt on top, and put the lid back on.  I've since capped off all 8 carboys, and I've been shaking them every few days in the hopes of continually disturbing the surface and preventing yeast from getting a foothold.  So far so good, no more yeast on any of them.  I've also been burping them once or twice a day, they smell *delicious*.
 
I inadvertently did a little experiment with the yellow 7 pot carboys.  I screwed up and put 2x the garlic in the first one, so for the other two I used the normal amount of garlic in one and no garlic in the other.  The plan is to mix them all together when I cook them so it works out.  I noticed the one with 2x garlic took longer to start bubbling than the one with normal garlic, which took longer than the one with no garlic.  I've always heard that garlic inhibits fermentation, and from what I've seen it's totally true.  Once they got going they seemed to ferment as well as the others, the onset was just delayed.  It'll be interesting to see if there's any difference in the final ph among those 3.  I predict there won't be.
 
 
 
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Plum and white 7 pot on top, two yellow 7 pots and superhot on bottom.
 
 
 
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"Regular", plum, and another yellow 7 pot.
 
 
 
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Finally got around to taking down the plants.
 
 
 
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Here's the new label I've been working on.  It's basically the same as last year but I muted the background in the center a bit, changed the color of the banner, new font, darkened up the badger, etc.  I wanted to start from scratch and do something completely different, but sadly I was born without any creativity.  I'm also colorblind and don't really understand CMYK, so any design suggestions are appreciated, lol.
 
 
 
I think the seed pile is about as dry as it's going to get.  I'm going to put them in a closet with a bucket of damp-rid to suck out the last of the moisture, then into the leftover carboy.  It has an air-tight lid so they should stay pretty dry in there.  I'll probably be making another post shortly after thanksgiving about that.
 
Nice work, Josh.  Beautiful set-up and some great results.
 
I have got to get into fermenting, just having a hard time
pulling the trigger since I know jack about it. It has always
scared me a little. I felt pretty good about cold smoking some
2017 grow season peppers, but that is as far as I've got. You
are using a hot smoke, right?  They look dried in the bags. Did
you smoke them to dryness, or dry them later?
 
Good luck getting all your sauces together!
 
Thanks Paul!
 
It's pretty hot, yeah, I try to keep the temp around 200.  I smoke them pretty much until they're dry, sometimes I let them go overnight and add more charcoal in the morning.  When I take them off the smoker I do typically have a few that are still soft so I put those in the oven to finish drying.  I absolutely love the smoked pepper powder, I put it on everything.  That said, if I had a bigger smoker I think a colder smoke would produce better results.  I need to plunk down the money for the side fire-box attachment for mine.
 
I can't recommend fermented chinense sauces enough.  It takes the fresh pepper flavor and adds a sour/funky/savory kick to it.  I've noticed the hotter the peppers the more the fresh flavor seems to carry over through fermentation.  It's like the peppers have so much evil in them the fermentation can't touch it, lol.  My first year I added a bunch of fresh peppers at cook time to try and bring back more of the fresh flavor, but now I don't even bother, I think it's better with the lingering fresh taste more in the background.  I do want to try making a non-fermented sauce at some point but there are different rules for acidified foods and it would require me to have everything lined up to bottle the sauce while the peppers are still fresh and so far I haven't been able to manage it.
 
Thanks for your take on this, Josh. I need
to do a little research on this topic.
Maybe I'll pull the trigger next season!
 
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