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2017 Grow Log - 200 plants, 30 varieties

Hello all.  Last year was the year I intended to "go big" and start my hot sauce company, but as chance would have it, the soil at my largest garden spot was terrible, all clay.  I had planted about 150 plants there but none of them grew over 6 inches tall.  I had another spot where I planted about 35 MOAs, just one variety because I wanted to get a bunch of non-crossed seeds.  So as it turned out those bonnets were the only plants I had.  But I estimate they produced about 4 lbs per plant, which was way more than I expected.  I still started the hot sauce company, but I wound up with only about 320 bottles of sauce.  I just sold out of it last weekend, people seemed to really like it.
 
This year I have a new garden spot with much better soil.  I started the plants right about a month ago.
 
Here's the list of varieties:

ID Name Qty
1. MOA scotch bonnets 30
2. Cardi Scorpion? 17
3. Yellow 7 Pot 22
4. Chocolate Devil's Tongue 15
5. Gigantic Ghost 15
6. Caramel Moruga Scorpion 5
7. Peach Fatali 5
8. Caribbean Red 5
9. White 7 Pot 5
11. Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion 5
12. Aji Pineapple 15
13. Pepper Joe Not Ghost 8
14. Peach Trinidad Scorpion 5
15. Carolina Reaper 5
16. 7 Pot Congo SR Gigantic Yellow 5
17. Aji Jobito 6
18. Orange Fatali 4
19. Padron Pepper 5
20. Sugar Rush Peach 5
21. Fidalgo Amarillo 5
22. Chiero Creme 5
23. Chenzo Chili 5
24. Trinidad Perfume 5
25. Tobago Seasoning 5
26. Pimenta Luna 5
27. Aji Lemon 5
28. Rosemary Pepper 5
29. Turkish Snake 5
30. Cardi Scorpion 5
31. Aji Amarillo 3




I can't seem to figure out how to upload pics on here, so I uploaded one to imgur:
 
http://imgur.com/a/YmqGi
 
I made the rack myself, obviously.  After separating some of the multiples, I now have 266 plants on it total.  Planning to give some away and sell the extras at the farmer's market.  The lights are on 24 hours in case you were wondering.
 
I'm excited!  200 plants is serious business!  I'll be back with more pictures as things progress.
 
 
 
Click to expand...
Yes, once it's done.  If I stick to my original plan I won't bottle it until the end of November, but I may try to step it up.  Hopefully I'll actually start selling it a couple of weeks after that.
 
Looking like the first frost will be next week so I cleaned off the plants on Friday.  Chopped up about 200 lbs this weekend, my biggest weekend ever, it was a slog.
 
20171021_133136.jpg

 
 
20171021_133144.jpg

 
 
 
20171022_104530.jpg

 
That's a lot of Ajis on the right, and that's not even all of them.  I made a carboy of nothing but those, pretty curious to see how that one turns out.  I've never grown any Baccatums before.
 
 
20171016_221103.jpg

 
Started some test batches to keep me company over the winter.  And yes I realize I misspelled plum.
 
So I wound up with a total of 11 carboys full, or about 77 gallons of mash.  Not sure exactly when I'll get it bottled.  There's still at least 100 lbs on the plants too, most of which I'd like to smoke, but we'll see.  I'll have to talk my friend into letting me use his smoker for like 3 days straight, lol.
 
Wow this is one of my favorite grow logs. Awesome season dude, and when you get that sauce done let me know, I'd love to buy some
 
Just a quick update.  Since last we spoke I've chopped down all the plants and put down a bunch of annual ryegrass as a cover crop.  It was pretty bittersweet after spending all summer keeping them alive, although truth be told there wasn't much to do.  I only had to water them twice the whole Summer.
 
 
20171105_122500.jpg

 
Goodnight sweet prince...
 
 
20171115_100319.jpg

 
All of the mash.
 
The bottles should arrive on Monday, planning to cook the sauce on Tuesday.  I still have to finish the labels and get the site up and going before I'm ready to start selling.  I figure that'll take at least a couple of weeks.  This year I want to get the labels printed professionally.  Last year I just used sticker paper and had them printed at Office Depot, but the paper didn't hold up well to moisture.
 
Wow look at all those pods on the ground I hope you picked those up hehe


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theBelvidere said:
Chopped up about another 100 lbs yesterday.  Mid-heat peppers on the left, superhots in the middle, mild on the right.
 
20171007_113530.jpg

 
 
A few reapers still on the vine.  I grew one reaper plant a couple of years ago and it hardly produced anything so I'm really happy with these.  Everyone at the commercial kitchen was impressed by their abject evil.
 
20171005_182750.jpg

 
 
 
All my carboys are now full so I guess I'll order a few more.  I still have tons of pods on the plants.  I'm terrible at estimating, but I figure I've only picked somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 of the total.  I'm sure a lot of the ones remaining will wind up being picked in a still under-ripe state right before the first frost, but I'd still like to use them.  The test batches I made with those under-ripe peppers last year turned out really good.  I could just smoke them all too.  Decisions, decisions.
 
Here's a batch that I smoked a few weeks:
 
20170917_105537.jpg

 
 
Finished:
 
20170917_171656.jpg

 
 
I smoked probably 50 lbs total over a few days, most of which will go into my smoked sauce, but I saved a big quart jar full for myself.  I absolutely love smoked pepper powder, I put it on everything.
 
 
 
Click to expand...
 
 
I always wondered about this, and imagined it would be what I do with leftover peppers. Do you have any advise for this process?
 
For what process, starting a sauce company?  I'd start by calling your local county extension office.  They should have plenty of info about starting a food-based business.  In my case, because the sauce is fermented and comes out with a ph below 4.6 after fermentation, it's not considered an "acidified food", so the rules are a bit looser.  If you have to add something to it to get it to a safe ph, then it's considered acidified.  The sauce is simmered for about 45 minutes, then bottled at a temp above 190F.  This is called the "hot fill method."  I'm also considered "very small" by the FDA until I start selling over a million units a year (I think), and I have no employees, so there are a lot of other rules that also don't apply, bio-terrorism regulations, anti-tampering measures on the production line, etc.
 
In my state (KY), I think you can get a home-based micro-processor license, which would allow you to make sauce at home, but then you can only sell it at farmer's markets and approved road-side stands.  That would probably be your best bet if you just wan to get your feet wet.  If you want to sell it retail or on the internet, you have to cook it at an approved commercial kitchen.  There's a really good one about an hour away from me, they have super nice facilities, but they charge $35/hr.  Since the bulk of the time making my sauce is spent just chopping up peppers, all I really need is a cutting board, so I found another closer and cheaper facility to do the fermentation.  Then I trucked it all down to the nice kitchen to cook and bottle.  They have a crazy bottling machine that's worth the $35/hr alone.  A state food safety inspector had to be there to observe the cooking and bottling, and someone with the Better Process Control School certification has to be there as well.  Any other specific questions ask away.
 
We bottled about 800 bottles yesterday, took from about 9:00 am until midnight.  Going back on Saturday to finish up the rest.  I broke one of the carboys loading it onto the truck (one of the berry batches), so I only had 10 total.  We got through 6 of them yesterday.  Here's a couple of pics.
 
20171128_174106.jpg

 
That's a 40 gallon steam-jacketed kettle.
 
 
20171128_174119.jpg

 
Overall shot.
 
Sorry! Should've been more specific.
 
I was asking about the process of smoking peppers and how you either turn them into flakes or cooking powders? Currently I season a lot of my cooking with my home made hot sauce but I feel like the spice would go a lot further if I could just add a little super hot powder.
 
I know you're doing this with the intention to sell so don't feel like you gotta give up any of your trade secrets - I always just like learning from first hand experiences! Thanks for any additional tips, you've got literally an amazing thing going here. Very jealous of your operation!
 
lol ok.  To smoke the peppers, I just cut the stem off, cut them in half and put them on the grill.  It's one of those char grillers with the side fire box.  Stir/flip them for 8-10 hours, move the drier ones farthest from the fire, etc.  I usually smoke them until they're almost completely dry and finish them off in the oven if need be.
 
theBelvidere said:
For what process, starting a sauce company?  I'd start by calling your local county extension office.  They should have plenty of info about starting a food-based business.  In my case, because the sauce is fermented and comes out with a ph below 4.6 after fermentation, it's not considered an "acidified food", so the rules are a bit looser.  If you have to add something to it to get it to a safe ph, then it's considered acidified.  The sauce is simmered for about 45 minutes, then bottled at a temp above 190F.  This is called the "hot fill method."  I'm also considered "very small" by the FDA until I start selling over a million units a year (I think), and I have no employees, so there are a lot of other rules that also don't apply, bio-terrorism regulations, anti-tampering measures on the production line, etc.
 
In my state (KY), I think you can get a home-based micro-processor license, which would allow you to make sauce at home, but then you can only sell it at farmer's markets and approved road-side stands.  That would probably be your best bet if you just wan to get your feet wet.  If you want to sell it retail or on the internet, you have to cook it at an approved commercial kitchen.  There's a really good one about an hour away from me, they have super nice facilities, but they charge $35/hr.  Since the bulk of the time making my sauce is spent just chopping up peppers, all I really need is a cutting board, so I found another closer and cheaper facility to do the fermentation.  Then I trucked it all down to the nice kitchen to cook and bottle.  They have a crazy bottling machine that's worth the $35/hr alone.  A state food safety inspector had to be there to observe the cooking and bottling, and someone with the Better Process Control School certification has to be there as well.  Any other specific questions ask away.
 
We bottled about 800 bottles yesterday, took from about 9:00 am until midnight.  Going back on Saturday to finish up the rest.  I broke one of the carboys loading it onto the truck (one of the berry batches), so I only had 10 total.  We got through 6 of them yesterday.  Here's a couple of pics.
 
20171128_174106.jpg

 
That's a 40 gallon steam-jacketed kettle.
 
 
20171128_174119.jpg

 
Overall shot.
 
Click to expand...
nice is it for sale yet? [emoji51]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Hello all, I'm back with a snazzy new username since upgrading to the biz membership.  I've been selling the sauce at the local farmer's market and online since April.  It's been going pretty well.  I wound up with about 1400 bottles, 150 of which were the pineapple recipe, which I decided not to even sell, it just wasn't up to snuff.  I'll probably wind up dumping it all out and re-using the bottles.  I think to make a good pineapple sauce, pineapples have to be the first ingredient.  I was going for something like Pepper North's Solar Flare, which I love.  Lesson learned.  The rest all turned out great, although the Rogan Ouch and the Berry sauce were both a little thicker than I intended, they're still very tasty.
 
I have about 210 plants ready to go in the ground this year, mostly Yellow 7 Pots and MOAs.  I'll be starting another grow log for 2018 shortly.  In other awesome news, my Yellow 7 Pot sauce got 2nd place in the thp awards featured superhot category, so you know it's good!  I only have about 12 bottles of it left so be quick if you want some.
 
In celebration of my ability to crassly self-promote, the first ten people to reply to this thread will get a free bottle of their choosing, with the caveat that I'm only allocating 3 bottles of the Yellow 7 Pot to this giveaway, so if you want that one also choose a second bottle as a backup in case you aren't one of the first 3 to request it.  Just mention which one you want in your post.  Once I've gotten 10 replies, I'll post that the giveaway is over and PM each of you to get your shipping addresses.
 
You can find my site here:  https://www.boldbadgersauces.com
 
Thanks everyone!
 
I would go a bottle.of the Yellow 7 Pot, or the Berry Afraid if you are prepared to send a bottle down under.

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Great giveaway!!! If this is still open, I'd also like to try the Yellow 7 Pot if it's still available and if not, Be Berry Afraid would be awesome! Thank you very much for the opportunity to try your sauces. Good luck with the next pineapple recipe!
 
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