fermenting Adding hops to hot sauce. Any suggestions?

[Alejandro]

Good morning,
I'm thinking of adding hops to my hot sauce, but haven't find much information in Google nor in the search tool of the forum.

Anyone doing it? Any first hand suggestions are much appreciated.

I would like to add hops as late addition to an already fermented sauce and also to q vinegar base sauce.

For the fermented sauce I plan to infuse the hops in vozka and then add it before boil the sauce (I made big batches and I boil it and hot canning, no probiotics, I know).

For the vinegar base one, I plan to infuse the vinegar with hops.

For the future, does anyone put the hops in the brine with the other ingredients? Do you put them in a mess bag? My blender is not that good.

Thank you all for reading, have a nice day

Alejandro

 

[Mac_5]

Good morning,
I'm thinking of adding hops to my hot sauce, but haven't find much information in Google nor in the search tool of the forum.

Anyone doing it? Any first hand suggestions are much appreciated.

I would like to add hops as late addition to an already fermented sauce and also to q vinegar base sauce.

For the fermented sauce I plan to infuse the hops in vozka and then add it before boil the sauce (I made big batches and I boil it and hot canning, no probiotics, I know).

For the vinegar base one, I plan to infuse the vinegar with hops.

For the future, does anyone put the hops in the brine with the other ingredients? Do you put them in a mess bag? My blender is not that good.

Thank you all for reading, have a nice day

Alejandro

I had never thought of adding hops to a sauce, but it sounds like an interesting idea that I might try. Based on brewing experience, I don't think I would boil or ferment the hops. I think you'll lose too many of the aromatics. I'd start with infusions.

 

[Alejandro]

Looking into the topic I found a brand called alchemy peppers and mellow habanero doing it but a I can't find first hand recipes, just random discussion about how to do it.
I agree on the cold infusion way.

 

[HellfireFarm]

For beer, there are a few stages for hop addition. For straight bitterness, it goes into the boil for an hour. At the end of the boil you get more flavor (and some aroma) - times in between is basically trading one for the other (bitter vs. flavor).

For mainly aroma (and some flavor of course), they're added to the ferment.

So you need to determine what flavor profile you want to decide when to add them. I expect that they would react mostly the same to any heating/boiling you do (I don't make sauce so I don't know if that's a thing )

Also, watch the type of hop - they can vary a LOT in bitterness and flavor/aroma. (If you want my opinion, use cascade)

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Hop Smoked Jalapeno is fantastic!

 

[Alejandro]

For beer, there are a few stages for hop addition. For straight bitterness, it goes into the boil for an hour. At the end of the boil you get more flavor (and some aroma) - times in between is basically trading one for the other (bitter vs. flavor).

For mainly aroma (and some flavor of course), they're added to the ferment.

So you need to determine what flavor profile you want to decide when to add them. I expect that they would react mostly the same to any heating/boiling you do (I don't make sauce so I don't know if that's a thing )

Also, watch the type of hop - they can vary a LOT in bitterness and flavor/aroma. (If you want my opinion, use cascade)

I'm growing centennial, so perfect .
I'm thinking more as dry hopping for aroma instead of bitterness.

 

[Alejandro]

Hop Smoked Jalapeno is fantastic!

Thanks for your message. Any idea/suggestions of how to add hops to the sauce?

 

[The Hot Pepper]

In the case above they smoked the jalapenos over hops (and cherry wood) and added beer to the sauce. Does not have a chipotle taste at all. Lots of texture and a roastiness.

 

[HellfireFarm]

I'm growing centennial, so perfect .
I'm thinking more as dry hopping for aroma instead of bitterness.

If your sauce is fermented, then that's probably the way to do it then. If not, then still would want to let it set on the hops some.

When you get your first batch, I want a taste!

 

[Bou]

I ve been thinking about that for quite some time. Hop flavors will fade then oxydise just like in IPAs so rather quickly I believe. To get the best result I'd probably use one of the cryo hops in a hop stand at 160° or lower to avoid most isomerisation (=bitterness). I'd manage to get a very thick sauce that I would thin with the hop infused water before bottling to get the correct consistency. Small batch only to make sure it does not have time to produce too much off flavors.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Yeah I was going to say lupulin but that's cryo, good idea.