• If you have a question about commercial production or the hot sauce business, please post in Startup Help.

Bottled my sauce and it exploded

I searched for a related topic and didn't find one. Sorry if this post is redundant.

I have started bottling my hot sauce and there is a serious fermenting issue. My neighbor told me he opened his bottle and it began to foam/overflow out of the bottle when he opened it after taking it out of the fridge. I kept my bottle at room temperature. While making dinner tonight I shook up my bottle and when I opened it it literally exploded out of the top of the bottle right in my face and all over my kitchen. After spending about 20 minutes hovered over the sink with the water sprayer directly in my eyes I am just now getting my sight back. When it blew the plastic dripper grommet off of the bottle it sounded like a large firecracker. 2/3 of the content came out violently. It blasted hot sauce all the way to the ceiling. It REALLY freaked me out.
The 3 main ingredients are habanero peppers, pineapples and a little white wine vinegar. I don't cook it (except for the garlic cloves) as I prefer the raw flavor. I just puree it in a smoothie machine and keep the blender pitcher in the fridge then re-blend as needed. My neighbors wanted some of their own so I bottled some.

Why did it react like this? What can I do to prevent this?
 
SavinaRed said:
I made a sauce 2 days ago that was not cooked but just blended. After 2 days the lid was bent looking and when I opened it the sauce over flowed from the jar. What caused this to happen. About 1/4 of the 16 oz jar bubbled out when I opened it up. 
 
Was the sauce refrigerated?   What was the acids in the sauce? 
 
If the sauce was made 2 days ago with fresh blendered veggies and no acidity.....yea ........NastyCity!!!   That's like  a veggie puree left on the counter for 2 days. 
 
SavinaRed said:
how can that be avoided ?
If you don't use some sort of airlock, then you must unscrew the lid....just enough to allow the pressure to escape.....then tighten it once again. This should be done every couple days at the very least.
Like RM stated, the LAB were doing what they do....consuming carbs and expelling acid and co2. The "fizzy"-ness is totally normal for fermented foods.
Occasionally, when I stop by a local Korean grocery for supplies,I'll  buy a jar of their Kimchi. Every one of the jars show evidence of seepage around the lid. Personally, I look for the one that has the most...and the first thing I do when I get it home, is open the jar(over the sink ) to release the built up pressure.
CM
 
Thanks POTAWIE, luckily I poured the oils away, the rancid smell kinda gave things away that something wasn't quite right. I'll do a search now.

Hey buggedcom,

I just made a batch of olio piccante yesterday, here s what I did:

1) cut chilli' s open and leave to dry out completely
2) dipped them in boiling vinegar for 2 mins
3) shake excess off (I used a colander)
4) lay out on baking baker and place in preheated(70 degrees Celsius) oven for 20 mins to 30 mins.

Then allow to cool and place in jars ready to be covered in oil of your choice (I used Olive Oil because it doesn't have a strong flavour like EVOO)
Allow to rest in cool dark place for 2 weeks.

Enjoy,

Rory
LOL

Just replied to a post from 2009.... I am assuming at this stage the user has found out how to make safe chilli oil, apologies.
 
Back
Top