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tutorial Fermenting Peppers 101

WestPennineSpice I did a ferment in a 6.5 gallon Ale Pale when my first daughter got married to make a sauce that was given to guest as their thank you gift. That bucket was full to about 2 to 2 1/2 from the top for head space and there were all kinds of crazy sugars in it. Never blew through the air lock or gave me any problems for the 90 days I let the ferment run.

If you were to allow more headspace than that you would need a way to purge the head space of oxygen. Youll need to have 2 holes in your lid. One with a grommet for your air lock and the other to run a tube through to add CO2 through. You can get food grade CO2 and a means to use it through a home brew supply store. Once you purge the air space put on the air lock and seal up the other hole.
 
Thanks RM. I've been looking at these tubs which are 6.5 US gallon. I want to do a large batch of mash to then make up bottles for friends and family. It's so hard buying peppers in bulk cheap over in the UK so it will cost a fair bit of money. The 2 1/2 you left at the top is that inches?
 

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Just wanted to post this for any seasoned or beginning fermenters, for a free/cheap "fermentation gates" that also allow you to do pepper slices and keep everything below the brine, check out using the plastic solo cup lids/caps! I've seen em mostly clear but also seen opaque ones before, they fit the wide mouth and standard mouth masons perfectly! I poke a few holes in em or carve em out depending on the peppers used to allow fluid/air pressure/bubbles to move back and forth freely but not the fermentables. I grab a bunch of em at the grocery salad bars..

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I've been doing one like you're mentioning pure peppers and salt in a big butter container for 16days now with no trouble and very fermented (initial ph ~5; current ph 3.6) and filled it about 3/4 full. So that's working for me.. I've been burping it and keeping it under slight vacuum by cracking the lid and pushing down the center depression then sealing edge again..
WestPennineSpice said:
Hi. This may have been asked and I will get round to reading the full thread.

I have a 25 litre plastic fermentation bucket. If I want to ferment chillies in this how much headspace would be too much? Would it need to be filled or could I say fill it to 10L with brine?

If I was to make pepper mash without brine (pure chillies and salt mixture) in the bucket how full would this need to be to avoid mold? I understand the mash would rise so would you suggest only filling half the bucket with the mash?


Thanks for your advice in advance.
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You should take the mash from the smaller vessel and add it to the other one.
WestPennineSpice said:
Hi,

So I've sterilised my clip top jars. Blended 800g chopped washed red chillies with 20g of sea salt. Placed in the jars and closed. I'll burp these every few days. Could I potentially ferment this for 3 months?
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Could I make a vessel like this if I got a 5gal bucket with a food grade lid that seals positively, then tap in fittings of some sort for a vacuum/check valve setup to accomplish the same tasks on the low$$'s? Then use a manual brake bleeder or a vac pump of some sort? I think I should/could with no problems but where to get the lid? For the buckets at Wal mart or Lowes?
RocketMan said:
WestPennineSpice I did a ferment in a 6.5 gallon Ale Pale when my first daughter got married to make a sauce that was given to guest as their thank you gift. That bucket was full to about 2 to 2 1/2 from the top for head space and there were all kinds of crazy sugars in it. Never blew through the air lock or gave me any problems for the 90 days I let the ferment run.

If you were to allow more headspace than that you would need a way to purge the head space of oxygen. Youll need to have 2 holes in your lid. One with a grommet for your air lock and the other to run a tube through to add CO2 through. You can get food grade CO2 and a means to use it through a home brew supply store. Once you purge the air space put on the air lock and seal up the other hole.
Click to expand...
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You should try to weight the peppers so they are under the brine, unless you have them processed into a mash then you can get away with no weight in my experience..
WestPennineSpice said:
Filled up the pickle jars today with a salt, cardamom, black pepper, and cumin brine. Hoping to make homemade hot sauce xmas presents this year.
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I have a mash that I fermented using mostly lemon drops with about ten percent Thai reds. I put it in the fridge after four weeks. Hurricane Michael hit and the power was out for eleven days. I have since made a sauce with it that was very good. I know Tabasco ferments for three years, but at what temperature? How long has others kept a mash with temp changes? Can the mash stay at room temp for 6 months?
 
I have a Tabasco ferment going since 9/30, after about a week it developed kahm yeast, so into the fridge it went. No kahm yeast showing up now so I brought it out to top of fridge and added some white wine , this week.


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Pjar said:
I have a mash that I fermented using mostly lemon drops with about ten percent Thai reds. I put it in the fridge after four weeks. Hurricane Michael hit and the power was out for eleven days. I have since made a sauce with it that was very good. I know Tabasco ferments for three years, but at what temperature? How long has others kept a mash with temp changes? Can the mash stay at room temp for 6 months?
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Room temperature is actually ideal. Tabasco keeps their barrels at ambient temperature, which in Lousiana can heat 100F. Most recipes state to simply keep the ferment "in a cool dark area away from direct sunlight." I do mine in a cupboard in the kitchen.

As long as your salt-ratio is okay, it's perfectly safe.
 
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