First time making hot sauce

[seraphi]

I had a box of extra peppers that came out of my garden earlier this week, so on a whim, I decided to make sauce. I was kind of doing research while making the sauce.... not exactly the best order of operations. 
 
So here is what happened:
I washed all of the peppers really well, de-stemmed them, threw them in the Vitamix with a fist of garlic, an onion, and 2lbs of baby carrots. I then added 2.5TBsp of coarse sea salt, and 4 cups of water, and some fresh kimchi juice. I stirred it all together and put it into a 1 gallon jar rinsed with everclear.  I tasted it before it went in the jar. It was really good, and hot as hell. 
 
Pictures below. 
 
The lid is on loose enough to let co2 escape. I bought a PH tester, which came today.
 
1. Should I open the jar and test the PH, or ignore the PH until the fermentation is done?
2. It sounds like I should not have mixed the salt and water into the mash, but rather put it on top. Too late... Have I ruined it?
3. Given what I have already done, any suggestions on how to make this a success? I do plan to cook the sauce when it is done ass the sticky on this forum suggests. 
 
Any insight would be appreciated. 
 
  

 

 

 
2 days later:

 

[Sarg3]

I have no value to add to this thread but that sir is a cool looking jar. 

 

[salsalady]

Hi Seraphi-

 
Are you looking to do a fresh cooked sauce or a fermented sauce? 
 
I'm not sure how the rinsed-with-Everclear jar will work for fermentation.  Usually alcohol kills the good bugs needed for fermentation.  Maybe Rocketman can chime in?
 
If you're looking for a fresh processed sauce, there are tons of recipes online at pepperfool.com and follow the tips in Hot Sauce 101. 
 
Have Fun!
salsalady~

 

[seraphi]

My goal is to ferment for 30 days, then cook the sauce before bottling, as described in the "Fermenting Peppers 101" sticky thread. The problem is, I messed up the process a bit by not reading that thread until I was done making the mash

 

[PrimeTime]

Wiping the equipment with alcohol wont affect the stuff on the ingredients as far as fermentation goes.

 

[seraphi]

The "Fermenting Peppers 101" thread says to boil/heat the fermented mash for over an hour total once it is done fermenting. Is this going to have a major impact on the capsaicin levels? It always seems like cooking peppery foods tends to make them less hot.