• If you have a question about commercial production or the hot sauce business, please post in The Food Biz.

fermenting Hot Sauce Noob Questions- Fermenting, Recipes, Unique ingredients, Lids, etc.

stabzmcgee

stabzmcgee

Hello all,   
  I have done a fair amount of reading and searching, so I hope these questions are not redundant or too common. I still have a few questions that I was hoping to get some help with.
 
1. In the Fermentation Guide   it talks about a few different starters. I am a home brewer so I know about a few different yeast starter types, but never went into bacteria fermentation. This leaves me with a few different questions.
A. For wild fermentation- is it required to have a loose top? I can't just say, bottle up some salt water and peppers + veggies and get fermentation if the cap is on, correct?
B. Is there any flavor imparted by the type of starter?
C. The picture links are broken so I am not sure how he is claiming those starters for the Whey. I am assuming I would have to purchase? For example one guide talks about culture sales and provides a link to this site. There are greek, vega, mild, etc flavors. Would any do? How much would I use?
D. Fermentation weight- Is it required? I like the looks of this one. Is it needed?
E. Fermentation lids to jars- are these required? I am looking at this pack. would it be good/required? Would the pumping out the air help or hurt? is that even required?
F. Much of the descriptions talk about a 10% weight sea salt brine. How do I know what 10% weight is?
 
2. Recipe's. There are a ton of recipes but I am still so new I am not sure how to formulate my own.
A. Lets say I only want to make a test batch that would fill one 5oz woozy bottle. How do I ensure I have the right amount of ingredients? Is that even possible?
B. If I was to forgo fermentation and use vinegar, and was only planning on making enough for the 5oz woozy bottle- would i use .5oz of vinegar?
C. How to know how much of an ingredient is too much? I did check the Chile pepper weights, measures, and other things post but am still not sure.  I am assuming this only comes with experience :)
D. How do i know what is safe in a recipe? For example, I want to try to make a Orange based Habanero Sauce. I have found a few NON shelf safe recipes that are only for immediate use. How do I know how orange pulp or juice would affect the PH or require specific prep instructions.
 
Ph strips- I used a premade hot sauce making kit. It said to test the ph of the sauce. It was hard to read because the sauce was red, therefore possibly preventing me from seeing the true color of the strip vs the color of the sauce. Any way around this/to ensure I have the right ph?
 
Finally, in the hot sauce making kit I had, it used dried peppers and very loose instructions. They didn't have much about sanitizing, which gives me cause for worry in some aspects. Although I have a good grip on using starsan, so I don't think that will be a problem when I am making my own. What it does leave me with is how are dried peppers vs fresh in sauces? Is it a huge difference? Does it change the recipe at all? If i made a fresh version of the dried recipe, would my volumes and output change along with flavor?
 
Thank you very much for your time in reading/answering this. I really hope to become good at the sauce game, and want to do it right.
Thank you,
Stabz
 
 
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
I'll answer a few-
 
2. Recipe's. There are a ton of recipes but I am still so new I am not sure how to formulate my own.
A. Lets say I only want to make a test batch that would fill one 5oz woozy bottle. How do I ensure I have the right amount of ingredients? Is that even possible?
​Not Really, you could hardly make the ingredient portions small enough
 
B. If I was to forgo fermentation and use vinegar, and was only planning on making enough for the 5oz woozy bottle- would i use .5oz of vinegar?
​That proportion would work, if you measure by weight
 
C. How to know how much of an ingredient is too much? I did check the Chile pepper weights, measures, and other things post but am still not sure.  I am assuming this only comes with experience :)
​Trial and error~
 
D. How do i know what is safe in a recipe? For example, I want to try to make a Orange based Habanero Sauce. I have found a few NON shelf safe recipes that are only for immediate use. How do I know how orange pulp or juice would affect the PH or require specific prep instructions.
​The orange would help with the acidity of the sauce.  Coupled with the bit of vinegar and proper packing, it should be safe.  If you get to the point of actually making the sauce, maybe post the recipe for others to review and look for glaring red flags.
 
 
 
​You would be hard pressed to even cook 5 ounces of sauce.  It would evaporate quickly.  Target 2 cups of finished sauce, keep track of what you use and the amounts.  Not knowing what type of flavor profile you are looking for, here's a suggestion as a starting point for a sweet-ish tropical/Asian-ish sauce.  Would be good on chicken, fish, veggies, rice...
 
​4 habaneros
1 medium carrot, peeled/shredded
​1 Tbsp garlic cloves
1 Tbsp onion
​1 cup orange pieces, no pith or seeds
1/2-1c pineapple juice (to desired consistency)
​1/4c vinegar
​pinch of salt
maybe a dash of sugar if needed
 
Simmer, blitz the snot out of it with a food processor or blender.  4 habs in that amount of sauce will make it fairly spicy.
 
Good Luck and Have Fun!
:welcome:
 
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Thank you for the answers and welcoming Me!

I thought it would be pretty hard to do smaller batches like that.


I think I will try that recipe it looks quite good!

Thanks again
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
stabzmcgee said:
Hello all,   
  I have done a fair amount of reading and searching, so I hope these questions are not redundant or too common. I still have a few questions that I was hoping to get some help with.
 
1. In the Fermentation Guide   it talks about a few different starters. I am a home brewer so I know about a few different yeast starter types, but never went into bacteria fermentation. This leaves me with a few different questions.
A. For wild fermentation- is it required to have a loose top? I can't just say, bottle up some salt water and peppers + veggies and get fermentation if the cap is on, correct?
B. Is there any flavor imparted by the type of starter?
C. The picture links are broken so I am not sure how he is claiming those starters for the Whey. I am assuming I would have to purchase? For example one guide talks about culture sales and provides a link to this site. There are greek, vega, mild, etc flavors. Would any do? How much would I use?
D. Fermentation weight- Is it required? I like the looks of this one. Is it needed?
E. Fermentation lids to jars- are these required? I am looking at this pack. would it be good/required? Would the pumping out the air help or hurt? is that even required?
F. Much of the descriptions talk about a 10% weight sea salt brine. How do I know what 10% weight is?
 
2. Recipe's. There are a ton of recipes but I am still so new I am not sure how to formulate my own.
A. Lets say I only want to make a test batch that would fill one 5oz woozy bottle. How do I ensure I have the right amount of ingredients? Is that even possible?
B. If I was to forgo fermentation and use vinegar, and was only planning on making enough for the 5oz woozy bottle- would i use .5oz of vinegar?
C. How to know how much of an ingredient is too much? I did check the Chile pepper weights, measures, and other things post but am still not sure.  I am assuming this only comes with experience :)
D. How do i know what is safe in a recipe? For example, I want to try to make a Orange based Habanero Sauce. I have found a few NON shelf safe recipes that are only for immediate use. How do I know how orange pulp or juice would affect the PH or require specific prep instructions.
 
Ph strips- I used a premade hot sauce making kit. It said to test the ph of the sauce. It was hard to read because the sauce was red, therefore possibly preventing me from seeing the true color of the strip vs the color of the sauce. Any way around this/to ensure I have the right ph?
 
Finally, in the hot sauce making kit I had, it used dried peppers and very loose instructions. They didn't have much about sanitizing, which gives me cause for worry in some aspects. Although I have a good grip on using starsan, so I don't think that will be a problem when I am making my own. What it does leave me with is how are dried peppers vs fresh in sauces? Is it a huge difference? Does it change the recipe at all? If i made a fresh version of the dried recipe, would my volumes and output change along with flavor?
 
Thank you very much for your time in reading/answering this. I really hope to become good at the sauce game, and want to do it right.
Thank you,
Stabz
 
 
Click to expand...
 
Welcome to THP Stabz.  I'll see if I can help round out the Q&A:
 
1 A) Loose tops - some people do.  I don't.  I have no judgement on those who do.  I prefer airlocked ferments, but I rarely use a starter any more these days.  Instead I use the lab that's naturally present on the peppers already.  Just rinse/remove obvious dirt or bad parts of peppers, stem and cut in half to make sure no mold is inside then into the processor.  Salt and whatever other ingredients I'm using are added and then it's turned out into the fermenter.
 
1 B) Yes I think so, which I why I prefer to roll salt only.  
 
1 C) You harvest whey from yogurt by putting it into several layers of cheese cloth and then hanging it over a bowl so the water/whey comes out.  Some people use a coffee filter or a paper towel.  Usage can be as little as a few tbsp or as much as a cup depending on batch size.  Tutorial here.
 
1 D) Fermentation weights are handy when using a large fermenter, but I don't commonly use them any of my 1 gallon or smaller batches.  Note that I am using a ground up mash and weights usually sink on me for that reason - if you're doing halved peppers and other stuff the weights are recommended to keep things from floating.
 
1 E) Here is a link to a great site and an image of their calculator.  I really like that they give you a lot of information on different salts.  
 
salt-brine-salinity-percentage-fermentation.jpg

 
pH strips are a pain to use and difficult to rely on.  They'll do in a pinch but there are many fine pH meters out there that are not expensive and do a great job.  Amazon will help you there.
 
Sanitation is a must as you know from making beer.  Always practice good sanitation when fermenting.  
 
I tend to use a combination of fresh and dried peppers when making sauces.  I feel the dried pods tend to add a certain 'base note' quality to a sauce and as you continue with this you too will come to know the differences.  
 
Since you've just caught the bug I'd also recommend you make some cooked hot sauces to help 'feed the fire' while your other batches are fermenting.  Cooked sauces are am excellent way to try out small batches and can be finished in less than an hour most of the time.
 
Good luck, and we're glad to have you.  :)
 
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top