consistency How can you make a thick hot sauce?

[mrohner]

So I think I've got enough experience messing around with habaneros to make a decent hot sauce, I was wondering what I can do in order to make a thicker sauce that I can "dab" food with.  I want to experiment with some spicier peppers because I am currently growing some Ghost Peppers and Trinidad Scorpions.  
My usual way of making sauce is the simple vinegar, salt, and other things in order to flavor it, but with the vinegar I usually end up with a sauce that has a similar viscosity/consistency as Tobasco.
I want to make something thicker, similar to Mad Dog 357 or so.  Would the idea be to do a similar recipe but simply reduce the mixture while simmering it on a stove for a very long time?  Or are there other traditional ingredients that would be better suited for this?
Thanks!
 
P.S. any tips for Ghosts or Scorpions for flavoring/not destroying my tongue?  I plan on scrolling through the forum as well

 

[salsalady]

If you like the flavor and just want it thicker, use a natural gum like xanthan, guar, carrageenan. 
 
Other natural food thickeners are- apple, apple juice, carrot, yam, okra, pumpkin, and some other things I can't remember right now.  .
 
Cooking down will also work.  Maybe substitute some of the vinegar for apple juice.  Apple juice does have some acidity and will also help thicken it.
Have Fun!
SL
 
 
 
 
edit-typo

 

[beerbreath81]

i had good results using pectin as a thickener....
 
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/44496-my-best-hot-sauce-to-date/
 

 

[Crazy Monkey]

Use more peppers?

 

[The Hot Pepper]

cook down or add mass
 
 

 

[Student of Spice]

xanthan
 
 

i use this with great success 

 

[ShowMeDaSauce]

I never use a gum or thickeners. All i do is balance the amount of liquid to peppers and veggies. Cook time with some additions like carrot helps with a nice texture. I blend everything in a Nutribullet.
 
All of these were also strained before the pics.

 

 

[HOX Sauce]

Xanthan gum is my go to, but I like to keep the sauce cooked and blended with no milling. That keeps it thick as well

 

[Scorch Garden]

More pepper mash, finer particles, and cook it down.
Adding a thickener dilutes your product.  Cooking it down more boosts the flavor.
 

 

[Shorerider]

Simmer it for longer (to reduce the moisture content) to get a thicker consistency. I never use thickeners in any of my sauces, I try to keep all the ingredients as natural as possible. Sugar will also thicken a sauce as it cools, but can thicken it so much that you'll have trouble getting it out of a bottle.
 
It's a balancing act, so write down all your ingredients by weight for future reference and tweaking. 

 

[happytinker]

You could try mixing a sauce made with fresh peppers with a sauce made from dried peppers (they usually come out thick). I've done this before to use up some dried peppers, and liked the result enough to keep doing it that way.