fermenting My first fermented hot sauce

[kimboinatl]

So here is my first fermented hot sauce:
 

 
I used 3 ghost chiles from my ghost chile plant, along with a few red serranos and a bunch of Italian sweet reds.  Also garlic and onion.  I let it ferment in a jar with a airlock on it for a month.
 
Wow this stuff is tangy.  Like super duper tangy.  I measure the pH at 3.5 without any vinegar added to it.  I had to add about 6tbsp of sugar to this to balance out the flavor.
 
I suspect that the Italian sweet reds had a lot of sugar in them, which gave the critters more sugar to eat, thus producing more tang.  What do you guys think?
 
Also, it has a bit of a raw onion aftertaste, even after cooking.  I may just leave the onion out next time, or sweat it first.
 
 

 

[RocketMan]

Nest time try adding some carrots to counter the onion and to help with consistency or maybe some Sun dried tomaotes. Also I'd suggest trying natural sugars like Honey or Agave nectar to add additional levels of flavor and character to your sauce. Try not to just think of countering something but what is going to add to the sauce. Caramelizing the onion is not a bad idea either.

 

[kimboinatl]

Carrot is a great idea - I always put that in my pasta sauce.

 

[RocketMan]

Just remember if you adding anything for a sweet note in the sauce that you're going to have to add it after the fermenting is done.

 

[kimboinatl]

This sauce didn't actually turn out nearly as hot as I thought it would.  I might even like it to be a little hotter.  Kind of surprising since I used 3 ghost chiles.