I made about 3 gallons of fermented jalapeno hot sauce from about 30 pounds of jalapenos and flavoring ingredients starting about 1.5 months ago. The finished product had an incredible flavor, but the heat wasn't right. I processed 1 pound of habaneros and put them in reserved brine from the primary sauce. The brine was ~3.4 pH, so I'm not sure if any fermentation happened or not, but a few days later I strained off just the habanero liquor/brine and added most of it to the sauce. It upped the heat a lot without noticeably changing the flavor. In retrospect, I should have probably just procured some refined capsaicin.
Fast forward about a week later... There's a very thin white film floating in the sauce and there is a light, almost alcoholic odor. That same alcoholic note completely changed the flavor as well. I double checked the pH at around 3.2 to 3.4.
Is it spoiled, even at that pH level? I'm really not impressed with the flavor now and not sure how to rescue it.
Fast forward about a week later... There's a very thin white film floating in the sauce and there is a light, almost alcoholic odor. That same alcoholic note completely changed the flavor as well. I double checked the pH at around 3.2 to 3.4.
Is it spoiled, even at that pH level? I'm really not impressed with the flavor now and not sure how to rescue it.