Sweet Thai Chili

[International Texan]

Folks,
 
I've been trying to make a Sweet Thai Chili sauce for some time now.  The first two batches I've tried have turned out pretty decent, but the problem I'm running into is when I try to add a sweetener (table sugar), it turns bitter.  I fermented both my batches because I wanted the pH to be pretty low so I wouldn't have to add a lot of acid afterward.  The first batch, I didn't add a lot of ingredients that were sweet.  The second batch I tried adding some pineapple, but it wasn't sweet enough.  
 
Does anyone have any idea why I'm getting this bitterness when I add a sweetener or run into a similar problem?  Thanks in advance.

 

[dragonsfire]

What did you ferment this in?
I use honey, adds body and nicely rounds out I find.

 

[ShowMeDaSauce]

If you are after something like Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce they use a LOT of sugar. In 30grams of sauce its around 14grams of sugars.
 
Personally im partial to sweet plums for that type of sweet chili sauce. Buy a small jar of LKK plum sauce and mix some with yours to see if you like it.

 

[International Texan]

I have ceramic fermentation crocks I ferment my mash in.  When fermenting my second batch I tried a little bit of honey in it, not a lot though.  I tried added more and more sugar by the gram and it never recovered to a "sweet" flavor, the bitterness never fully went away.