Several new hot sauce ferments processed

[jcam222]

I'm also a huge fan of these to keep the peppers. Or whatever. Submerged in the brine.

https://www.amazon.com/BETTER-than-Glass-Fermentation-Weights/dp/B01GB0Y0OE/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2D2DWUR0ZUJJS&keywords=better%2Bthan%2Bglass%2Bfermentation&qid=1706052265&sprefix=better%2Bthen%2Bglass%2Bfe%2Caps%2C116&sr=8-1&th=1

You turned me on to those. It's all I use now. Far superior to weights.

 

[jdranchman]

Old thread but ... Here is my general process:

I ferment most of my pepper sauces about 2-3 months. Some commercial sauces are fermented 2-3 years.

I often add whole garlic lightly smashed to the jars or buckets (2 gal are the best).

I generally use a 5% brine or a bit higher. I find that 10% is way too salty so I don't follow some older brine charts. If you have a favorite hot sauce you can calculate their salt % with a bit of math based on the sodium level on the label. This gives you a good place to start.

Most of the time I reuse some brine (from really good peppers) to start fermenting mustard seed (50/50 yellow and brown).

I blend it down to a liquid and add a bit of brine to help it mix in the blender.

The whole batch will get thinned out some with champagne vinegar till the ending pH is 3.4 ish. Maybe added salt to taste. Vinegar acid is the preservative. The salt isn't a big player outside of taste.

I bottle in boiled glass with caps or corks. I've opened 2yo bottles that were absolutely amazing. I make large batches because we hand them out a lot for gifts and special occasions.

If you want you can water bath can the filled bottles to stop the fermentation (pasteurize the sauce). This will give it some shelf life outside the fridge.

 

[jcam222]

Old thread but ... Here is my general process:

I ferment most of my pepper sauces about 2-3 months. Some commercial sauces are fermented 2-3 years.

I often add whole garlic lightly smashed to the jars or buckets (2 gal are the best).

I generally use a 5% brine or a bit higher. I find that 10% is way too salty so I don't follow some older brine charts. If you have a favorite hot sauce you can calculate their salt % with a bit of math based on the sodium level on the label. This gives you a good place to start.

Most of the time I reuse some brine (from really good peppers) to start fermenting mustard seed (50/50 yellow and brown).

I blend it down to a liquid and add a bit of brine to help it mix in the blender.

The whole batch will get thinned out some with champagne vinegar till the ending pH is 3.4 ish. Maybe added salt to taste. Vinegar acid is the preservative. The salt isn't a big player outside of taste.

I bottle in boiled glass with caps or corks. I've opened 2yo bottles that were absolutely amazing. I make large batches because we hand them out a lot for gifts and special occasions.

If you want you can water bath can the filled bottles to stop the fermentation (pasteurize the sauce). This will give it some shelf life outside the fridge.

I've done a ton of hot sauce ferments and never exceeded 3.5% brine. No issues with the ferments and I usually yield a PH around 2.9 before blending with brine , vinegar etc. Curious why you use 5%? Not criticizing as we all have our processes we are comfortable with. I ferment mine anywhere from 30 days to 6 months or more. I make sure my bottles are sterile but don't hot fill. I do keep mine in the fridge just in case but frankly the entire fermentation process is geared at being shelf stable. I need to get some blends going for Christmas gifts.

 

[dr k]

You can always cover veggies in a brine with a specific percentage 1ml water=1gm. 4% =40gms salt in 1,000ml (1 liter) water or whatever volume/weight water x .04 to get grams of salt but the true brine % is adding the weight of the salt to the weight of the water so 40grams salt/1040 grams salt and water = 3.85% true brine. You'd need 42.5gms salt/1042.5 gms salt and water = true 4% brine. At the end of the brining or fermenting the % will be lower than 3.85% or 4% from veggie liquids diluting the brine and whatever absorbs the brine. If you want a 4% finished product make sure to add the weight of the veggies, weight of the salt to the weight of the water before multiplying by .04+ tweaking it a few grams until you get the true brine % for salt needed and consistent results.

 

[jdranchman]

You can always cover veggies in a brine with a specific percentage 1ml water=1gm. 4% =40gms salt in 1,000ml (1 liter) water or whatever volume/weight water x .04 to get grams of salt but the true brine % is adding the weight of the salt to the weight of the water so 40grams salt/1040 grams salt and water = 3.85% true brine. You'd need 42.5gms salt/1042.5 gms salt and water = true 4% brine. At the end of the brining or fermenting the % will be lower than 3.85% or 4% from veggie liquids diluting the brine and whatever absorbs the brine. If you want a 4% finished product make sure to add the weight of the veggies, weight of the salt to the weight of the water before multiplying by .04+ tweaking it a few grams until you get the true brine % for salt needed and consistent results.

This is the way.

Over the years I've come to use a brine that is close to 5% because of the dilution from the liquid in the mash/chopped up peppers. I generally end up adding a bit more salt at the end for flavor anyway but not as much as when I started out using a 3% brine for fermentation. I'd rather have it fermenting in enough salt to keep it safe. I've never had a batch that tasted too salty.

Now and then I drag out my hydrometer (aka Salometer) to verify that the brine I'm making is correct. A nifty tool I use for making/adjusting cheesemaking brines.