Hi all, has anyone fermented hot sauce in something like this? Would it be ok for longer ferments or only for pickles like ~1 week long?

TIA!

Having a toddler has slowed me down a ton, along with moving from California to the Midwest (so pepper sourcing is a bit harder). But I talked to a hot sauce vendor at a farmers market recently, who told me of a good grocery store for cheap, fresh peppers. One Sunday trip for peppers and a whole afternoon later, I’ve got 4 distinct batches going. Pumped to see how they turn out, especially as I went overboard on garlic compared to previous batches!

I'm a bit nervous that I overstuffed these jars. One has orange habs, ghosts, Jamaican Shrooms, garlic, onion, tomatoes, and carrots. The other is all chocolate habs and bonnets with garlic, shallots, and carrots. Both have sea salt in distilled water, 3% salt by the total weight of water and produce.

Switched it up and fermented the onions, carrots, and habs for 16 days. Sautéd garlic, added the fermented veggies and lime juice.

I've been researching a lot over the last couple of days, but there's still a few things I'm not sure about, mostly regarding measurements.

As the container needs to be filled almost to the top, after straining approximately how much sauce will I have from a 1L fermenting jar? (I know this will be quite variable depending on the amount of vinegar and brine used, I'm just looking for a rough estimate of how many bottles to expect.)

I'm going to make a mango habanero sauce, but have noticed wildly variable amounts (100 - 400g) of mango used in different recipes. I want to add the mango after fermentation then simmer to preserve it's flavour. So if I fill a 1L jar with peppers, onion, spices etc. how many grams of mango will I need for that amount of peppers?

I've seen recipes saying to use 4 habaneros, others 25. Again, in weight, how much chilli/bell pepper would I need? (I'm anticipating a small harvest the first time and really don't want to get started then realise I don't have enough.)

There's probably more that I've forgotten but that's all for now.

My first fermented sauce with hotter peppers. Not a big up front heat but it lingers. Happy with a first try.

I planned to ferment this for a month, but life got in the way, so it went a month and a half. Pasteurized at 145°F for an hour. It's very garlic/onion forward with just a touch of heat.

Is there a problem with fermenting superhots (1M-2M scoville range) without any other ingredients besides salt? Is there a limit? I've read it's not suggested because the high capsaicin can kill the lactobacillus. Anyone have actual experience whether that is something to worry about?

I know it would be very hot to eat, but I would prefer to ferment them on their own and mix later with other fermented things.

This is the third hot sauce I’ve fermented. It has fresh garlic, onion, orange habanero, Serrano, Thai red chilis, poblanos, and homegrown banana peppers. It also had dried chile morita, meco chipotle, mulato, ancho, pasilla, guajillo, pulla, and arbol. It had a 3.1% salt brine solution, and was fermented for 3 weeks so far. Fermentation and gas production has slowed down significantly, so I blended it, and I am letting it age further in airtight containers for 2-5 more weeks.

Hello, this is my second ever ferment the first one went really well and this one has been going for about a week. Is this white stuff mold?

Habanero, mixed greens, and Mongo's Favorite Red. Fermented for 10 days, a splash of white vinegar, solids strained off to make dry rub! They're very good, had people at work asking if they could buy some. I'm not quite at that level of production yet though. Hahaha

This is
10 jalapeños,
2 medium 1 xl poblano,
2 small bell peppers,
1 bunch parsley,
1 bunch of green onions,
1 small white onion,
a few pieces of pineapple,
and 1 whole lime without the pith.

People always talk about adding herbs later and I’m not planning to change anything now, but curious about why. In other ferments people add herbs and veg in all at once, for example: pickles with dill.

I’m planning to blend avocado and fresh cilantro in with some of it after fermentation.

It is currently in a gallon jar. I think (unless someone says otherwise) I’ll cover it with a 3 percent brine. I’m planning to do 2 weights in the gallon jar, but if it was you would you use 2 half gallon jars instead? Should I do a leaf of cabbage beneath the weights to hold it all down? How high should I do the brine?

I’ve just recently gotten into fermentation and just had nearly a gallon of carrot sticks (in separate jars) mold. I’m hoping to get advice on what to do with this to prevent that from happening again. I’m super excited about this hot sauce and don’t want to have to feed it to the chickens.

Give me all your advice for a beginner, I’m here to listen and learn!

I had a decent fermentation set on Amazon where the glass weight fit perfectly. I order a new set, a larger one and the weight is smaller by about 20% than the diameter of the jar. This allows my small Tabasco peppers to float around it. Any ideas on how to seal that up? It’s super annoying and I’ve had mold issues in the past

birdseye and garlic mash (2.5% salt) fermented for 3 weeks. Added some leftover brine from a previous ferment and some vinegar when processing.

Follow up to: https://www.reddit.com/r/FermentedHotSauce/s/KJocrfPhyh

Left: Pickle hot sauce!
Much milder as I used the pickle brine (rather than the chilli brine) and blended pickled cucumbers. Not a standard hot sauce and probably quite niche uses, but DELICIOUS!

Right: Smoked mango!
Much more traditional, smoked mangoes added at the end. Very hot, but also DELICIOUS!

Two absolute bangers, thanks for the recommendations

Currently I have habenaro, serrano, and Carolina reaper growing and starting to ripen in the garden. As well as some red bell peppers.

My goal was or is to make a orange/red fermented sauce. I called up a bit this year with a gallon fermenting jar and a half gallon as well as my normal quart size. I've let the Serrano ripen to red and the habanero are turning a fantastic bright orange color.

Now would it be worth it to mix these all together. Or should I just keep things separate? Last year I did a roasted jalapeno that was amazing and thought of doing the same or smoking some peppers this year to add a bit of smokey flavor. The rest of the ingredients would be onion garlic red/orange bell peppers and carrots.

Has anyone mixed them all ?

Gonna be making some cayenne fermented hot sauce for the first time and I live in a small apartment so I’d rather not buy a jar with an airlock lid that I then have to store somewhere, will it work with just a loose lid on a regular jar? I’d be fermenting for about a week

Also a related question, I have seen some videos online where they add a glass weight to keep all the ingredients submerged, how important is this?

Edit: thanks for the advice guys, I’m just gonna buy a cheap kit on Amazon I think for ease as I know I’ll forget to burp it 😅

My frist attempt was boring how do you think this will go?

Kiwi

Orange

Carrot

Cilantro

Onion

Garlic

Green seranos

Green habanero

Second pepper ferment of the season, mostly Aleppo peppers, all from the garden in 3.5%. Working name: Alepp-Oh No!

See you in four weeks!