Hot Sauce

Homebrewale

Old Mossy Horns
Does anyone know what type of vinegar is in Texas Pete or Frank's Red Hot? Both just list vinegar. I'm guessing it's distilled white vinegar since that is the most common in Louisiana style hot sauce even though apple and other vinegars can be used.

I have a container of cayenne peppers fermenting. They'll be ready to process soon so I'm trying to decide which vinegar to use.
 

Justin

Old Mossy Horns
Does anyone know what type of vinegar is in Texas Pete or Frank's Red Hot? Both just list vinegar. I'm guessing it's distilled white vinegar since that is the most common in Louisiana style hot sauce even though apple and other vinegars can be used.

I have a container of cayenne peppers fermenting. They'll be ready to process soon so I'm trying to decide which vinegar to use.

Not sure about those but the batch of sauce I made this year (that I kept and liked) has that vinegary taste with no vinegar. The fermentation did it for me.
 

kilerhamilton

Old Mossy Horns
Yea vinegar is a fermentation process. You don’t necessarily have to add it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Justin

Old Mossy Horns
Did you process it with the brine? I thought the vinegar acts like a preservative.

I've been following this recipe.
https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/chili-pepper-recipes/hot-sauces/homemade-louisiana-hot-sauce/

This is my first try. If good, I may start making alterations like adding cloves of garlic to the fermentation. Next up is growing peppers to create my own chili powder.

I’d have to do some digging to find what I used. I think it was 3-4tbsp kosher salt to a quart of wate.
 

Homebrewale

Old Mossy Horns
Fermented cayenne peppers for a few weeks. Add peppers to processor with some of the fermentation brine and apple cider vinegar. Purée and then strain. Bottle.
 

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Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Does yours have something to keep it from separating? My buddy's doesn't, of course a shake or two and it's mixed up but for appearance sake I'd say that's fairly important.
 

Matty

Six Pointer
Contributor
I'm 4 weeks in on mine!

To answer a few ?s above:

Tabasco uses white wine vinegar after fermentation
Xantham gum will stabilize the sauce and keep it from separating

Disclaimer: I knew none of this until I read this blog/recipe!
 

Homebrewale

Old Mossy Horns
I know I'm not going to ferment for 2 years like in the link. One of the 5 oz jars that I use to store it in lasts about a week or two before it's empty. If I went to 2 year ferments instead of 2-4 week ferments, I would need to dedicate a whole room in the house just to hold enough for my own needs. I would need several rooms to supply the family and friends that want a bottle of it.
 

Matty

Six Pointer
Contributor
I know I'm not going to ferment for 2 years like in the link. One of the 5 oz jars that I use to store it in lasts about a week or two before it's empty. If I went to 2 year ferments instead of 2-4 week ferments, I would need to dedicate a whole room in the house just to hold enough for my own needs. I would need several rooms to supply the family and friends that want a bottle of it.

Yeah, I'm far too impatient for that!!! I'm just waiting for the ferment to slow, which it looks like it has over the past few days. I will cut it with vinegar this week and give it a go!

I used the rough recipe above but used thai chilis, habanero, red fresno, red jalapeno and reconstituted some dried moritas, arbol, and guajillos. I also added a ton of garlic. To get it going quick I put in half a small jar of kimchee. blended it all with water and salt and it took off! I only removed the stems, and did not remove the seeds. It tastes awesome already but it has some heat! Can't wait to finish it this week.
 

thelivecanary

Eight Pointer
Did you process it with the brine? I thought the vinegar acts like a preservative.

I've been following this recipe.
https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/chili-pepper-recipes/hot-sauces/homemade-louisiana-hot-sauce/

This is my first try. If good, I may start making alterations like adding cloves of garlic to the fermentation. Next up is growing peppers to create my own chili powder.

Be careful with Garlic due to the possibility of botulism and although rare it's something to research and understand before using in your fermentation. Certainly, use it, but probably good to know the risks. Cheers.
 

Homebrewale

Old Mossy Horns
Where did you get the fermentation lids like that? I've been looking for lids for my wide mouth jars for months.

I bought them on Amazon. There is one flaw. The center handle on the glass fermentation weights hit the end of the fermentation locks. If you look closely, you'll see the glass weights are crooked.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B089N7HTD1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you don't want the glass fermentation weights, you can buy plastic Ball wide mouth lids in Walmart and Target.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ball-One-piece-Leak-proof-Wide-Mouth-Storage-Lid/910785698

You can find fermentation locks online or in many beer making supply stores. Just drill the plastic Ball wide mouth lid, install the grommet and insert the fermentation lock.
 

Homebrewale

Old Mossy Horns
Be careful with Garlic due to the possibility of botulism and although rare it's something to research and understand before using in your fermentation. Certainly, use it, but probably good to know the risks. Cheers.

I did research it after your post. From what I read, the botulism concern is with garlic in oil. The oil creates an anaerobic environment where the natural clostridium botulinum bacteria spores will germinate. In a fermentation process, both the salty brine and the low pH makes it a difficult environment for the bacteria that causes botulism.

https://www.masontops.com/pages/botulism-and-fermenting-should-i-worry
https://www.wildfermentationforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3654
 

Matty

Six Pointer
Contributor
I did research it after your post. From what I read, the botulism concern is with garlic in oil. The oil creates an anaerobic environment where the natural clostridium botulinum bacteria spores will germinate. In a fermentation process, both the salty brine and the low pH makes it a difficult environment for the bacteria that causes botulism.

https://www.masontops.com/pages/botulism-and-fermenting-should-i-worry
https://www.wildfermentationforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3654

I found the same info, seems it all revolves around a fermented garlic oil botulism incident in the mid 90's.

As hot as this batch is, I'm far more concerned about "toilet time" the morning after than botulism!!! :oops:
 

Homebrewale

Old Mossy Horns
I found the same info, seems it all revolves around a fermented garlic oil botulism incident in the mid 90's.

As hot as this batch is, I'm far more concerned about "toilet time" the morning after than botulism!!! :oops:

Is it the habanero or the thai chilis making it hot?

I've been all over town looking for peppers. The main ones everywhere are the "red hot chilis", serranos, jalapenos, and habaneros. I put quotation marks around the red hot chilis because they have the same color and size as fresnos. I did find one Indian store that sells thai chilis. From what I've read, there are many varieties of thai chilis at different heat levels. I don't know how hot these peppers are. They are green instead of red.

I think I need to bump up the heat of the next batch. How many habaneros did you add? I'm thinking of limiting them to one per jar.
 

Matty

Six Pointer
Contributor
Is it the habanero or the thai chilis making it hot?

I had ~3.5lbs of peppers total...1lb of habanero, 1lb of thai chilis, 1lb fresno, and maybe .5lb of jalapeno. The thais are hot, but not at the habanero level. And I agree, I have had thais that were all over the heat map, these are on the upper end for sure.
 

Matty

Six Pointer
Contributor
I go to a large ethnic supermarket in GSO called Super G. I think there is something similar around RDU...H mart or something like that?
 

Homebrewale

Old Mossy Horns
I go to a large ethnic supermarket in GSO called Super G. I think there is something similar around RDU...H mart or something like that?

H Mart was one of the stores that I visited. I was disappointed with the selection. They didn't have any different peppers from the Harris Teeter across the street and they were more expensive. I also visited the Grand Asian near Crossroads. Again the selection wasn't great. They did have thai chilis but they were sold in small sandwich sized bags for around $4.

The international grocery with the best selection was an Indian store in the same shopping center as Smithfield BBQ on Davis Drive.
 

Matty

Six Pointer
Contributor
It is hot, but oh so good!!! Also, here is a pic of the packaging for the xantham gum. It’s in most grocery stores.
We should do a trade amongst the guys where we send each other small sample bottles! Sauces may benefit from the extra few weeks of aging the USPS would provide!!!3FC864F7-BCFE-4778-A08D-1671909A3FD0.jpeg7A96E678-71C2-46C1-889F-4D606511AEC4.jpeg
 

Homebrewale

Old Mossy Horns
Did you strain the sauce? There are some seeds I can see. I do strain my sauce but then I go back into the strainer to scoop some of the skins and seeds out to mix back into the sauce. I don't want it thick like salsa but I also want some body to the final product.
 

Matty

Six Pointer
Contributor
No, I wanted it thick and left it all in. it’s not thick like salsa as it was cut with 32oz of white wine vinegar though.
 
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