Goal is to create a reliable “house” hot sauce process using mixed peppers, not optimize for any single variety. Intention is to make a big batch after the fall harvest of peppers from the garden.
I am interested in testing the following variables
| Variable | ||||
| Fermentation | Yes | No | ||
| Garlic | Yes | No | ||
| Vegetable additions | Carrot | Tomato | Both | None |
| Vinegar Type | White | Apple Cider | Red Wine |
I bought a collection of three types of peppers: red thai chilies, green seranos, and green jalepenos and washed them, removed the stems, and combined them all together.
Together I had 1500g total of peppers. I partioned them into plastic bags and froze them all. This way all the tests will be completed from the same starting material even if I do it days to weeks apart (to account for the fermentation time)
Phase 1
Fermentation Experiments
After thawing
| Batch | Add |
|---|---|
| F1 | nothing |
| F2 | ~5 g garlic |
| F3 | ~45 g carrot |
| F4 | ~45 g carrot + ~5 g garlic |
Salt (~2% total weight):
- F1: 4.0 g
- F2: ~4.1 g
- F3: ~4.9 g
- F4: ~5.0 g
Pack, add salt, garlic and/or carrot, and distilled water to just cover the pepper, press down, ferment at least ~2 weeks. It is important to keep the peppers covered with the salt water brine to avoid spoilage. Check this daily. More tips here: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/recipes/fermented-hot-sauce/
Drain peppers and save some of the brine, add water. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer for 15 minutes. Add vinegar and blend. Strain solids, and check pH.
Fermented: 50 g brine + 75 g water per batch (this is slightly less liquid than the fresh batches, rationale is that the fermented pepper will carry more liquid with them into the pot since they have been soaking)
How much vinegar to add
Use the same ratio as your fresh batches so everything stays comparable.
Target:
~30% vinegar by weight relative to peppers
So for your 200 g fermented pepper batches:
- Start with 60 g vinegar
Important detail
When you process fermented peppers:
- Keep some brine (don’t fully discard)
- But don’t count brine toward the vinegar ratio
So typical flow:
- 200 g fermented mash
- ~25–30 g brine (used during cooking)
- then add 60 g vinegar after blending
Fresh Experiments
Use 100 g peppers each.
| Batch | Garlic | Carrot | Tomato | Vinegar | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A (like F1) | 0 g | 0 g | 0 g | white – 40g | |
| B (Like F2) | 2.5 g | 0 g | 0 g | white – 40g | |
| C (Like F3) | 0 g | 23g | 0 g | white – 45g | |
| D (Like F4) | 2.5 g | 23 g | 0 g | white – 50g | |
| E | 2.5 g | 0 g | 33 g | white – 50g | |
| F | 2.5 g | 23 g | 33 g | white | |
| G | 0 g | 23 g | 33 g | white |
For each fresh batch:
- Peppers: 100 g
- Salt: 2 g
- Water: 75g
- Vinegar: 30 g (this turned on to largely be not enough vinegar when I would test the pH, this would often give me pH of 4.5, and if I am trying to be a 4.0 or below I needed to add more, I basically stopped once it was a solid 4.0 on the pH strip) See the numbers in the box above for the amount I added to each, some needed more than others, I like mostly driven by something having more overall liquid.
- Cook 15 min without vinegar
- Blend
- Add vinegar
- Blend briefly again
- Strain and cool
pH Tracking for food safety
Check #1 — After fermentation
- Before cooking
- Just to see where it landed naturally
Expect:
- usually around pH 3.5–4.2
If it’s above ~4.2, fermentation was weak.
Check #2 — Final product
After:
- cooking
- blending
- vinegar added
- cooled to room temp
Then test.
Target
pH ≤ 4.0 is good
pH ≤ 3.6 is very safe territory
Strips aren’t super precise, so:
- if it reads “around 4” → you’re probably fine
- if it looks borderline → add a bit more vinegar
Adjustment rule
If pH is too high:
- Add 5–10 g vinegar
- Mix
- re-test
Repeat if needed
pH Tracking as a measure of fermentation activity
| Timepoint | F1 (control) | F2 (garlic) | F3 (carrot) | F4 (carrot + garlic) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 0 (setup) | pH strips had not come in the mail yet… | ||||
| Day 2 | 4 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 | Seems like a good start! although I don’t know what the starting conditions were. Clearly some bubbles when you jiggle the jar. |
| Day 4 | 4 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4 | No major changes in pH. But certainly visual changes in the cloudiness (getting more cloudy) and plenty of bubbles. |
| Day 8 | 4 | 4.5 | 4 | 4 | F2 seems like it may be ramping down fermentation, the top is getting a bit clear. |
| Day 12 | 4 (maybe 3.5-4.0) | 4.5 | 4 | 4.5 | Lost F4 to contamination. |
| Day 14 (final) |
What to expect
- Day 0 → ~5–6
- Day 2–4 → should be dropping fast
- Day 7 → likely <4.2
- Day 14 → usually ~3.5–4.0
- Expecting a drop over time
What would be a red flag
- If after several days it’s still ~pH 5+ → weak or stalled fermentation
- If it never gets below ~4.2 → not very effective fermentation
Results and Tracking
Fermentation
| Timepoint | F1 (control) | F2 (garlic) | F3 (carrot) | F4 (carrot + garlic) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 0 (setup) | | | | |
| Day 2 | Smells like pepper, may a little sour. | Big garlic smell | Definitely different than F1, harder to describe. | Big garlic smell, also clearly some other smell, like F3, so some carrot smell. |
| Day 4 Will start burping the jars daily now. | Small amount of yeast build up. Skimmed it off. Some bubbles, but not like F3 or F4. | Small amount of yeast build up. Skimmed it off. Some bubbles, but not like F3 or F4. | This one I forgot to add the bag of water on top and all the surface peppers have some yeast, also lots of gas build up under the lid. Its possible this lid fit more tightly too? I will add a water bag to this one now. Strong bubbling, nearly looks like a carbonated beverage, very tiny bubbles. Had bulged the gap, and made a hiss sound when I opened it. | Small amount of yeast build up. Skimmed it off. Also visible continuous bubbling. |
| Day 8 | Smells peppery. Super minor white floaties, that I skimmed off. | Screaming with garlic smell. Top liquid is the clearest of the 4, bottom is very cloudy. Looks like the microbes are settling. | Sweet and peppery. Very bubbly still. No hiss when i opened it (or any of the others) | Uh oh. Smells a little funky, and is very hazy. Concerning part is there appears to be white (maybe fluffy) things on many of the submerged surfaces. May have a mold problem and may have lost this jar. We’ll see in a few days. I wasn’t really able to skim anything, it was all mixed in. |
| Day 12 | Smells good, still peppery | Still very garlicky, maybe slight funky? Small potential white build up on some of the submerged peppers. This may be how F4 started… | Smells like pepper and something else (whatever smell the carrot is making) Some white film on top, clearly no white stuff in suspension. | Officially lost this one. Lots of white floaties on the peppers and in suspension, and smells bad now, very obvious. Trashed it. |
| Day 14 (final) | | | | N/A |
Pictures:
Starting – May 14, 2026
Day 4 – May 18, 2026
F3, with the most yeast on top. Without a bag to weigh things down, will add bag. Others had maybe 10% this much yeast. Skimmed it all off.
Bubbles in F3
Bubbles in F4
Day 8 – May 22, 2026
Day 12 – May 24, 2026
Lost the F4 batch to contamination. See pictures below.
Taste Scoring
| Category | 1 (low) | 3 (middle) | 5 (high) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heat quality | harsh, bitter, unpleasant | solid, expected | clean, enjoyable, well-integrated |
| Acidity balance | flat or too sour | acceptable | bright, balanced, not harsh |
| Flavor depth | one-note, boring | some complexity | layered, interesting, evolving |
| Body / texture | thin, watery | decent | rich, full, good mouthfeel |
| Overall preference | wouldn’t use | okay | would definitely use |
Fill in scores 1–5 for each batch.
| Batch | Heat quality (harsh → clean) | Acidity balance (flat/harsh → bright/balanced) | Flavor depth (one-note → layered) | Body / texture (thin → rich) | Overall preference (no → yes) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | ||||||
| F2 | ||||||
| F3 | ||||||
| F4 | ||||||
| A | ||||||
| B | ||||||
| C | ||||||
| D | ||||||
| E | ||||||
| F | ||||||
| G |
How to interpret results
Phase 1 (A–G)
- Decide:
- garlic or no garlic
- which veg combo works
Fermentation (F1–F4)
- Compare against fresh winner:
- better depth?
- smoother heat?
- worth the time?
Vinegar
- Final tuning only
Vinegar test
Use your best recipe from A–G
Use backup bag (X):
- Split into 2 batches:
- white vinegar
- apple cider vinegar
Final comparison
Take your best overall recipe and compare:
- Fresh version
- Best fermented version (from F1–F4)
