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	60g
G	0 g	23 g	33 g	white	55g

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

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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

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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)	4	N/A	4	N/A	Lost F2 to contamination.

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

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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)	Smells good, still peppery	Yes this is now moldy too, lost this one as well to contamination.	Same as before	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

Phase 1 Results

Batch G-C-T	Notes
F1 0-0-0	More mellow than A, fermentation clearly adding a sour tangy twist to the base recipe.
F3 0-C-0	Sour and tangy like F1. Like it less than F1, seems hotter than F1 or A. Closer in heat to C. Back is hot.
A 0-0-0	Bright and sharp, simple, tastes of peppers and vinegar. Overall scored well.
B G-0-0	Clear two notes in flavor, has an obvious front and back. Garlic up front and a kick in the back. Hot like F3. High marks. I like this flavor profile.
C 0-C-0	Bright, thicker and sweeter than A.
D G-C-0	Deeper than B, Clear middle body of carrot, no front garlic bite like B, but instead a carrot roundness at the front instead. The carrot seems to make it more unified flavor profile than the clear two tone B.
E G-0-T	Some felt it was sweet, some felt it was harsh. Very hot. Not a ton of flavor profile, seems like all this one is doing in raising the heat profile. Its hot, but not a ton of nuance.
F G-C-T	This one has umami! Its good, but maybe needs less tomato and less carrot. I was getting hints of ketchup in this. Seems like the pepper was beginning to take a back seat to the other flavors and thats not what I want.
G 0-C-T	Its okay, but missing the garlic.

High level thoughts on the 10 sauces that made it to the end. F1, F3, A-G. A is bright, simple and sharp, the fermented sauces have a clear tangy sour twist that is interesting, not sure its a requirement, but want to do more testing. For sure want the garlic (B was good) and the carrot (D was probably the best). G needed the garlic. All the sauces had good texture (none were thin) The sauces carrot or tomato ended up nice and thick, in a good way. I lost both the fermented versions with garlic in the (F2 and F4) to mold, but since garlic seems important I want to try that again. The carrot and tomato are good, but maybe if we have both we should add less of them. (for example F, but with half amounts of the vegetables would be interesting to try)

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Phase 2

Batch	Garlic	Carrot	Tomato	Purpose
P1	2.5 g	23 g	0 g	Recreate D (current leader). Baseline for all comparisons.
P2	2.5 g	23 g	10 g	Test whether a modest amount of tomato adds umami without overpowering the peppers. (D + small amount of tomato)
P3	2.5 g	12 g	0 g	Test whether reducing carrot improves pepper expression while keeping the roundness carrot provides. Less carrot version of D.
P4	2.5 g	12 g	16 g	Half-vegetable version of F. Tests whether carrot and tomato work better together at lower levels.
P5	2.5 g	23 g	5 g	Minimal tomato addition. Tests whether just a hint of tomato can improve D without introducing ketchup-like flavors.
FR1 200g	5 g	0 g	0 g	Re-run lost fermented garlic batch (F2). Determines whether fermentation + garlic creates something better than B.
FR2 200g	5 g	45 g	0 g	Re-run lost fermented carrot + garlic batch (F4). Determines whether fermentation improves the current leading recipe family (D).

Recipes:

Fresh batches

Same process

• 100 g peppers
• 75 g water
• 2 g salt
• simmer 15 min
• add vinegar
• blend
• strain
• pH and add vinegar if needed.

But start with these vinegar amounts:

Batch	Garlic	Carrot	Tomato	Starting Vinegar
P1	2.5 g	23 g	0 g	50 g
P2	2.5 g	23 g	10 g	55 g
P3	2.5 g	12 g	0 g	45 g
P4	2.5 g	12 g	16 g	50 g
P5	2.5 g	23 g	5 g	50 g

Fermentation

200g pepper, using 1500mL jars with fermentation weights and air gap bubblers.

Batch	Garlic	Carrot	Salt
FR1	5 g	0 g	4 g
FR2	5 g	45 g	5 g

Use a 2% salt brine:

• 100 g water
• 2 g salt

Then add only enough to barely cover the solids.

After fermentation:

• peppers + 25g brine and 10g fresh water
• simmer 15 min
• add vinegar 50g for both
• blend
• strain
• pH and add vinegar if needed.

Notes from Fermentation Phase 2:

• Vessel sterilization: washed all with soapy water, rinsed, then used star san to sterilize and let air dry for 5 minutes. After that was up, I gently wiped up some of the bubbles that were on the surface of the glass then loaded it.
• Used the salt without any additives
• FORGOT to use distilled water for the salt brine, so the salt brine just was made with tap water.
• Each vessel took about 2 cups of brine.
• As suspected the glass weights did not weigh all the peppers down, the weight was only as big as the neck of the glass vessel, but the vessel bows out for a fatter body than the neck, so there is area around the glas weight that allows the peppers to float up. So I also added a ziplock bag of water (that I also sterilized with Star San) on top of the peppers, filled it with a bunch of water. Then put the weight on top of that, although I probably didnt need to.
• Other difference from last time was that I just cut the carrots instead of grating them, I still cut them pretty thin so I think it should be fine. I peeled and washed the carrot before cutting it.
• There is for sure different amounts of brine in each, but each brine is 2% salt. I think next time I should probably just put all the salt in the brine, and none added directly to the vessel. i think this would keep it more consistent, then I wouldnt have to worry about exactly how much brine I added etc.
• The vessels are 1500mL and have air lock bubblers on top.

pH Tracking of Fermentation.

Day	FR1	FR2	Notes
0 (6/15)	6.0	6.0	Maybe even off the scale of my pH strips. 6.0 is as high as they go.
2 (6/17)	6.0	5.0	Both are cloudy, FR2 being more cloudy, both smell good. Lots of garlic
4 (6/19)	6.0	4.5	Both are cloudy, more cloudy than before. Little concerned that FR1’s pH is still high…Visually they look about the same, both have some bubbles, nothing actively fizzing though. Seems like the fermentation started earlier and more vigorous in Phase 1. These do have a lot higher liquid to solid ratio than Phase 1.
6 (6/21)
8 (6/23)
10 (6/25)
12 (6/27)
14 (6/29)

Day 0 – 6/15

Day 2 (6/17)

Comparisons:

Comparison	Question Being Answered
P1 vs P3	Is 23 g carrot actually optimal, or is it muting the peppers somewhat?
P1 vs P5	Does a tiny amount of tomato improve D?
P1 vs P2	How much tomato can be added before it starts taking over?
P2 vs P5	Is there a tomato “sweet spot” between 5 g and 10 g?
P2 vs P4	Does reducing total vegetable load improve pepper character?
P1 vs FR2	Is fermentation worth the extra work for the carrot-garlic recipe?
B vs FR1	What does fermentation do to the garlic-forward profile?