Any pepper heads?

If you can make sauerkraut from scratch, its not much different. I used 15 habs total for a quart of sauce and 1.5 cups of carrot shreds. 10 of the habs were de-seeded and fermented. 5 with seeds were added just before cooking down the mash. I didn't write down the additional milder pepper weights but about a heaping cup of orange bell would be close. I didn't use bells though. I used what is called Finger Hots and 1 cowhorn too in the ferment.

My brine was roughly a 3.6% salt solution but 4% is normally recommended.

Checkout thehotpepper forum. They have tons of info on making fermented hot sauce and regular vinegar based hot sauce.

thehotpepper.com/forum/91-hot-sauce-making/

If you use roasted peppers you may need to add an active lactobacillus culture to the mix. I use homemade kraut juice but a company called Caldwells sells a culture starter too. Roasting/cooking kills the natural bacteria in foods. Ive used this culture starter and it works very well. caldwellbiofermentation.com/en/starter-culture.html

You could also just add some fresh peppers to the mash also. I like using homemade kraut juice cause it really kick starts a ferment and its super cheap to make. All you need is canning salt, water and sliced cabbage. I prefer to use bottled water for ferments. Chlorine can slow down ferments.

BTW once you start a ferment you might see some white film on top. Dont worry its called kahm yeast and its harmless. If you get any colored spots (green or blue) or fuzzy spots its mold. Use something to keep the mash under the brine level. It helps a lot in preventing spoilage.

These E-jen containers work great for ferments and the inner lid keeps the mash pressed down.
www.amazon.com/jen-Kimchi-Container-Probiotic-Fermentation/dp/B00SWBJJQ0

They have smaller ones here www.shoplivart.com/kitchenware-1/food-storage.html

The least amount of air space for lacto ferments is STRONGLY advised. Bad bacteria and yeasts love oxygen. Ive done fermented pickles before in a large crock. I used a glass plate to hold them under a very strong salt brine. It worked fine but a lot of kahm yeast forms on the top.

Super mild roasted pepper sauce with a hint of chipolte powder added. Roasting the peppers made them quite sweet with almost a caramel flavor. Ripe serrano, ripe cowhorn, red anahiem and just 2 orange habs for a quart of sauce. A tiny bit of Korean mild pepper flakes were also added. This one also got some Spicy V8 juice added during the cook down instead of fresh maters. It worked very well.


Lemon drop hot sauce with just a hint of pineapple and ginger. This one turned out a lot hotter than i thought it would.

BTW if you like a smoked pepper sauce and don't want your face to melt, this one is outstanding and only around $3 a bottle. I got one for $2.89 and its all natural. No coloring, preservatives or artificial flavors. This is by FAR the best hot sauce ive tried in this price range or even double.

Marie Sharp's Special Reserve Smoked Habanero

I think you will really like the Marie Sharps smoked hab sauce. I think its really mild for habanero and even the "hab flavor" is somewhat tame. If you like smoked type sauces that are mild....

This one is primo...BLiS Blast. blisgourmet.com/products/blis-blast-hot-pepper-sauce

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