# "Fire in the Hole" Hot Sauce, another lengthy SQWIB post.



## sqwib (Dec 7, 2011)

[h3]*"Fire in the Hole" Hot Sauce*[/h3]
I started this project immediately after reading FPNMF's post, thanks for the insight.

Here's Craigs's post

This is another one of those... kick back, grab a beer or coffee and a few snacks post's.

Very pic heavy and long.

Ok... I have been researching this to the point where its not fun anymore 5 DAYS, looks like its time to pee or get off the pot,
Anyhow I decided to go with a lactic acid fermentation instead of the cook method.

So of course I had to make a fermentation container with an air lock.
The fermentation jar is a spaghetti storage container and 3/8 poly-flo tubing.

I like this method as it never molded over as my crock method has done.


*Step 1: Preparing the Ingredients;*

Today I smoke/roasted some garlic in olive oil with a wee bit of salt and froze, vacuum sealed and placed in the freezer till I was ready to use them.


 

Tops cut off










Olive Oil









Sea Salt









On the GOSM BB with cherry wood.










After 2 hours










Ready to be cleaned










Removing Garlic











Garlic ready for packing









Garlic Laid out on cookie sheet and ready for firming in the freezer.










Fresh out of the freezer and ready to be vacuum sealed.









Vacuum sealed and into the freezer.











I also smoked about 5 red jalapenos, to incorporate a little smoky flavor.





*Step 2: Sterilize your work area;*


Sterilize your work area, sanitize the fermentation jar, weight and utensils in boiling water, I added a tablespoon bleach to the sterilization pot.
Set everything on the counter.



























*Step 3: Making The Mash;*

Peppers are naturally low in sugars and as fermentation works from the sugars I  decided to include Carrots, Onion, and Garlic. With these added there should be enough sugars for a good fermentation, I also decided on a mash to help with the process.
The first step is to separate the stems from the peppers, while keeping that star-like green cap intact this supposedly adds another depth of flavor to the sauce. I just snip with scissors









In a food processor add all ingredients below, except whey, I had to do mine in batches and tried to use wetter ingredients with drier one.
The carrot and Habaneros don't have much liquid in them


2 medium sized Carrots
Small Sweet Onion
1 small tomato
2 limes (zest lime, remove rind and seeds)
6 cloves roasted /smoked garlic
6 smoked red jalapenos
24 jalapeños
18 orange habaneros
Whey from top of yogurt (watery stuff)
















I had troubles with zesting, so I just shaved a bit off, trying not to get much rind.
































 




Place mash in the fermentation jar, leaving several inches of head space.










Add the whey and give it a stir, this gives the fermentation process a little boost. 
























Dissolve 2 tablespoons salt into 2 cups warm water and pour it over the top till all veggies are under water, stir once more.























Seal the fermentation jar and add water to air lock, this will allow gasses to escape while not allowing any thing to enter. Make sure before sealing the fermentation jar, that the mash has a little bit of water on top, it needs to be submerged.












 ​
_Note water in the air lock_





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_I marked the airlock with a black dot to help check for gas escaping_.










*Step 4: Fermentation time;* This batch will be fermented 7 weeks.


*We**[color= rgb(120, 63, 4)]ek 1, [/color]*[color= rgb(120, 63, 4)]added a teaspoon salt to top[/color], was worried about mold, however I will skip this next batch.











*Week 2, *stirred real good and added 2 tablespoons white vinegar on top and sealed. I haven't noticed any bubbling, but did notice the water in the air lock move a few times to let some gas escape after adding the vinegar. 


















*Week 3, *left alone.











*Week 4, *left alone, I did put it on the counter for an hour to see if it was still fermenting, watched the airlock and a decent amount of gas was escaping.











*Week 5, *left alone, I did put it on the counter for an hour to see if it was still fermenting, watched the airlock and a decent amount of gas was escaping.










*Week 6, *gave it a good stir and I still have a little bit of fermentation going on so I will let it go until week 7.









*Week 7, **seven full weeks of fermentation, time to move onto step 5.*









*Step 5: Halt the fermentation process;*


In a non reactive pot, pour in the contents of the fermenting jar, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or so. This will also soften the mash to assist in the Purée process.
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*Step 6: puree' the mash;*


Pour the hot mash into a food processor and Purée till smooth.
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*Step 7: Sauce viscosity and texture*

*Method 1:* Thinner sauce Run mash and brine through a fine-mesh sieve over a mixing bowl. With a wooden spoon, press the mash into the sides of the sieve so that the sauce drips from the sieve into the waiting mixing bowl. Do not discard mash, it will be used later.
*Method 2: * Thicker sauce: For the thicker sauce you will be adding the mash back to the hot sauce when finalizing (step 10) ,after it has been dried and ground (step 8).











Once the mash starts pulling from the sides, you can dump the mash into another container.















*Step 8: Recycling mash*

*If using **Method 1:* Thinner sauce, In a food dehydrator using fruit rollup liners, pour mash and spread out thinly set dehydrator to 100°. After completely dry use a coffee grinder and grind mash into a useable spice adding additional spices to create your own BAM spice. Jar, date and label.

*If using **Method 2: * Thicker sauce, In a food dehydrator using fruit rollup liners, pour mash and spread out thinly set dehydrator to 100°. After completely dry use a coffee grinder and grind mash and add back to the hot sauce during *Step 10: Finalizing the sauce*.













































I checked the mash and looks like it needs some more time to dry, it's still too pliable.









Tested the mash, it snapped like a cracker so now were ready to move forward.







 


I used bread to clean the coffee grinder, a tip I picked up a while ago. After the bread is ground, wipe out with a dry towel.























Broken Chunks added and ground. A word of caution...if you do this indoors make sure to turn off fans and try not to stir it up too much, I had the whole family coughing in the living room, better yet do this step in the garage or someplace away from the rest of the family and pets.
















Placed in a bowel and in a separate bowel, added 1 part ground pepper mash,  2 parts onion powder to 3 parts garlic salt. This can be made with a ton of variations, my first time I wanted a seasoned salt. This can also be added back to the Hot Sauce itself.























The two in the front are, 3 part ground pepper mash,  2 parts onion powder to 3 parts garlic salt.









Decided to make a "Crab Boil", "Old Bay Type Seasoned Salt", I took the two extra hot ones and mixed them with the following recipe.
[h3] [/h3][h3] [/h3][h3]*Crab Boil Ingredients:*[/h3]
2 tablespoons mustard powder
2 tablespoons coriander
1 tablespoon ground allspice 
1 teaspoon ground cloves 
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper 
1 tablespoon black pepper
10 bay leaves 
3 tablespoons smoked paprika
2 cups of old bay or make your own "Old Bay" below
[h3] [/h3][h3] [/h3][h3]*Old Bay Ingredients:*[/h3]
1 tablespoon ground dried bay leaves
2 teaspoons celery salt
1-1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
1-1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sweet or smoked paprika
1 teaspoon ground celery seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground mace
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Yeah right!

Ok now that the Seasoned Salt is done time to seal it. Shakers and lids are secured, tamper proof shrink bands are placed over top of the lids.









Heat gun is used to "shrink" bands.









Finished product waiting for labels.









Closeup of Safety Seal.









Now the fun part, lets label these.





















*Step 9: Resting the sauce*


Pour the sauce from the bowl into sanitized bottles and store in the refrigerator for one week, to let flavors mellow. 









Here Is the hot sauce 5 days in, notice the settling.









Here Is the hot sauce 2 weeks in, notice the settling.










Here's the sauce shaken, I had to try it, It is pretty good, not salty and no vinegar, next week I will be experimenting with some different flavors and adding salt and possibly vinegar.









*Step 10: Finalizing the sauce*

*If using **Method 1:* Thinner sauce, After a week in the refrigerator, taste and add desired flavors such as vinegar, salt, sugar or more heat. If using vinegar, it may be be stored at room temp, pH needs to be a certain level, I believe it needs to be under 4.6 to be shelf safe at room temperature.

*If using **Method 2: * Thicker sauce, After a week in the refrigerator, add some of the dehydrated ground mash, taste and add other desired flavors such as vinegar, salt, sugar. If using vinegar, it may be be stored at room temp, pH needs to be a certain level, I believe it needs to be under 4.6 to be shelf safe at room temperature.

I added some salt, vinegar and brown sugar for the final flavor of this batch.


*Step 11: Bottling.*


Get out everything to start bottling, sterilize all your equipment as before.










In a large pot, add water and bring to a boil lay your Woozy bottles down carefully into the boiling pot, boil for 10 minutes. This sterilizes them and prevents bacteria from being spread to your hot sauce.








Meanwhile, In a non reactive pot, bring hot sauce to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes then remove from heat, this is to kill yeast/molds.
                              [Sorry no picture of this.]​
Using tongs remove the hot bottles, drain and place on a clean towel to dry.







Prepare a pouring area, give a little thought here, everything is hot.










Immediately pour the hot sauce into each bottle with a sterilized funnel to prevent spillage. Fill each bottle as much as possible, because when the bottles cool, you will have a head space. 







Install the "Plug Dripper Insert", I should have filled this a wee bit more.







Secure the lid snugly.







Place back in batch and simmer for 20 minutes, air will escape from the lid.













 

Remove from the bath with tongs, place on towel and using another towel to hold the bottle, snug up the lid a bit more, but not too tight. Turn upside down for 20 minutes , the boxes the woozy's ship in, are perfect for holding upside-down hot sauce bottles.







Remove from box, place shrink bands on woozy bottles, apply heat evenly with a heat gun or hair drier until the band has shrunk, giving you a snug tamper evident seal.












































Now it's time to label these guys.
Notice the head space in the pictures when the sauce is hot (shrink band picture) and when the sauce has cooled, (labeled).















These will not be refrigerated, they are shelf stable.

Here's the whole gang.







I have to admit, this was a fun project and I really got to experiment quite a bit.
I am working on a few other hot sauces as well as spices. Hopefully... if some are successful, I will be giving out gift baskets to friends and Family next year.

Testing the Hot sauce on eggs.







Here Is a video on how to use shrink bands

Resources for Bottles and Shrink Bands


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## bmudd14474 (Dec 7, 2011)

Looks great.


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## mballi3011 (Dec 7, 2011)

Man oh Man thats alot of work for some hot sauce and seasoning but then it is all worth it to be able to say I made it. So how did it taste and how hot was it ????


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## michael ark (Dec 7, 2011)

I am in awe of your skills 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





  Looks great .


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## SmokinAl (Dec 7, 2011)

Another great thread Sqwib!

Like Mark says, that looks like a lot of work, but I'm sure it was worth every minute of it.

The whole process looks so professional.


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## big twig (Dec 7, 2011)

Awesome post SQWIB! Thanks for the links at the bottom too, much better place to order bottles then where I have in the past. I have only cooked sauces now I have to try fermentation. Where did you get the fermentation jar?


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## africanmeat (Dec 7, 2011)

O Boy O Boy it looks amazing you are a master of 
	

		
			
		

		
	






	

		
			
		

		
	
 i will order one of each


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## fpnmf (Dec 7, 2011)

What a fabulous post!!

  Thanks for the kudos...

You used much more detail than I did...it looks great!!

 Craig


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## sqwib (Dec 7, 2011)

bmudd14474 said:


> Looks great.


Thank you




mballi3011 said:


> Man oh Man thats alot of work for some hot sauce and seasoning but then it is all worth it to be able to say I made it. So how did it taste and how hot was it ????


It's really not a lot of work its just a lengthy process.

Each process was only 15 or twenty minutes on its own except for step 5 and step 11. I spent more time documenting and posting the process.

It was good, not great but good, I am going to try it after a few more weeks, I'll be trying out the crab Boil as well but just as a seasoned salt, unless I come across some crabs!

It's fairly hot, I guess along the same lines as Tobasco.


michael ark said:


> I am in awe of your skills
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you
 


SmokinAl said:


> Another great thread Sqwib!
> 
> Like Mark says, that looks like a lot of work, but I'm sure it was worth every minute of it.
> 
> The whole process looks so professional.




Thank you Al




BIG TWIG said:


> Awesome post SQWIB! Thanks for the links at the bottom too, much better place to order bottles then where I have in the past. I have only cooked sauces now I have to try fermentation. Where did you get the fermentation jar?


Fermentation Jar is a spaghetti container, I wont be using it again however, it got all these crazy striations in the plastic, its actually better to use ceramic or glass or food grade plastic. I am going to make another one with an airlock using a 1 gallon pickle jar.
I actually forgot that link was at the bottom (post was taken from my website), I have been trying to be careful not to post links.

Just make sure you order everything in one shot or shipping costs will kill you.


africanmeat said:


> O Boy O Boy it looks amazing you are a master of
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you




fpnmf said:


> What a fabulous post!!
> 
> Thanks for the kudos...
> 
> ...


You started it my friend, now I'm hooked.

Have 2 batches going now Lemon Lime pepper sauce and a Pineapple hot sauce.


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## fpnmf (Dec 7, 2011)

>>>>>>>  Pineapple hot sauce.

I might need to test this...for your safety of course...

  Craig


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## frizzlefry (Dec 7, 2011)

Very impressive!


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## dewetha (Dec 7, 2011)

wow! that is impressive!


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## alelover (Dec 7, 2011)

Awesome post my friend. Very impressive. Very similar to how I brew beer. You can run your airlock hose into a bowl of water and see fermentation activity much better.


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## sqwib (Dec 7, 2011)

alelover said:


> Awesome post my friend. Very impressive. Very similar to how I brew beer. You can run your airlock hose into a bowl of water and see fermentation activity much better.


Now you done it!!

Time to start researching "home brewing"


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## DanMcG (Dec 7, 2011)

Fantastic post SQWIB. I will need to reread it when I'm more coherent, but you covered it with great detail. Thanks for spending the time to post it!


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## shooterrick (Dec 7, 2011)

Wow!  That is just an awsome post!


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## moikel (Dec 7, 2011)

Great job 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





! Hell of a lot of work & attention to detail. Fermentation deal is new to me & I  have made a bit of chilli sauce over the years. Yours is another level up (at least) from what I did. Idid a papaya & habanero sauce
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





those habanero's pack a punch.


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