Rant: My sister said my homemade hot sauce tasted like pennies, so I tossed the whole crock
I used to ferment my pepper mash for 6 weeks in a crock in my garage here in Tucson, and I was real proud of it. Then my sister tried a spoonful and said it tasted like pennies, which honestly stung because she is not a picky eater. I let it sit another week and tried it again, and she was dead right, the mash had gone metallic and sour at the same time. Turns out my crock lid was not sealing right and way too much air was getting in, so I dumped 3 pounds of peppers and started over in a jar with an airlock. Now I check the seal with a cheap rubber gasket and a rubber band, and the last two batches tasted clean and bright. Has anyone else had a ferment go metallic on them, and did you figure out if it was air, heat, or the salt ratio that ruined it?
Wait, you were fermenting in a crock in your garage in Tucson? That heat alone would scare me, my garage hits like 95 degrees by noon in summer and I always figured that would wreck a mash. The metal taste makes sense though if air was getting in, that's oxidation plus who knows what off flavors from wild stuff. Did you ever check the temp in there during those 6 weeks, because air and heat together in a garage sounds like a double whammy.