I finally learned why my hot sauce kept going bad after 3 weeks

I was reading a post on r/fermentation last night and found out that I needed to keep my peppers fully submerged with a glass weight, not just pushed down with a spoon. Turns out that little bit of mold on top was from oxygen exposure the whole time. I've been making sauce for 6 months out of my kitchen in Austin, and now I feel silly for not checking sooner. Has anyone else had this issue with air exposure ruining their ferments?

3 comments

3 Comments

logan23621d ago

Honestly, that cabbage leaf trick is the real game changer, I started doing that last year and havent had a single issue since. Those glass weights with the nub are solid too, but honestly its the leaf that does the heavy lifting for me. Tbh I felt dumb for like a month after I figured out I was just pushing peppers down with a spoon. You think youre being careful but that tiny air gap kills it every time. Ngl, swapping to a proper setup is worth the 10 bucks because wasting a whole batch of ferments feels way worse than buying the right gear.

johnson.faith21d ago

...and @umar59 is absolutely right about the humidity making it worse, I'm over in Houston so I know that struggle firsthand. What finally worked for me was switching to a glass fermentation weight with a little nub on top, you can get a set on Amazon for like 8 bucks... I also started putting a cabbage leaf on top of the peppers before the weight, just to create an extra barrier against the air.

umar5921d ago

Austin's humidity makes surface mold even worse, you really gotta weigh those peppers down tight.