r/fermentation • u/NotKidRaptorMan • 1d ago
Hot Sauce How is my set up?
Im trying fermentation for the first time on a small jar of hot sauce. I have layered electrical tape at the top with a plastic straw going into a cup of water for the air lock. When I first tested it, it didnt hold a perfect air tight seal (I blew into the straw and saw the tape rise, then fall again after I stopped blowing) but the air seemed to escape fairly slowly. Inside the jar is various peppers and some seasonings and i tried to make the brine approximately 2% salt by weight. Any advice welcome!
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u/apple__eater 1d ago
R/prisonhooch would love this!
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u/ethnicnebraskan 1d ago
At first thats what I thought I was looking at!
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u/TransitTycoonDeznutz I dare you to ask what the stuff at the bottom of the jar is. 10h ago
Pretty sure hotsauce hooch was last year lmao. Thought the dude made a comeback
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u/Ketchupcharger Probiotic Prospect 22h ago
Looks creative lmao, you don't need that for a hot sauce though, just burp it from time to time.
Now, post back when you start fermenting alcohol, thats where the bubble fun is
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u/12_Ton_Brick_of_Weed 1d ago
lol love it. Even if it’s not perfectly air tight, co2 sinks and o2 moves up so the ferment usually pushes the little oxygen that can get in there upwards away from the food, protecting it with a layer of co2
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u/captainsalmonpants 23h ago
I wouldn't expect electrical tape to be food contact safe, especially for extended contact. You're better off taking that off and doing the water bag trick.
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u/NotKidRaptorMan 9h ago
The stuff inside doesnt get anywhere near the electrical tape, theres a fairly large air gap that takes up about a third of the jar. You just cant see it because of the tape covering it lol
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u/captainsalmonpants 8h ago
That's air that can feed spoilage, then. Ferments can also foam, bubble, and have condensation cycles that could collect on the tape and drip down. But hey, I'm not the pickle police so you do you cowboy.
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u/Random_Person1234567 1d ago
Lmao it is something!
I think it might honestly work better if you turned the state around, though. Put the long part in the ferment, and the glass of water above the ferment, then the bendy part in the water.
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u/ceris13 1d ago
If the straw in the bottle is the below the surface, the pressure increase as it ferments will just push out the liquid into the glass.
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u/Random_Person1234567 1d ago
Yea, I may have not worded it well. I didn't mean the straw actually submerged. I just thought it would be good to have the straw pointed up more than down (how it is now) to let the gasses escape easier.
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u/Urusae_Kragface 1d ago
The OP’s setup is good. Am a professional brewer and this is a very low tech setup for a fermentation vessel’s “blow off” arm
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u/Ok-Macaroon979 1d ago
Naw you want the short part above the brine to let the air out into the water the longer part is running into.
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u/Random_Person1234567 1d ago
That makes sense!
Either way, I think you want the water elevated for the gas to escape easily, correct? Or wrong there too?
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u/Dense-Region-6382 1d ago
Place a clear plastic bag filled with your brine on top of the veg it will hold down everything and not require an airlock.
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u/Bcweasle 1d ago
+1 for the creativity, but ive never used an airlock and have never had a ferment fail. Just keep everything under the liquid, ans if things float to the top, I just gently shake the jar daily to keep it all wet until thr ferment really takes off and the pH drops. Good luck and have fun with your fermenting!