First Attempt at Fermented Hot Sauce

We had a hard freeze in the forecast last month and my pepper plants were still producing so I picked them all. Figured after reading some of the good posts on this sub I would give fermenting a try.

I had mariachi and pequin peppers. (I removed the stems from the pequins) The mariachis are not known for heat, but having eaten a few off the vine from this crop, they were pretty spicey, and I like some heat. Probably because we had little rain and I didn't water them much this fall so they were pretty distressed. I added garlic and carrots to the mix, looking for somewhat of a Marie Sharps original type sauce.

I fermented for around 3 weeks and bottled it up today. The flavor is pretty on point for what I was looking for, seeing as it was my first attempt. The heat was surprisingly lacking, although still around a 5-6 out of 10 compared to normal, non extract, type sauce.

I already have my spring pepper garden planted so looking forward to a new crop and experimenting more with different peppers. I have pickled and canned quite a bit but was a bit nervous fermenting for the first time. Thanks to this sub for a ton of good info.