Hot take: I was wrong about airlocks for my hot sauce ferment

Honestly, I always thought you needed a fancy airlock setup for any ferment. Last week, my main airlock cracked right in the middle of a big batch of habanero sauce. I just put a clean cloth over the jar and secured it with a rubber band, checking it twice a day. Tbh, after 5 days, it's bubbling away perfectly with no issues at all. Has anyone else had a ferment work fine without an airlock?

3 comments

3 Comments

janah8316d ago

Oh man, I feel this so hard. I went through the exact same panic last year when my airlock got clogged with pepper gunk. I just switched to a cloth cover for the rest of the ferment and it was totally fine. Honestly, I think we get sold on needing all the special gear, but people have been doing this for centuries with way less. It's a relief to know it's not as fragile as we're led to believe, right? What kind of peppers are you using for your sauce?

wesleyb2016d ago

My last cloth cover batch got a nasty mold layer on top.

wesley_jones16d ago

Maybe the cloth itself was a bit damp, like janah83's pepper gunk issue but with fabric.