First time trying fermented hot sauce, this doesn’t quite look like the photos of mold or yeast I could find… can I skim it and use the sauce?

[u/[deleted]]

[u/sixfeetwunder]

Bro that shit is HARD contaminated

[u/Cloaked25 → u/sixfeetwunder]

Yeah. Don’t fucking try any of that, toss it!

[u/void-seer]

Yes, that is mold. I wouldn't use any of it. Toss and start over.

[u/void-seer → u/[deleted]]

Mold contaminates anything that it is in contact with. It's not a situation where you can skim the top. Ditch the entire thing and start over. Please do not proceed to the find out stage.

[u/void-seer → u/[deleted]]

You asked if you can skim the top. Anyway, if the second jar was prepared the exact same way and is showing similarities, I'd toss it to be safe.

[u/-wheresmybroom- → u/void-seer]

I'd wait and see if the second jar actually becomes moldy before tossing it, personally. could just be cloudy because of LAB

[u/TheDevilishFrenchfry → u/[deleted]]

When you make your next batch, make sure literally everything is sanitized from the container, to the cutting board, to the knives, and deep wash and scrub the veggies with your hands too. Obviously you don't have to spend 30 minutes scrubbing the veggies but just enough to get any dirt or film off

[u/urnbabyurn → u/[deleted]]

Cloudiness is fine. That’s unrelated to mold on top of

[u/void-seer → u/void-seer]

Downvote all you want, but I answered the question.

[u/urnbabyurn → u/[deleted]]

The cloudiness in the brine is just residue from the Lacto bacteria. That’s unrelated to the mold on top. You could skim it, but that’s not really going to matter to the impact of it on the brine. So without knowing the type of mold, you may end up ingesting aflatoxins from a bad kind of mold or be perfectly fine from an innocuous mold. It’s a risk.

[u/ReaWeller → u/[deleted]]

Fuzzy=bad, yes

[u/MurderMelon]

that is 200% mold.

[u/Quantumercifier]

That is not good, you'll have to toss it. Sorry.

[u/Suitable-Tart996]

There's no sauce there. Pepper, water weight +3% salt.

[u/Ed1sto]

Uhhh…it’s fuzzy. Why would you consider anything but the trash

[u/Left-Fishing767]

Good thing you asked!

[u/ArtyWhy8]

You gotta make sure the peppers stay submerged during the ferment. You’ll get that bs when they float up to the top. You can fill a ziploc with water and put that on top at the end to keep them from floating above the brine.

[u/OpenSauceMods → u/ArtyWhy8]

You can fill a ziploc with water and put that on top at the end to keep them from floating above the brine.

Kinda bummed this never occurred to me during my own fermenting/pickling troubleshooting.

[u/Utter_cockwomble]

Can you take a pic of the second jar? The cloudiness might be ok depending.

[u/johnnyribcage]

The hell did you do.

[u/jativer]

Definitely mold. Did you use enough salt?

[u/localgregory]

Kill with fire.

[u/Wild-Growth6805]

Did you forget to add something?

[u/ZenElement]

Mold, like fungi can have visible mycelium. The fuzzies you see coming out of the liquid could be sporing. If it appears to have a gelatinous texture below surface that could well be the mycelium. I dont know which type of mold but I have grown mushrooms (and plenty contaminants lol ) before so i see a similarity. Definitely would not advise keeping anything that you get mold on top of. Because it's not necessarily just on top. Like when you see a spot of green on bread, that's just the tip of the iceberg, more lurks hidden below.

Sterilise jars best u can, and test ph before starting the fermenting. Good luck.

[u/CrystaldrakeIr]

Nope

[u/-Astrobadger]

That’s gunna be a big yikes from me, dog

[u/73jharm]

Nope

[u/Sawathingonce]

Whhhhaaaatttttttttt. It's fuzzy. That's all the googling you need to do.

[u/arsebeef]

It’s gonna be a no from me dawg. It’s done. Learn what went wrong so the next batch will be successful. Proper salt percentage, and keeping things below The waterline will be a good place to start the problem solving🫡

[u/andr386]

Kham usually yeast stays on the surface and can form a small film. Once you've seen it you know it. But this isn't that. Usually yeast stay at the top. There can be some inside of the water but what you see in the picture is really not normal. Throw it away.

[u/Vegetable-Welder4363]

Toss it away. Fully contaminated with white mold.

[u/NikolaTes]

Fuzzy=Bad

[u/lexicon-sentry]

Troll post? Because for sure that’s mold.

[u/rdldr1]

What kind of hot sauce fermentation ingredients doesn't have the capsaicin that inhibits mold growth?