Tried fermenting hot sauce for the first time and got mold on day 3

I started a batch of habanero and garlic hot sauce last week. Used a 3% salt brine, weighed everything down with a glass weight. By day 3 I had white fuzzy mold on top. I think my mistake was not checking the seal on my fermentation lid. It let air in. I tossed the whole thing. Has anyone else dealt with mold in the first week and figured out what caused it?

2 comments

2 Comments

rubybarnes23d ago

Yeah white fuzzy mold is almost always an air gap issue. Ive had that happen when my airlock dried out or the lid wasn't snug. Next time try using a regular jar with a pickling pipe or just burp it manually every day for the first week.

harris.aaron23d ago

Dunno if I'd call it "almost always" an air gap issue. Had white mold pop up on a batch where the airlock was perfectly fine. Think it was just bad luck with a contaminated starter or something. Some people freak out over a little fuzz when it's really not that big of a deal. Scrape it off if there's enough good stuff underneath, or just toss it and start over. Not worth overthinking a jar of moldy kraut.