I have successfully made a number of batches of fermented hot sauce, my favorite being a Habanero, onion, bell pepper batch fermented in brine for 1 year then blended with 1/3 cup brine, 1 cup unflavored rice vinegar and 1 cup IPA. I have also had success with jalapeno's, but I just love the heat of Habanero's. However, I have dumped 3 batches which had a lot of Kahm yeast and 1 which grew mold.
I recently learned about mash fermenting as opposed to brine fermenting and gave it a try this weekend. 9 oz. Habanero's, 6 oz. blueberries, 6 oz. blackberries, 3 tblspn kosher salt. I blended it all lightly in a food processor, then poured the mash into a quart mason jar, put saran wrap over the liquid with a fermentation weight on top and closed the lid. Whether it turns out good or not is up in the air at this point, but I will say it was a lot easier and took up less space in the mason jar than a brine fermentation using the same ingredients. In addition, I didn't have to worry about floaters getting around the weight. If this works out, I think I am sold on mash fermenting.
Anyone else have experience mash fermenting v. brine fermenting?