If it's building up pressure, there IS microbial activity of some kind. Yeast maybe?

My only thought is - if you are using some type of fermentation in the processing, you may need to bring the mix to a boil - to stop this fermenting - before you bottle it.

I'm thinking specifically of my venture with making vinegar, whereby a mother culture is used (such as in wine or apple juice) to turn it into vinegar. When it is done, it needs to be heated to boiling in order to stop the fermentation.

This is not very scientific - and some of the folks here can probably give you much better answers.

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay

> > We are preparing and bottling a gourmet hot sauce.

I'm very confidant that we can get or give you an answer if you provide more information.

How are you preparing the sauce? Fermenting, boiling water bath, pressure processing? When bottling are the bottles (woozies) and the sauce heated to proper temperatures?

More information needed.

I buy 16 ounce bottles of lime juice. These are now packaged on plastic bottles with screw caps. Even though the ingredients contain no preservative, the lime juice is made from a concentrate and water. When I recently opened a bottle, it was quite 'fizzy' and was almost like a bottle of carbonated beverage. I suspect that even though the lime juice was quite acidic, it still allowed some kind of fermentation to go on inside, maybe from the bottle or capping material. In any case, it wasn't bad, but would also leave me with a doubt about its safety. In your case, unless the mixture is brought to a full boil, bottled, then processed in a boiling water bath, it could have something survive inside which could make it start a fermentation process. Not all fermentations are bad, as you know, but not knowing what is actually creating the gasses inside, you do risk safety.

> I suspect that even though the lime juice was quite acidic, it still allowed some kind of fermentation to go on inside

Yes. And the more fermenting, the more acidic will become. And I think the more safe. It's the secondary stages (cool the mix down so that I think yeasts can take over) that baffle me. Did anyone else make 'balloon wine' in their college dorm closet? I did. The balloon inflated and then deflated when wine was finished. But my memory is very faulty... it was "the 60s" you know.

Balloons are not the perfect seals. Take a look at a rubber based balloon for holding the smaller molecule of helium gas. It leaches out quickly and leaves only air. As a balloon wine, if it has enough Co2 it could burst which can cause contamination. A suggestion on a chemical peservative may be helpful in preventing fermentation. Something like the same preservatives used in wine making can work well. Sulfur in very small amounts can be added to prevent these problems, and has been used for centuries. There are more modern ones too, and many have no effect on taste.

Ken,

Well, there are balloons and there are balloons. The USA made ones that I get are stamped "Helium Quality" for whatever that's worth. My initial problem was finding small enough sizes.

I wonder if our new gardenwebbie from Aruba will make any response to his thread?

jt

Helium quality are usually the silvered mylar type which are heat sealed sheets fused together. Yes, these do keep helium in, but regular latex rubber ones never seem to last. When I used to make wines, it was with these cheap plastic water seals which worked great for my needs. Today, I can't even enjoy grape juice let alone a wine, due to kidney issues. Must be nice to live someplace where you can grow most anything at any time..

Ken writes: Helium quality are usually the silvered mylar type which are heat sealed sheets fused together. Yes, these do keep helium in, but regular latex rubber ones never seem to last.

Ken,

Can't say I much care abt helium anyways.... unless want to talk funny. LOL

When I used to make wines, it was with these cheap plastic water seals which worked great for my needs.

Similar to this?...:

Must be nice to live someplace where you can grow most anything at any time..

I agree. It still irritates me that I didn't retire to perhaps Texas "Hill Country" or even Florida. Such is life. Stuck here in Zone 5/6 show me state.

Thankfully no kidney problems here as am a beer drinker. Can't tolerate (Crohn's Disease) anything stronger.

jt

My traps were like the link below and were much easier to deal with if they caught some foam in them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wine Hobby traps

I've used those too. Hard to fit a balloon over the top though.

Here is a link that might be useful:

No balloon needed. In fact even if it was the 'plumbers trap' design, they don't need any balloon. I would guess that the ballon could be used to help prevent the water from evaporating. Mine had just a tiny hole in the cover to allow the Co2 out, so it didn't pop up like that in the animation. You just saw bubbles pushing up on the inner device then they pushed under the water to release.

> No balloon needed.

Totally agree. The balloon is only so I can monitor the amt of gas produced and get an idea of how a certain mix is working.

As much as I try to make 'scientific' comparisons with seemingly identical jars of fermenting 'whatever' it always amazes me how much the samples can vary.

Many factors are responsible. Temperature, amount of nutrients for the yeast or whatever is causing the fermentation, just to name a few.