• If you have a question about commercial production or the hot sauce business, please post in Startup Help.

consistency Possibly Losing volume while using Vitamix

Hola, I use a Vitamix to blend. I do the hot bottling inversion process. I have noticed I lose about the entire neck of a 5oz. Woozy once the sauce cools. Is this because of too much oxygen in the sauce, possibly caused by the Vitamix?
I have a vacuum blender too. I assume I can try to place the sauce in the vacuum blender to remove the oxygen after mixing with the Vitamix initially. Thanks for any suggestions. ***Sorry this posted 2x. I can’t figure out how to delete a post!
 
Last edited:
I blend then Pasteurize. Then I hot-bottle/invert. Was thinking the air was still in it after Pasteurizing? Just not sure. Thanks for the question- it’s a good one.
 
What you can do is know where they settle in the bottle and overfill.
 
10-4. I’m already filling to the very top and I’m losing the whole Woozy neck. I’ll try the Vacuum and key you know how she goes. Aloha to you all for responding!
 
I'd question if your sauce is cooked enough. For example a raw tomato will froth up like crazy, but cooked tomatoes not much at all. You might need to cook longer to break down ingredients.
 
Just a thought, not a critique.
 
Vitamix and Blendtec type blenders will aerate sauces. That is what is causing the reduced fill line.

After blendering, while in the stock pot reheating/cooking, work it with a stiff whisk, just keep stirring and stirring. It may take a bit, but eventually the air will get worked out of the sauce so when you bottle and fill to the neck ring, when it cools, it will not look like a short fill.


Edit...just googled the vacuum blender. Since you have one it would be worth it to try and batch some sauce thru that. See if it blends without aerating, or if it can remove air from blendered sauces.

In my experience, vitamix does not blender down to as smooth a consistency as BlendTec. Both aerate.
 
Last edited:
That won't work, his steps are cook, blend, bottle.
 
I have a couple sauces that I blendtec the ingredients first. Cold tinned tomato, fresh onion, garlic, and it aerates a lot. I BlendTec it because I want a very smooth texture, which doesn't seem to happen with the VitaMix or a stick blender. I just have to keep stirring-stirring-stirring while heating to work it all out so the bottles don't short fill. Maybe a change in the order of the steps might improve. Glad the tips helped.

There will always be a little shrinkage of the fill line, no way to avoid that. Simple physics as hot things expand (the heated sauce) and cold things shrink. I fill up to or maybe SLIGHTLY above the neck ring. When it cools, the sauce is about 1/2" -3/4" below the neck ring. Shrink band=WIN!

side note- use a tall shrink band, if you use one, to cover the fill line. A short band that shows the fill line looks like a short fill. Also, customers will take the one that is the fullest. I heard a story that (heinz?) ketchup didn't used to have neck bands, but people would see the ones that were less filled and take the fuller ones. Label around the neck covered the fill discrepancies and there was no way customers could see if one didn't look as full as the others.

OK- off on a tangent there...:lol:
SL
 
Back
Top