Hot Sauce Bottling Machines: What Every Spicy Startup Needs to Know
With the sun shining and summer in full force there is no shortage of home grilling this July. For those cooking or just visiting to take advantage of the food, the variety of hot sauces cannot go unnoticed as each backyard chef tries to impress with their own recipes. The hot sauce industry is, excuse the pun, hotter than ever, introducing new, bold flavors and spicy combinations on the regular. For those with their own sauces trying to break into the market, unique recipes are only part of the battle. The right bottling equipment for hot sauces ensures efficiency and consistency while protecting both the product and the consumer.
Of course, good branding can always help a product, including hot sauces. However, regardless of brand recognition, customers won't come back if products are leaking, improperly sealed, or contain different amounts of product each time a bottle is bought. Bottling machines, including liquid fillers, capping equipment, labelers, and more, help brand recognition while also protecting the integrity of the product.
One unique challenge for filling hot sauces is the variation of viscosity in different sauces. Sauces may be thin, water-like liquids to brush on to food products. Others may be thick sauces with seeds, peppers, or other particulates that can present challenges when getting product into the containers. Liquid Packaging Solutions has helped bottle hot sauces both thick and thin, using different types of filling machines. Projects may use an overflow filling machine or even a gravity filler if the hot sauce being prepared is thin enough to flow freely. For thicker products and products with particulates, piston or pump fillers allow the sauce and all of its components to be bottled at once, again creating a consistent and reliable fill. Choosing the right hot sauce filling machine allows the product to be bottled efficiently, cleanly, consistently, and accurately while also allowing for scalability if demand for a product grows.
Just as hot sauce comes in diverse container types, the closures used to seal in the product may vary as well. At Liquid Packaging Solutions, the capping machine used for any hot sauce bottling project would be manufactured to meet the closure type. Spindle or chuck capping equipment can be integrated into a line for screw-on type caps or ROPP cappers cam be built for aluminum blanks offering a little extra tamper-evidence on the seals. Custom capping equipment can also be built for truly unique bottle and cap combinations. Hot sauces may also use neck bands or shrink sleeves in addition to the closure to ensure safe, sealed liquid. Using the right capping machine protects the product from cross-threads, over or under-tightening, spills, and leaks.
Other hot sauce bottling machines may include rinsing equipment to ensure clean containers prior to filling, as well as labeling and coding equipment to help your brand stand out from the competition on the shelf. Regardless of the type of machine you are sourcing as a bottler of hot sauces, ensure that the equipment is compatible with multiple bottle shapes and sizes to accommodate product changes or additions in the future. Packagers of hot sauces should also look for food-grade construction and easy clean up, including CIP systems, easy changeover to avoid downtime and the range or adjustability of fill speeds and volumes.
At Liquid Packaging Solution, we understand the unique needs of hot sauce makers, from small-batch artisans to nationally recognized brands. We build both semi-automatic and automatic machinery to meet the needs of every packager. Investing in hot sauce bottling machines from LPS ensures that you not only get the equipment that best fits your own specific needs, but you get the experience of the LPS professionals as packaging partners to get the most out of that equipment as well.
Whether you're looking to start bottling your own hot sauce for the first time or hoping to increase the efficiency and consistency of packaging your existing hot sauce line, contact Liquid Packaging Solutions to explore different machines and designs for a hot sauce packaging line.