That’s a lot! Are you selling these products? Or are you drinking shots of hot sauce, LOL 
The ferment blowups sound like it’s a bit on the warm side: fast ferment=foam & chunks rise and plug the water trap/vent…pop!
I’m just using regular pickling salt, less chemically intensive to make and way cheaper. Sea salt is another choice, 2-3.4%, by weight.
Whenever adding things which could dilute the final acid level, it’s a good idea to check the final pH. I once added some homemade tamarind puree/pulp to a stable hot sauce, figuring the acidity of the tamarind was no issue…wrong! Some days after bottling, I heard a disturbing “bang” in the kitchen. One of the bottles blew the cap off. Apparently, the tamarind has enough moisture to dilute the sauce so either yeasts or bacteria got going again.
Garlic paste/puree, for example, has a pH around 5.8, Jasim & Sivhare (200). Garlic also has sugars. So, if one adds too much, bad things can happen. … bang!
Most of the hot sauce made here gets aged with white oak chips or sticks in the bottles. These are toasted in the wood stove, over coals. Sometimes, I shortcut the process and use Jack Daniel’s Whiskey barrel chips. Adding that barrel-aged, bourbon flavor really gives those sauces a great taste. It takes 6–12 months for the oak flavor to infuse. Brewing suppliers also sell oak for flavoring wines, beer, etc.
