I have peppers in 5% vinegar that are maybe 4 years old and never been refrigerated or sealed/canned. The reason is that no known bacteria can survive in vinegar.

About making the sauce , It depends how hot you want them ? I make mine with habaneroe. And for every portion of it (by weight ) I use about TWO protions of filler (red, yellow, orange bell pepper, pineapple/mango ) .and I cook/ simmer everything in enough vinegar to have the needed consistency/thickness. You may also add some water to reduce acidity ( 2 part vinegar, 1 part water). Bottled lemon juice is an alternative to vinegar too.
Some people use tomato sauce , carrots, .. to dilute the heat . It is all a matter of taste and preference. The IMPORTANT point is to have enough acidity to preserve it. A pH of 3.5 and lower would almost guarantee it for open container. I never refrigerate my open bottle of hot sauce, because it has enough acidity that no bacteria would dare to get into it.

Adding dry spices are all optional and have no bearing on safety and preserving. Depends what you like : I don't add any of it because my hot pepper sauce is just a SPICE by itself. My spice cabinet contains a dozen or more of herbs and spices.

My rough direction:

After cooking, simmering, I use a stick blender and blend it real good. Then sieve it through a rice strainer (~ 1/8" holes). This gets rid of all the solids and the pulp, resulting a nice creamy sauce.

I am sure other will come in and tell you how they do it.

Seysonn

Before you start, get ahold of some Xanthan Gum to keep thinner sauces from separating. About 1/4 teaspoon mixed with two tablespoons water is about right for a quart of sauce. Put it in the mix for thirty seconds in the blender, and then pour it into a bowl and let it sit for one hour minimum to get rid of the bubbles.

Seysoon, Great information and I appreciate it very much. That is kind of what I have done in the past. I have read and has you have stated nothing will live in 5% Vinegar, but I keep it in the fridge just as an extra precaution. However, my wife would love me to get my "crap" out of her refrigerator lol.

Tom, Thank you for the info as well. Can Xanthan Gum be found in local food store? I have never looked for it.

About the Chocolate color/taste. Would Food coloring be okay for the color and would something like Coco powder be ok to get a Chocolate taste?

Again thank you for the advice.

Bill

one way to get the chocolate color, if you're using other peppers in there as well, is to use a mix of red and green peppers and grind it up really fine in the blender.

I make (and sell) a chocolate scorpion based sauce that incorporates cocoa powder, it does contribute wonderfully to the color of the final product. and will have an effect on the color even when used in very small amounts.

I could have a field day on these hot sauce threads.

doing it the way you did, I would suggest using the vinegar you have the peppers soaking in as part of the recipe, as some of the heat from the peppers undoubtedly made it's way in there, why waste it?

also, in addition to the garlic I like to play around with herbs and spices. allspice, cumin, nutmeg, coriander, cilantro, culantro, tumeric,curry powder, ginger, thyme, and others are worth considering. though not necessarily all in the same recipe. when using herbs if you don't have a good pH tester, it's best to go with dry (assuming you're looking for a shelf stable product).

xanthan gum is sometimes available in health food stores, but I get mine online.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0040DWCXG/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=

despite what seems to be the common suggested use for xanthan I find the best way to add it to your sauce is with a blender that has a pour spout that can open while it's still running, and add it a little at a time while the blender is spinning fast. but that's just me. it's better to start with less than you think you need and add more as needed.

Grab a chair and acouple beers
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/29501-making-hot-sauce-101/

Bill Missy,
Don't know where you're located, but our local grocery store (HEB) carries it. You can also get it on-line.