I'm now on year 4 of hot sauce making. I make a 1 gallon batch every year now with the bountiful "year end" harvest from the garden. I typically grow a wide array of peppers and I have found that this give a better balance of flavor and heat in hot sauce form.
Here is also a link to a thread on fermented hot sauce...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f56/lacto-fermented-hot-sauce-294711/
As for my process, I usually start by collecting ripe jalapeno, serrano, habenaro, Thai, Tabasco, hot and sweet Hungarian/banana, cayenne, Anaheims, and anything else I have grown that is ripe... I usually collect and refrigerate (or freeze) them for several weeks until it is time to process them. De-stemmed (I don't bother removing seeds and such as you will see why, later). With each batch of peppers added from the food processor (takes 3-4 rounds) I add a hefty dose of kosher salt. Per gallon batch, I also add 2-3 large shredded carrots, 1/2 of a large onion, 8-10 decent sized cloves of garlic, and one can of drained diced fire roasted tomatoes. The tomatoes and carrots add some color and fermentables. Once finished, I add white vinegar to top off (still leaving a decent amount of head space), and stir the whole thing together. Once stirred, I inoculate the mash with lacto from a batch of sauerkraut that I will make a few weeks before making hot sauce, and again stir the mash.
A very active fermentation lasts 5-6 weeks in general, though I will typically leave in the jug for several months, kept in a relatively cool place like a basement. I have to return and stir/tap down the mash every few days during active fermentation to remove large air pockets. This is more of an issue if you don't leave enough head space. You will have a blow-out, even if you aren't using an airlock, if you don't leave ample head space, so you've been warned. Once the fermentation is no longer obviously active, I will top off the mash with vinegar to within a couple inches of the top of the jug. This again helps lower the pH and further reduce risks for spoilage creating a sort of blanket over the mash.
Once I get around to processing/bottling the hot sauce, I will decant the vinegar from the top of the mash (DO NOT throw this away, it makes a great pepper vinegar for Carolina style pulled pork) and press the mash through a fine sieve to remove seeds and any other larger particles/skin from the final product. Once finished, I have a large bowl of the pressed sauce and I will taste, adding back any vinegar I previously removed in order to get the balance I am looking for. Once bottled, it is shelf-stable and gift-ready, if it lasts that long.
Again, I have found that using a variety of peppers will give the best balance and flavor profile. Roasting some of the peppers may also be an option and will add a bit more depth to the flavor profile, although it won't be as "bright" as a fresh-pepper-only sauce. I also adjust the proportion of VERY hot peppers based on the number of sweeter peppers I may be incorporating. I will substitute more habenaros in place of jalapenos/serranos if I have a lot of hungarian peppers, for example.
Good luck and happy hot sauce making!