Fermented cucumbers

One time, probably 15 years ago, I tried to make pickles..
It didn't go so well and I gave up..

But my parents have a couple different friends that make "Vodka Pickles", and they are soooooo good.. They're hot and garlicky and hard to come by. So I decided to give pickles another try..
My mom got the recipe for me.. It looked like this.


VODKA PICKLES
In the bottom of a quart jar, place the following:
6 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 tsp. pickling spice
3 red peppers, chopped
6 springs fresh dill or 1 tsp. dill seed
¼ tsp. alum
Wash cukes with brush, cut lengthwise into spears and pack loosely in the quart jar.
Bring to boil: 2 cups of water
3 T. salt
Set off heat and stir in ¼ c. vodka and ½ c. vinegar. Pour over spears to fill jar leaving ½” of headspace. Seal at room temperature. (We sometimes use a hot bath to seal). Store in the refrigerator. Ready to eat in 2-3 weeks.
MUST be kept in the refrigerator.
Note: It takes about 20 small cucumbers to make 4 quarts.

I bought a new pan, the ingredients, some jars, and some canning "tools" and got started.
There were just a couple glitches.

A) it said "3 chopped red peppers". That was pretty vague. "red pepper" in any other recipe means a bell pepper, to me..
but I sized up the jars and thought "3 red bell peppers is going to take up a lot of room in that jar.. That can't be right".
So I thought and thought and thought.. Vodka pickles are hot.. That must mean "hot red peppers". So I bought habenero's (I was just guessing).
B) Three tablespoons of salt.. Every thing I read online said "do not use table salt".. But the recipe didn't specify.
Again, I guessed and used canning/pickling salt.
C) I hear alum is was make them crunchy.. So I added just a pinch more than it said.
D) I've never sealed anything with a water bath..... punt
E) My cukes started out orange????????
F) I bought the cheapest vodka in existence. It seriously had a ring you had to pull on it (like a milk jug).
G) After all was said and done, the ingredients in the jar, the cukes in the jar, the vodka/vinegar mixture in the jar, and a water bath. I inspected the jars and there was MOLD in them.. green/blue floating mold.. Panic.. So I googled.. Did you know that if garlic isn't properly aged, it will turn blue when exposed to vinegar??? Perfectly safe to eat if you can get passed the mold idea.
So I figure I'm going to wait the two weeks for them to "ferment" and the end product is going to be drunken pickles that are too hot, salty and moldy to eat.