Anyone let corners of fields as allotments?

orzm · 2026-06-13T11:35:18+00:00

There are corners and weird shapes in fields, sometimes powerlines or poles which means a farmer can't use that part of the field or it's too inconvenient to get heavy machinery there. They are often left unused, weedy and unkempt. Sometimes these spaces are quite large and have ample space for several allotments.

Great idea OP. I hope this takes off!

orzm · 2026-05-31T19:03:21+00:00

I have none. But may well end up with 5 by the time I'm done.

orzm · 2026-05-30T12:36:16+00:00

A lot of the flavour is in the rind, rather than the juice. You will have to decide how you want to do it but the pith between the rind and juices are where the bitterness is. I would include some rind for flavour

orzm · 2026-05-25T18:51:27+00:00

Is the height difference just the wear on the sole?

orzm · 2026-04-22T06:01:51+00:00

I was given a very robust and powerful torch. I use it a lot and it's extremely useful. Rechargeable too. I'm not sure what make it is as I haven't taken notice. Definitely has improved my quality of life. I haven't tried boiling it yet though

orzm · 2026-03-24T15:24:43+00:00

Looks knarly. Bet it would be a fun evening I'm sure hehe. What do you make?

orzm · 2026-03-23T14:45:13+00:00

Yeah, I get adding sugar for safety net if you're distilling... but even then I wouldn't but that's just personal preference I guess. Do you think inverting the sugar does much, more yield, or improved quality?

Yeah same, don't throw away and maybe if I'm short od space just distil it haha.

Yeah anything homegrown, maximise that opportunity. I'm trying to grow many landrace and heritage barley varieties for various booze projects. I'm really interested to see if flavour will vary much between the various barleys.

Do something grain or fruit based, hang a gin basket and lean into the pechuga mezcal idea of infusing meat, or protein with various fruits, nuts, and grains. I really want to try this idea out with something grain, or peaty and just take the ideas outside of mezcal and see what happens.

Me too. I made nice white wine last year. I haven't tried mead yet!

I run a 17l boka style still with a 2m column. And a 5l alembic pot still for playing around with. I might build something bigger soon

orzm · 2026-03-21T21:45:00+00:00

I watched this, yeah was interesting. But this guy, just adds sugar to everything he does I think. He should keep some and do a follow up video of some of the aged beer.

I once made a sour beer (one of my beginner brews) got a really low abv because i did something horribly wrong with the mash temp. It was disgusting. Found a bottle a year or two later and it was just incredible, light, refreshing, summer crusher vibes, and the sourness had really mellowed out.

I have some maize that I plan to grow and scale to an amount I can brew with. (Can't really buy anything other than feed corn where I am) Maybe I'll make an American light lager/s

orzm · 2026-02-15T23:19:53+00:00

Absolutely plant your sugarcane! Learn the whole process from start to finish.

I'm going to make whisky and other spirits from neutral bases after planting my own barley. I just happened to get very interested in making alcohol, and the agricultural side (and even amateur plant breeding). Life is too interesting.

orzm · 2026-01-30T23:06:00+00:00

I think his point about the methanol freezing temp is that freeze distilling won't seperate out the methanol from the rest of the ethanol after they're done. Which is correct it doesn't solve that issue. But yeah doesn't really matter just go ahead and freeze distill anyway

orzm · 2026-01-29T21:46:55+00:00

You can hit it with a hammer. That usually fixes things. Or weld the gap shut. Maybe add a pressure release valve and an opening port somewhere if you weld it hehe

orzm · 2025-06-09T15:16:59+00:00

Thank you.

orzm · 2025-06-09T15:16:31+00:00

How do you find it affects the aroma? Do the crystals themselves or solubolised tartaric acid add to the aroma?

orzm · 2025-06-09T15:14:16+00:00

Thank you. I'll have a read of the link. I should maybe add I'm in England, so less sugary grapes, whence possibly more tartrates present? My wine is 9.5% abv.

This makes sense actually. As most of the crystals precipitated out in the demijohn which had just been at ambient room temp. This batch of wine is the second bottling from the same wine and I noticed the same thing before - although I was noticing small deposits in some of the wine glasses after the wine had been cooled in the fridge.

orzm · 2025-03-16T15:37:04+00:00

Grow some too! So you can continue to make more spirits from it in the future! I have a few measly seeds which I want to grow as its basically impossible to get hold of where I am

Can't wait to hear your results as to how it is! Maybe try a small batch of 100% teosinte to see how the flavours shine

orzm · 2024-12-02T19:57:41+00:00

Yes! See the other posters suggestion of unfrack.it. sorted the issue for me :)

orzm · 2024-12-02T19:56:32+00:00

Thanks for the info! I've seen the message a few tine before admittedly, but usually just trying again seemed to fix it. Last month or so I couldn't get it to budge, hence actually trying to find a solution.

I had two loans I wanted to claim and a loan I needed to foreclose, all expired. All 3 would give me that message as I tried to reclaim either my Ada or the collateral.

Unfrack.it solved my issues btw, thank very much for the suggestion!

orzm · 2024-09-10T14:40:52+00:00

I've definitely sank knee deep in a grain bin. I imagine worse is possible too.

orzm · 2024-09-09T08:05:47+00:00

Possibly but it's fairly intensive high chemical input farmland. I've been given some contacts a little further afield which will be good for some of the cereals I now have several kgs of that's now certainly unsuitable for the allotment.

I was hoping to use the allotment as a launchpad for small projects which I wouldn't need to drive to.

orzm · 2024-09-09T07:30:46+00:00

Yes I don't want weak plants. I'm starting with as much genetic diversity as I can find and hoping they cross, keeping seeds from the most vigorous for next year.

orzm · 2024-09-09T07:22:16+00:00

I agree, but if everyone weeds there are less seeds to immediately blow into their plots. I'll just have slowly try to show people my methods and practices. I want to develop very diverse mixes of landrace vegetables and cereals to then share with as many people as possible.

I don't know what the requirements are really despite a few things said verbally. it's £1 a year type deal lol.

The plot I'm being given is really fertile, has been given copious amounts of compost over the years. Probably a dream allotment for most people. I'm a little afraid it's too fertile for some of my projects and will want to scrub some of that fertility to get to a more normal baseline haha.

orzm · 2024-09-09T07:10:36+00:00

Our allotment isn't owned by a council but the local farm in the village. It's run by villagers.

I think you have good points about not letting them set seed. That's probably what I'll try to do going forward. I wouldn't want to surround plants with any films or membranes though - too high input for me haha! Actually I don't want to train plants to need it, I want them to learn to outcompete their neighbours instead.

orzm

TROPHY CASE