"Birch" the other sappy Tree:)

[craigglewis]

Well, not sure where to place or start this, so now that I'm here, this is it:))

I just wanted to start a quick Thread so that us birch tappers can have a spot here. Although we have much in common with the maple industry, there are differences.

I like to see a section created and called "Just Birch"

As for me I started in 2005 with a plastic water tee and one tree and collected birch sap for, 10 day or 40 liters.

Since then we have been selling birch sap wine here in Newfoundland called "Lady of the Woods", created a vodka called "BirchWynd", developing a birch juice called "Sapalicious"

in 2006 I had 200 taps, 2007 - 1,000, 2009 - 2,000 and now we are getting our first harvesting site 122 Hectors or about 50-60,000 trees and have a plan to develop a 20,000 harvesting site, to collect 200,000 gallons of birch sap to produce 2,000 gallons of birch Syrup. I have yet to make one, cup.

So I'm looking at starting this spring and l could use your help.

I am only looking at using the 2,000 taps this year, and I don't want to go flat out boiling all the sap yet I like to make between 100-200 gallons of syrup per day.

So the first question is what size wood fire evaporator to I require?
What modifications do I have to do to it, if any? (I know some do)
Is anyone interest in possibly coming to Newfoundland and working this April/May producing Birch Syrup?

www.sapworld.ca
Craig :))

[Randy Brutkoski]

Just curious, have you ever thought about putting birch trees on vacuum. I have never heard of anyone doing it, but if it is possible you could probably double your crop. You might want to look into that. If it is possible, the investment would pay for itself almost instantly.I think the Dr. should say something about this.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I think first we need to ask the birch trees about how they feel about it.

[spud]

I have a very good friend here in Alaska that taps 850 birch trees. I was explaining maple tubing to him a while back and we both just laughed. Here in Alaska a day never goes by when at least 2 or 3 moose walk by your house. Tubing would be on the ground within minutes after putting it up. I think if you could use tubing with Vac you would be overwhelmed with the amount of sap you got. A small 10 inch birch tree will give gallons per day just using bags. God only knows what it would do with vacuum:o. I will never forget the first time i saw a sugarhouse in alaska. About 20 years ago i was at the state fair in Palmer walking over to the Livestock area (my favorite place) When here to my left was a sugarhouse. I had a grin ear to ear just seeing this so i went in and they had a little leader rig (2x6) and it just reminded me of sugaring in Vermont. They gave me a taste of their syrup and i thought it was really bad. The guy told me it is a taste you have to get used of. Although birch syrup is not for me it is loved by many and i think it is great to see them tap here in Alaska. I never heard of wine being made from birch syrup. Good luck to all you birch tappers i hope you all have a great season. I agree that Trader should have a birch section. This would help find birch topics only.:)

Mike

[Gary R]

I tried making birch syrup. I could not get to syrup because I kept burning it. The fructose sugars have a low burning point. I've made the wine and it is good. Tastes like burbon. I will probably make some more this season.

Search for threads about Birch. There are a couple of members that have made it. In particular there is a member in B.C. that makes a fair amount of Birch syrup. Find his name and PM him.

[jasonl6]

What type of birch trees are you tapping? I have allot of yellow's on my property and have thought about tapping a couple to give it a try this spring (turkey pot). Anyone know if they are ok to tap?

Jason

[Gary R]

Black (sweet) Birch. I believe those up north are White Birch and close relatives. I think yellow has very low sugar content and not as good of runners. Check these links.

http://nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/gtr/other/gtr-nc217/gtr_nc217page135.pdf

http://www.birchboy.com/articles.html

[3rdgen.maple]

I taped birch trees last year right after the dissapointing maple season. You thought maple was alot of work try birch tapping. The trees ran nonstop and I had to collect atleast twice a day and each time buckets were overflowing. I boiled and boiled and boiled then boiled some more and when I was done with that I had to finish on the gas finisher to keep the temps under control. It took a few hundred gallons just to sweeten the pans. The one thing I can say is it really shines up stainless steel.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Hi Craig
I think if you're getting into tapping upwards of 2000 birch trees you'd want to go with an RO and an evaporator in the neighbourhood of 3x10 or similar.
We talked to a producer in Ontario who used one of this size with a ceramic blanket & ran it on diesel or heating fuel, I can't recall. Anyway he ran his sap thru at 1/2 " depth & made a great product but it is difficult to run your pans that shallow with birch with a wood fired unit. I usually run at 1.5 " but the ceramic blanket does not hold the heat as long as a wood fired unit with firebrick so when the heat is removed it cools down quickly.
You should really consider what kind of fuel source you want. Using wood really highlights the romance of making syrup but can be variable. Using fossil fuels are more consistent but not as environmentally friendly. Are you planning on opening up to the public? After all making syrup is Sexy & a huge tourist draw/hook.
I also heard that one of the suppliers are now using wood pellets as a fuel source but I have yet to find any information on line at this point.
We tap approx 250 trees & we're maxed out on a wood fired 2x6.
We have another producer in our area that does 1250 - 1500 trees with a 2x8 & just introduced an RO as they were in the 700-800 range prior to that.

One thing to consider Craig is that if you have never made birch syrup before to do that large of a number of trees & introduce an RO is quite an undertaking for the 1st year.
What I would strongly suggest would be to do 750-1000 trees for the first year with the evaporator alone as you will learn lots of things to do & not do!
Integrating the RO is another big learning curve that I don't think I'd throw in your 1st year. I've talked to our neighbours here & some of the support is a bit lacking so you kinda have to figure it out yourself which can be a trial & error type of thing, which can be $$.
You should also consider a preheater & or a piggyback system.
You'll need holding tanks & some significant freezer space as you can't make birch syrup on an evaporator.
What happens is that as the sugars concentrate the heat needs to be reduced in the firebox & as such the efficiency drops off.
Each evaporator is different & the sugar content will vary from 25-40 deg brix when you draw off.
You will need to pull the concentrate off the evaporator & freeze it & finish sometime later when you are not in sleep deprivation mode.

I've put a bunch of other threads under "Birch syrup one month away"