Birch tapping??

[innoxen]

I was thinking about birch tapping, white or black birch?? I know the ratio is high like 100 to 1... Anyone have any suggestions or ideas??? There is a stand of white birch next to me and I thought what the heck just don't want to harm the trees so any thoughts would be great and thanks.... Tom

[briansickler]

Here's a thread about birch tapping. I live for maple syrup myself. But I understand how someone could catch the birch syrup bug.:lol:

http://www.mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?t=6014&highlight=birch


Brian

[morningstarfarm]

mmmm tap them and try it...if all else fails..use them for firewood to make maple syrup next season...:rolleyes::D

[KenWP]

Ratio is more like 180 to 1 if your lucky.They have less then .5 percent sugar.The syrup is like molassas and we use it instead of. They don't run until later and they don't stop at night like a maple either so you get 24 hours of sap unless it freezes up and then they have to start up again. It also boils over real fast when it gets close to syrup.

[Randy Brutkoski]

Where the hell have you been Ken. We have been worried sick about you. Does it have anything to do with the one that must be obeyed.

[3rdgen.maple]

After the lousy season last year I wasnt ready to quit so I tapped 100 or 150 birch trees. All I can say is this, It is by far alot more work than maple, I had to gather 2 times a day and each time I collected every bucket was overflowed, It never stopped running, I went through alot and I mean alot of wood, boiled and boiled for a few days till I was able to drawoff anything resembling syrup, I was going nuts after drawing off every hour on maple, It cannot be finished on the evaporator when it gets anywhere close to syrup, it burns very very easy at that point, you need a controlled heat source to finish it, I didnt like the finished product at all, it is very bitter with zero sweetness to it. The good part is it cleaned my pans better than anything I ever seen. I just might tap 2 or 3 trees at the end of maple season just to clean my pans out this year. Bottom line it was not a good fit for me.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well it sounds like you've run across some of the major differences between birch and maple. I don't like to think of them as competitors but rather another product we can make from our forests.
Again as you indicated, it's a different kind of tree, a different kind of sugar and a different end use.
I put maple syrup on my pancakes this past weekend, but will use birch when I grill some salmon later on in the week.
It does behave differently and it's almost impossible to make pure syrup on an evaporator and it is easy to burn. You're not a true syrup maker until you've burned some.
We'll post a link in the classified section for a "birch syrup production manual" shortly.
Interest we find is growing in Birch syrup production and there are lots of folks using the end product, more in cooking applications.
Just picked up our glass shipment from eastern Canada & we're hoping to offer some birch tapping workshops this spring.
Lots of snow here to melt before we get the tapping bug .:)

[benchmark]

After making birch syrup last year, not sure if i will do that again, but i guess I'm glad i tried it. Defiantly was a lot of work, as stated before. Lots of sap in a short time, i cant remember how much sap i collected, but i ended up with close to 3 gallons of syrup. One thing i distinctly remember was when boiling, the sap actually made my front pan start popping. The first time i heard this was i was splitting some wood and it started going crazy. I thought my front pan had run dry, ran over to look, but the level was fine. Guess it was just a weird phenomenon that happens while boiling birch sap? I don't think there would be any way to finish it on an evaporator, it foams up so much when it nears the syrup stage. I was tapping white birch, half the trees i tapped i figured i might as well tap before the die, as most birch don't make it past 10-12 diameter size around my parts.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Yes the phenomenon you are referring to is what we call "bumping". Since birch has more micronutrients than maple they parcipitate out as you boil/evaporate. It casuses hot spots where it concentrates and can result in an off flavour if it continues too long during the heating/evaporating process.
Anyway the way to deal with that is to filter the concentrate if this occurrs. It becomes imperative to have everything squeaky clean on a daily basis. With birch the more heat that is applied the darker it becomes & the more carmelized the flavour. Any time you can remove water without heating will result in a lighter coloured & flavoured syrup.
We recommend only tapping one hole /tree but if you plan on removing the trees in the near future you can go crazy.

[maplematt]

I had read about this last year while looking up what kinds of trees to tap. It sounds like it could be fun to try, you know only a quart or so of syrup for something new to do. Thanks for all the info about it. I'll let you know if it happens.

[bigstack]

I think I might try to tap some birches I have. When do they run? Is it the same season as my maples?

[maplematt]

Big Stack,

I've never done it, but reading through this thread, it sounds like its after, or later, than maples...? correct me if I'm wrong.

[3rdgen.maple]

You are right. Just about the time you pull the maple taps you just turn around and stick them in the birch. You are going to need lots of storage cause if you havent seen a birch tree run you are in for a treet. It doesnt drip it was just short of a steady stream when I did it.

[BC Birch Tapper]

You're bang on for your timing, it is usually after maples, although sometimes there may be a bit of overlap between them.
Typically birch will start to flow when you see the 1st butterfiles, but that can vary a bit as well. What I use as a barmeter are the local streams & slews & hollows that fill up with that first spring snow melt. When the streams swell & those hollows/slews fill up with water (which means the ground has thawed) means that it's time to tap. The time can vary from year to year & snowpack doesn't seem to have much of an impact from my experience. It's basically the thawing of the ground.:cool:

[bigstack]

Does the daytime/nitetime temperature have any impact on how they run like in maples? Is it the same boiling point as maple?

[BC Birch Tapper]

Birch sap will flow once the temps rise to temps above + 10 deg C and once running will continue to flow as long as the temps stay above 0. I've noticed that in one season we had a cold snap (-15 deg C) & everything froze & the temp had to get to at least 10-12 deg before it started flowing again .
Bioling temp is basically the same as maple but the key with birch is not to go much above 100 dec C after you start getting a gradient. This is because birch is fructose & gluecose which has a lower boiling temp than sucrose. Thus if you heat it much over 100 deg C you will scortch it & make tar which is good for a canoe but not a food product.

[maplematt]

If birchs keep flowing, how do you know when to stop tapping? When you are sick of collecting ? :) Does the sap get a buddy or other off-flavor at any point in the season?

[BC Birch Tapper]

One of two things will happen.....
#1 when you run out of firewood
#2 when the sap gets cloudy which idicates the sugars are changing and starting to ferment.
:)

[bigstack]

so when the sap gets cloudy and starts to ferment, thats when we make birch beer (the alcoholic kind). Its all coming together now. I'm am liking birch trees more and more.

[David531]

Hi Birch Tapper,

So the lighter a boil the better, maybe a "boil" is too harsh. It sounds like a smallish fire in the arch and gently steam away from beginning to end.? Is it that sensitive even at the begining with fresh birch sap, or is it more a worry toward the end of the batch, when we're approaching syrup.? I was looking around for as big a double boiler i could find, and did come across a 22 Gallon double boiler. I'm thinking maybe use that for the last mile, with a propane burner that i can easily regulate. Past attempts left us with a lot of marinade. but we've got so many black birch out back it's worth trying to figure it out, and the run is after the maples have gone sour, it would be nice to keep that expensive evaporator in use as long as we've got the fire wood.

Cheers, David

[BC Birch Tapper]

I've made birch wine before & it took a full year to get palatable.... believe me I tried. Also people have been drinking birch sap for centuries, primarily in europe as a health toinc. I call it "Nature's gaterade. It does have health properties, water, sugar & micronutients & said to be good for uninary tract infections. It is still sold in Europe & also in Newfoundland Canada.
We use it as a refreshing drink & tea etc. Good for you....why not.
:cool:

[BC Birch Tapper]

It's no problem using the evaporator for making birch syrup, it works fine, but you need to watch the temp ( 100 deg C). It's not as critical at the first as there actually is some sucrose at the sart of the season, but that falls out as the season progresses.
When finishing it a double boiler & or a very low heat is key.

I'll post a link to a manual which we sell called the "Birch Syrup Production Manual" on this site under the classifieds section later this weekend . You can also check out our website if you like.
There are approx 15 commercial producers across Canada & several in Alaska. Everybody sells out & prices fetch between $ 60-$100/ litre.
It doesn't replace maple, but instead makes a unique product that is best used in cooking applications.
I'm doing some smoked almonds & pecans in a birch brine. Should be yummy.
:D

[morningstarfarm]

shoot 60-100 per liter??? wow I should start tapping the birches here...:rolleyes:

[BC Birch Tapper]

Chefs love birch syrup. The flavour is quite bold & unique & you can't get it on supermarket shelves. We've sold our syrup to chefs in Chicago, Halifax Vancouver & Edmonton.
Just google birch syrup recipies & you'll get loads. We sell our bottles with a mini recipie book. You need to educate your purchasers when selling, I do a 4- 5 min speel on the differences etc. You need to set the stage when talking to potential customers.
Yes it uses the same hardware & it is a syrup.... but that's where the similarities end.
Different tree, different sugars, different end use!
We sell ours for $88.00/ litre


and don't forget the value added stuff....salad dressings, BBQ sauce....etc $$$:cool:

[theschwarz1]

my friend made birch beer from the birch sap. He collected when the trees were just about to bud. He didnt boil it down as thick as syrup bc he was making birch beer. He also clipped off some fresh buds and new leaves and boiled them with it. Best tasting birch beer ever! Oh he tapped BLACK BIRCH trees only.

[jasonl6]

I'm going to try making some this year. I was looking at my trees while tapping maples and have at least 100 trees. Figure i would try and tap them and see what happens.

Jason

[BC Birch Tapper]

The big thing is you can't make a finished birch syrup on an evaporator. You'll need to pull it off way before that ( 20-30 deg brix).
ost folks follow the maple stds & finish to 66 deg brix, but from the testing we've had done it looks as though it can be a little less than that ( around 60 deg brix)
We finish on the kitchen stove or a double boiler at a low temp to make sure that it doesn't burn. Just let it simmer all day ( 6-8 hrs or so) Oh yes, and you're not a true syrup maker until you've burned some. I haven't burned any for a year or so.

[happy thoughts]

We finish on the kitchen stove or a double boiler at a low temp to make sure that it doesn't burn. Just let it simmer all day ( 6-8 hrs or so) Oh yes, and you're not a true syrup maker until you've burned some. I haven't burned any for a year or so.

Would a crock pot work? Since I am a small home use only syrup maker, I sometimes use one to reduce fresh sap when I have too much to cold store or handle. On high and with the lid off I can reduce the amount by half in about 8 hours.

[BC Birch Tapper]

maple is about 40 to 1 while birch is 100 or 120 to 1. You can simmer it in a pot on the stove which works quite well but you'll go through alot to get not much in the end. Main thing is not to go over 100 deg C. It's a little more forgiving at the start & the temp needs to be reduced as the concentrate develops. Also note that birch has about 8 % micronutrients ( maple has about 2 %) & this will settle out the more you evaporate & the closer you get to making syrup, therefore filtering is very important.
My first birch tapping experiment was with 15 trees. I pulled in 1100 litres of sap in 2 + weeks. I rendered it down on an old wood stove with a flat to & used 3 shallow restaurant pans. I could barely keep up, going til midnight every night.
For somebody doing it for personal use I'd suggest 4-6 trees. Recognize you'll get an average of 4 litres of sap per tree per day over the season. Which can be 2 x that amount at the peak of the season so your bucket will need to have that capacity, or collect 2x/day.
Birch will typically flow after maple has stopped, or close anyway. The ground has to thaw 1st & you'll notice the creeks & ponds will fill up with water & that's when to tap.

[grahamcreek62]

Well I have been reading your posts and have decided that since our maples seem to be moving to the end of the flow I will maybe try some white birch as we have a lot of them on our farm and they don't seem to be starting to bud yet. It will be a good time to experiment with them and see how it tastes. ...Glo

[BC Birch Tapper]

Best of luck, let me know how it turns out!

[red maples]

Good thread Thanks for all the birch info Ted.

I have been doing a little research online and found that alot of birch producers sell several types of birch syrup, Straight birch which they recommend for cooking, then there are the blends for different applications, maple/birch blends with different percentage ratios as little as 10% maple to 35% maple and those with cane sugar/birch blend (mostly organic cane syrup)...both maple birch and cane syrup birch for both table syrup and cooking depending on the ratio of birch to the other syrups.

[Tithis]

Good luck with it, I've been thinking about ordering some myself to give it a taste.

We've got a good amount of white birch here, just not very many that are of a tappable size. Most of them are thin little things growing along the edges of the woods. Black/sweet birch is supposed to be more common around here but I've never gone specifically looking for them and they don't stand out like white birch does.

The insane amount of sap you have to boil and how easily is scorches has scared me off of trying to make it even if I could get some decent trees for it.

[TessHayden06]

So this was my first year in a sugar shack and a real evaporator. Home built 8x12 sugar shack with a homemade 2x4 evaporator. The maple season for me is over. Boiled the last of the sap in the tank last night...horrible year for my production.

Leads me to the birch opportunity. I have plenty of good sized birch tree's on my property and I tapped 3 so far to see what happens. I am now reading that you should wait a little while longer to tap, so hopefully I haven't made my first mistake. I only want to tap enough to pull 100-120 gallons with the goal of 1 gallon of finished birch syrup. Can I process the sap on my evaporator? It is wood fired and hard to manage a consistent temp, usually runs full bore as hot as I can. I am hoping to boil 120 gallons on my evaporator down to 3-4 gallons and then finish with my propane setup and a finish pot, is this a good plan?

Would like to see the difference and certainly not ready to close the sugar shack for the season!

[BC Birch Tapper]

The big thing is you likley won't be able to finish Birch on your evaporator. We get as far as we can on the evaporator and finish it on a double boiler or on the kitchen stove on very low heat. You need to collect the sap each day & evaporate each day. The sap won't last & will start to ferment as the season progresses. ( be sure to keep your temps when finishing well below 100 deg C. or it will burn. Oh yeah & your're not a true syrup maker until you've bunned some. I've been good for a couple of years but I am a syrup maker!)

[C.Wilcox]

I had always heard that birch syrup was nasty stuff so this past summer while in Alaska I made sure to stop in at a big name birch sugarhouse and try some. All I can say is that anyone who thinks it tastes bad must not have had properly made birch syrup. It was delicious to say the least. Almost spicy and very sweet. I'd use it for anything I use maple on and if I had birch trees to tap I'd be all over it.

[moeh1]

Ted, any experience with small RO on Birch, seems like a natural fit? I have several trees, I know an RO based on home use ala 100-150 GPD has been discussed on the trader as pretty reasonable cost to build.
Marty

[TessHayden06]

Thanks BirchTapper. I haven't seen a run yet with the birch, but I will follow your direction. I am sure if I just stoke the fire at a less regular interval I can keep the temp under 100*C. I will stick to the finishing pot and draw off with more volume in the evaporator than traditional maple and slow boil the remainder.

And for the record, I am a syrup maker, I scorched my brand new pan this year on the second fire. Shooting the bull with buddies having a few beers and saw a big old black mark forming on my front pan. Sucks to clean!

[BC Birch Tapper]

I've had some birch that was burnt & that stuff is only good for marinades, & should never be sold as is. WHen you are purchaing birch there are some key points to ask:

1. Is it pure or blended, some folks take it to say 45 brix & add fructose or organic cane sugar to reach a finished product
2. What % or brix is it finished to. We recommend a minimum of 60 deg brix. The combination of water activity, ph & brix are different for birch than maple.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Birch & RO's
Birch lends itself very well to use with an RO, and some of the larger producers use them. One has to be very mindful near the end of the season as the sap starts to change as running cloudy sap thrrough the RO can casue more clean up effot later on. The application of heat casues the sugars in birch maily fructose & glucose to darken. Any method you can use on birch to reduce the water & not heat things will result in a lighter syrup. Go for it!

[wattsup]

I was thinking about birch tapping, white or black birch?? I know the ratio is high like 100 to 1... Anyone have any suggestions or ideas??? There is a stand of white birch next to me and I thought what the heck just don't want to harm the trees so any thoughts would be great and thanks.... Tom

:cry::cry: I tapped a couple afew years ago. It is like turning on a faucet then endless boiling. The end product is awfull and it does not smell good boiling

[wattsup]

:cry::cry: I tapped a couple afew years ago. It is like turning on a faucet then endless boiling. The end product is awfull and it does not smell good boilingThis was white birch maybe others are better

[BC Birch Tapper]

We tap while birch, betula paperifera, because that is all we have in our part of the world. Don't be too quick to discount the concept of tapping birch, birch syrup sells for $60 to $100 per litre. it is a different product no question, chefs love it because it is unique & you can't get it on supermarket shelves.

[MillbrookMaple]

I have been doing a great deal of thinking about my process for the birch and wanted to run some ideas by the experts. I understand that the temps created by a normal evaporator are too high especially towards the end of the process. I am planning on using a friends 2x4 unit to process the sap after running the sap to around 8% -10% on the RO. I plan on putting a canner above the flue pan to act as a steam double boiler. I will run the sap thru the evaporator and draw off around 30% and then put it in the canner on the flue pan to continue the process and finally put it in my gas finisher and low heat it until I reach 60% or higher. Do you think the sap can handle a normal full boil up to 30% or should I make the fire very weak in the evaporator also and keep it from a full boil? Everyone around here that has tried making it has said that it was awful but I wonder if they might have cooked it too hot.

[BC Birch Tapper]

I wouldn't be surprised if some burnt stuff has been made, it is very easy to do. You can likely go a little over 100 deg C on the evaporator. Each set up is unique as you know and your find out what your draw off is after a couple of days of evaporating. What happens is as the sugars concentrate over 20-25 deg you will need to drop the fire down on the evaporator. There will be a point at which you drop the fire down so low that you are not getting much if any boiling in the back part of the pan & your efficiency drops off to nothing.
Then to finish keep your temp well below 100 & reduce the heat as the sugars conentrate. likley low 90's is a good spot to be & the double boiler is a good buffer.

When you start to get little bubbles on the top of the concentrate you are getting close. but 60 % is fine for birch, you don't need to take it to 66.

It's not a bad idea to try some syrup from a producer that has been doing it for a while as you then understand what the finished product is. Make sure though that you inquire if it is pure or belnded & what sugar % it is at, as there are no standards for birch & folks do what they want

We sell syrup & a manual as well that has loads of info. Check out the classified ads section as there is a manual which is quite useful.

[MillbrookMaple]

Wow I was beinging to think that my birch trees didn't give sap. I went and looked in all my 5 gallon pails that have been in for a week and less than a 1/4 inch in the bottoms total. This afternoon I thought about tapping a white birch in my front yard and lots of sap so I ran around tapping trees. Got back to my pails that I checked this morning and what do you know They have like 4" in them!

[BC Birch Tapper]

Now watch your weather for the next few days and look at your surrounding conditions. For us the snow isn't really a factor as the ground has to thaw 1st. We've had years with 2 ' or more snow & other years when we are snow free. Our low spots fill up with water & the local streams swell & you see the 1st butterfiles. As the daytime temps get over 10-15 deg C things will start to flow. When all of your test buckets are giving 1 litre /quart or more tap the reaminder. If you tap during the flow you will get more yield than if you tap when the trees are dry.

[TessHayden06]

So I tapped three tree's, and check them each day. They are full sun tree's (if that matters), and one of the buckets was about 3/5ths full today, so about 3 gallons while the other two had less than a gallon. Is it safe to say they are running and time to tap the remainder? I am looking to tap about 7-10 tree's to yield enough sap to make a gallon or two. I'll probably tap the rest this coming weekend and start cooking immediately so not to let the sap sit in the buckets.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Sound like everything is a go. Good luck & keep us posted how it goes. :cool:

[jake1]

two more weeks until we tap up here in ak. i cant wait, i hope i can keep up with my 100 trees on my new 2x6. unfortunatly ive got flat pans but i also have time, and wood. its such a great product, cant really compare it to anything else,

[BC Birch Tapper]

we're still 2 to 3 weeks away from test trees as well. Saw a few house flies & a little moth that flittered around yesterday with the warmer weather. We've still got lots of snow & Temps are still freezing hard overnight -8 deg C & + 5 or so during the day.
I'll work on getting the sugar shack ready over the next couple of weekends

[jake1]

just curious, do you find larger singular trees out in the open with bigger tops tend to yield higher sugar content?

[BC Birch Tapper]

We've sampled trees from various locations in our part of the world & they all seem to have about the same sugar content, although it wouldn't be a scientific study by any streach of the imagination. Larger trees with larger root systems are typically better producers of sap yield. I find that trees fall into 3 categories for sap production.

1 olympic class producer
2 average producer
3 Under achiever

& which ever category they fall into seems to be the same year after year.
We've talked to people all over Canada & the US & it appears that sugar contents vary from 80 to 1 to 120 to 1. We use an average of 100 to 1 for most discussions.
This vairiability is likey due to factors linked to site productivity & bigger healthier trees are usually a good site indicator.

[thecabinguy]

This was white birch maybe others are better

Tried tapping some black birch and a few yellows. Ya, the trees were producing about 5 gals a day. I'll second that it smells bad boiling too. The end product was nasty. It wasn't sweet and was rather tart. Tasted like some kind of marinade. It probably overheated a little in the end. I'm pretty sure that it would have been nasty even without that. Way too much work for a nasty product. I won't do that again. On the bright side, i got to see how much sap I can evaporate in a day.

[Snowy Pass Maple]

Tried tapping some black birch and a few yellows. Ya, the trees were producing about 5 gals a day. I'll second that it smells bad boiling too. The end product was nasty. It wasn't sweet and was rather tart. Tasted like some kind of marinade. It probably overheated a little in the end. I'm pretty sure that it would have been nasty even without that. Way too much work for a nasty product. I won't do that again. On the bright side, i got to see how much sap I can evaporate in a day.

I found that to be true early this season when the sap sat for 24 hours in buckets - esp. if temps were above 50 degrees, or the collection buckets were not cleaned frequently. The sap smelled awful and the product had a horrid aftertaste. I've never had the experience of making buddy maple syrup but I'd have to guess this is at least as bad as that. Overall, I've found that Birch is incredibly unforgiving compared to maple in terms of sap degradation - and you're doing it when weather is a lot

I will probably never try to collect again in 70 degree weather unless I could collect in a matter of 2-4 hours and have enough frozen sap to quickly chill it down below 50 while processing on RO, and powerwash the collection buckets daily. In a heat wave when I can't do this, I'll just divert the tubes off the buckets and forgo the sap.

But with cooler temperatures, collection and processing raw sap through UV within 12 hours, and ensuring buckets are scrubbed at least weekly - more frequently when temps rise about 50, and process without boiling, but instead slowly evaporation at 160-180 F - it is a very different result and really neat tasting end product if you're willing to go through all this work!

This week will be a bit more challenging - trees starting to slow down, sap clarity starting to change on some trees, and temps going into the 60s means the end may be near.

[BC Birch Tapper]

We find when the temps get that warm we're usually near the end of the season which typically finishes us off. We've not yet experienced really warm temps early on in the season but every year's a new experience.

[Snowy Pass Maple]

We find when the temps get that warm we're usually near the end of the season which typically finishes us off. We've not yet experienced really warm temps early on in the season but every year's a new experience.

We had some really strange weather this year - the extreme spike in temps cost us a week early, but fortunately, the cold came back and I'm pleased with how much we made in the past 10 days. I really wish we had gotten a full 2-3 weeks - and can't wait for next year!

I'm down to half the taps, but all the champion trees are still going strong, so I'm still getting 80% of what I started at. Highs in the mid 50s this week. The sap is not crystal clear, but if I can still see the bottom of the buckets and no yeast or fermentation smells, I'm collecting it. Maybe another day or two. I have also noticed a few 1 year old saplings are starting to have some buds open, but the large trees don't show any opening yet. I'm segregating each batch to see if I can taste a point where it shifts.

One other thing I was curious to ask you - are you filtering through orlon or wool, as with maple? I've been finishing each batch to around 61-62 brix (at 68F) and filtering through a maple prefilter. I also filter 1-2X midway through just to get rid of excess precipitate. This gives a pretty clear syrup - but I'm still debating if I should go through an orlon or wool filter as well. Do you also find that the 190 F temp is where you will get niter as with maple? I will eventually be hot packing these batches so I'll have to bring it back up to temp.

Also, a suggestion for others who have had trouble finishing it - I have been getting a good bit of the way on a woodstove and then finishing on a ceramic electric cooktop with a temperature probe sitting on the pan bottom that alarms if I hit 190F. This has worked really well so far without needing a double boiler. I'm also using stainless stock pots with thick bottoms. I don't think this would work well on gas unless you used some sort of heat distributing plate or double boiler.

[BC Birch Tapper]

We filter the sap through a fine prefilter when we collect. I tend to filter every time I can and that is a big help. As for syrup filtering you can use orlon , but instead I tend to use 3 layers of the prefilter which produces the same result but doesn't suck up as much syrup that way.
When finishing one can use a double boiler or large pans with thick bottoms & keep on a low heat & reduce the heat as the sugar content increases to avoid burning. Somewhere in the range of 180-190 deg F should be fine. Stirring or mixing is a good idea the close you get to a finished product.

[Snowy Pass Maple]

We filter the sap through a fine prefilter when we collect. I tend to filter every time I can and that is a big help. As for syrup filtering you can use orlon , but instead I tend to use 3 layers of the prefilter which produces the same result but doesn't suck up as much syrup that way.
When finishing one can use a double boiler or large pans with thick bottoms & keep on a low heat & reduce the heat as the sugar content increases to avoid burning. Somewhere in the range of 180-190 deg F should be fine. Stirring or mixing is a good idea the close you get to a finished product.

Yea, I see people lamenting getting their $50/gal maple trapped in orlon - multiply that pain by 6X for birch!

I was also thinking it would be nice to have a stirrer mounted in the pot... you can find stuff like this for lab use that would work well for this. But with the glass cooktop, I think it already does a really good job of equalizing the heat, cycling on/off in short enough bursts that we just don't seem to have any trouble. The temperature probe with alarm is also a great way to, as you put it, avoid "becoming a sugarmaker" :-)

[BC Birch Tapper]

You can simmer for 8 to 10 hours & then blow it in the end because you were outside doing something or other. After a while you get an idea how long it will take to get a finished product & you make sure that you are close by to insure you don't make tar. I find it only takes one or two times to learn that valuable lesson.