birch syrup

[tcad]

anybody tap birch trees if so is it to late

[Snowy Pass Maple]

We have found they start a bit after maple - they shut down when you get a freeze. With this year's much longer/later maple season, it'll be interesting to see what happens.

We tapped our first wave last week thinking maple was done, but they are not flowing much now that we're back to sub-freezing temperatures again. The sugar was also very low - only 0.2% - hopefully we're just still a bit too early for our area. Once they get going, they'll flow 2-5 gal/day at about 0.6%.

I've heard people say you should tap when you see a butterfly, or when you hear peepers. We heard the peepers last week - but then this cold wave came back and all is quiet!

[tcad]

I heard as soon as a mosqito comes around . First time for me to tap the birch excited about it thanks

[Snowy Pass Maple]

Definitely search the threads on here for more info - it's quite a bit harder than maple for various reasons... can't boil to 67 Brix and with sugar so low, you will really want a RO. Look up BC Birch Tapper - he has a lot of great info shared on this site.

[BC Birch Tapper]

The 1st butterflies is a good barometer but we saw our 1st ones last week and we don't have any flow as of yet. I've tapped on 2 ' of snow & no snow. Every year is different. You need to wait for the ground to thaw before you tap, watch the creeks & low spots to fill up with water. We do a few test trees & when they are all giving > 1 litre of sap per tree/day then it is time to go.
The use of an RO is a great way to go, but not always in the cards for everybody's operation.
Birch is a different tree with different sugars so it behaves a bit differently. Birch is fructose & glucose which has a lower boiling temp than sucrose ( maple) & as such needs to be heated at below 100 deg C which is the boiling temp for fructose.
We take ours down to about 25 or 30 deg brix on the evaporator then freeze it & finish on a secondary heat source at a lower heat to get it to 60 deg brix. lower than maple as birch is more acidic than maple.

[Azitizz]

Birch is fructose & glucose which has a lower boiling temp than sucrose ( maple) & as such needs to be heated at below 100 deg C which is the boiling temp for fructose.
We take ours down to about 25 or 30 deg brix on the evaporator then freeze it & finish on a secondary heat source at a lower heat to get it to 60 deg brix. lower than maple as birch is more acidic than maple.

I was wondering, what happens when you boil it around 100deg? I have a batch of birch on the stovetop right now. Perhaps a couple of litres at this point. We boiled down 125 litres of birch sap and are just finishing it up. Ive been using the hydrometer to test just as I would maple syrup.

Ive heard its easier to burn the birch so weve always been very cautions. Perhaps overly, seeing when we take it out of our back-yarder evaporator to finish at home on the stove, its always seemingly much further form syrup than we think and end up evaporating a long time on the stovetop. When I get a little impatient I crank it up for a little while and get the bubbles going. Is this bad?

Thanks, Michael

[BC Birch Tapper]

The further or more concentrated it becomes the lower the temp must be. Don't get impatient & crank up the heat or you will make tar. If you are using the stove top keep it at 2 or 3 & let it do it's thing. DOn't be in a rush or you'll blow it.

[Azitizz]

Well, like I said we've been very cautious in general. But I wondered if in the end theres a difference if you succeed in making syrup wihout burnting or scorching it, between a batch that has been cooked down at a higher tempurature and one at a lower temperature.

If it has the brix% of syrup and consistency of it, but was boiled down say at 100 deg for a while, will it change its quality noticably?

Thanks
Michael

[BC Birch Tapper]

I know a local fellow who just simmers his sap extremely slowly & makes a great syrup but very little volume because he goes so slow with low temps.
Birch sap is primarily fructose & glucose. Fructose has a boiling temp of 100 deg C & the longer you heat it the darker it becomes. If you can remove water without heating it you will end up with a lighter coloured & lighter tasting syrup. I've burnt some syrup by heating it too high early on in the process.
You're not a true syrup maker until you've burnt a batch. Just burnt some syrup today in fact.....oops!

[innoxen]

Help!!!!!! Doin Birch 1st time.... boiled it outside for quite awhile and have now moved it inside. The taste is like starchy and it is an amber color. I know we still have a ways to go but we were wondering if it should have an odd taste??? It does not taste anything like birch. The odd taste, could that be because we burnt it? It does appear or taste burnt. There was nothing stuck to the bottom of the pan or burnt to it. We started with about 60 to 65 gals of birch sap and would like a 1/2 gal or so. Again we are just playing and any help would be great. Don't want to continue if it is bad. Thanks again....

[BC Birch Tapper]

Birch taste's nothing like maple however if it taste's burnt it may be just that. The big thing to consider is that it is a different tree & a different sugar. Birch is primarily fructose & glucose which has a lower boiling temp than maple ( sucrose) , birch should be heated at < 100 deg C and as it becomes more concentrated ( > 25 % brix) typically the temps should be reduced even more.

[ihuntbear]

Tapping birch is all new to me can we tap any birch tree or does it have to be a white birch ?? what size tree can we tap ? you say we have to boil at 100C so how do we cook it,do we use low heat in the evaporator and to what brix is it finished?

[innoxen]

Help!!!!! Doin Birch 1st time.... So I guess what I am asking, could the birch sap have spoiled or gone bad?? And if so how would you know??? How long can birch sap be stored??? And as always thanks for all the help.... Again just a guy playing in the late winter and early spring...

[marktripp]

BC birch tapper has a book available. I've ordered mine and am patiently waiting for it :-) I called him right up and he was a pleasure to deal with.

[hikewithmike]

Total rookie birch tapper. Put out twenty five taps for three days, got 50 gallons the first. I am just going to boil whatever we get over the three days. I plan on boiling as I would maple until it becomes more concentrated. Is that OK? At what point do I need to worry about burning and reduce temp and/or take it inside? Same Brix as maple? Any advice would help. Also hope to take syrup, sap, yellow birch twig ends and some other ingredients and make birch beer. Any advice from anyone on that?

[hikewithmike]

I see the > 25 Brix as a benchmark from BC Birch Tapper. Is a hard boil OK until then?

[BC Birch Tapper]

You're right but you don't want to go much over 100 deg C. It is not as critical in the initial stages but more after 25 deg brix