Tapping Trees Other Than Maple This Year

[nick3757]

Hello all. Has anyone given consideration into tapping different trees, like walnut, birch, or sycamore, this year in Pennsylvania?

We're working on opening up a craft distillery in Wilkes Barre and would like to use something alternative in our products in the future. Especially if that alternative syrup or sap is somewhat local versus coming from Alaska.

[minehart gap]

I had a good time tapping birch trees last year to make birch beer. Lots of sap per tap. I was getting about 8 gallon per tap per day. The sap goes sour quickly though. Birch sap runs right after maple sap dries up. I didn’t get something right though. My birch beer tasted great for about 6 weeks then went sour. Had quite a kick to it.

[nick3757]

I had a good time tapping birch trees last year to make birch beer. Lots of sap per tap. I was getting about 8 gallon per tap per day. The sap goes sour quickly though. Birch sap runs right after maple sap dries up. I didn’t get something right though. My birch beer tasted great for about 6 weeks then went sour. Had quite a kick to it.

Glad to hear somebody was messing around with birch. Making real birch beer is something I'd love to do this year, but we have no birch trees on our property. How many birch trees did you tap?

[Worthy]

Hey Nick...

I'm trying walnuts this year, over in central OH. I've talked with a home-brewer friend about starting with sap, but it doesn't appear that the maple flavor makes it through the fermentation. After looking a bit deeper, the folks that had the most success with maple beer did so by aging in barrels that held syrup. Similar approach may apply to spirits, I think.

One more note, 2017 was my first year making Nocino (black walnut liqueur). Not terribly impressed with the recipe I used...a bit too much going on in terms of all the flavors. This year I'm shortening steep time a bit, and trying a couple different recipes. I've only found one distillery in OH that makes Nocino, so it might be something to look into for PA.

[prairietapper]

[QUOTE=Worthy;339848]Hey Nick...

I'm trying walnuts this year, over in central OH. I've talked with a home-brewer friend about starting with sap, but it doesn't appear that the maple flavor makes it through the fermentation. After looking a bit deeper, the folks that had the most success with maple beer did so by aging in barrels that held syrup. Similar approach may apply to spirits, I think.


Do the walnut runs end when the maples do? and if so, which maples, reds or sugars?

[chuckwagon]

I've been thinking about tapping birch, how long will the sap last before it goes bad.i can only boil once or twice a week as long as weather is good since I do it outside.so the sap might have to sit 4-6 days.