Birch Tapping one Month Away

[BC Birch Tapper]

We're cleaning up the sugar shack and starting to get ready to start tapping white birch for our 3rd season. That's right White Birch (Betula paperiferia, paper birch, canoe birch) Typically Birch starts flowing after Maple, which in our area is the Month of April.
Birch has a much lower sugar content than Maple, typically birch is 100 to 1.
We live in Cental BC where no maple grows other than ornamental planted versions. We tap about 200 trees & enjoy the experience on our 2x6 wood fired evaporator.
The end product & taste is different than sugar maple but it sells for a much higher price tag ( $60-$100/litre).
The southern part of BC & Vancouver Island has Big leaf maple which has similar properties to Sugar maple & flows typically in February-March. It too fetches a tidy sum at the farm gate, but there are very few producers so the demand is much greater than the supply. As such it doesn't last long on local store shelves.
Best of luck for the season

website: www.moosemeadowsfarm.ca

[KenWP]

I have lots of paper birch and even more yellow birch. I am wondering what kind of syrup they would make also. If I have time I would like to try to tap a few and boil once and find out.

[tuckermtn]

BC birch- spent last year in Rossland BC where we tapped silver maples and made some pretty passable maple syrup...now back in NH for the real thing...
I think there was someone on here the other day from Port Alberni

[dano2840]

i have a little 2x4 that im going to fix up this summer and i have about 30 taps worth of yellow birch i could tap up in my big sugar woods, is it the same as boiling maple syrup? like same density for finished product? when do they start running/ stop running? taping is the same as tapping a maple i assume?

[KenWP]

Birch starts 2 weeks after maples they say. It boils the same but since you have to boil 100 to 1 it gets very dark unless you do it like very light maple syrup. They also are supposed to run really strong when they do run instead of the gallon or so maples run. I have a old survival maual that has a really good explanation of how to make the stuff.

[BC Birch Tapper]

I have lots of paper birch and even more yellow birch. I am wondering what kind of syrup they would make also. If I have time I would like to try to tap a few and boil once and find out.

Hi Ken;
Birch Trees & maple trees are hardwoods & drop their leaves in the fall & produce sugar in the spring, but that's about it.

Birch typically flows later than maple-2-3 weeks depending on where you are. The season can overlap a bit. We tap white birch & I haven't heard of anyone tapping yellow birch, but it is worth a try. I'm sure it would behave similarly. I remember reading a scientific article ( FERIC) 25 years ago from a University library which went through all the different maples & their sugar contents, & it included birch on the bottom of the list. The only comment was that you could make syrup our of birch if you wanted to, but why bother.
My answer is , to try something different.

There are 10 commercial syrup makers & 2 wineries across Canada & numerous producers in Alaska as well. It will never replace maple, but for those who have both trees in close proximity, it may be a way to utilize your investment to make another high valued product.

Maple is very forgiving and is composed primarily sucrose & glucose, which means you can heat it as hot as you want without much of an implication., although I understand it does darken somewhat.

Birch is composed primarily fructose & glucose, & when evaporating you must keep it under 100 deg Celsius otherwise you will scorch it & make tar, which is great if you are making a canoe but not a food product.

Whenever you heat birch it gets darker in colour & bolder in flavour. It is sought after by chefs due to these characteristics. Some of the bigger producers use RO's to remove H20 without heating. Any time you can remove H20 without heating birch will result in a lighter syrup. We always finish our syrup on a double boiler to keep the heat constant. Some operations stabilize their product by adding fructose after about 40 deg brix. There are no standards for birch syrup, but most producers are following the maple stds of 66deg Brix

The tapping collecting & evaporating is essentially the same but the taste is dramatically different.

I'm from eastern Canada originally & I put maple syrup on pancakes, birch we use in sauces, marinades, on ice cream & in cooking applications. We've just sold some product to some restaurants this week on the east & west coast for $86/litre.
We've written a manual on its Birch Syrup Production which highlights lots more of this in detail. We also put on workshops on how to make it.

[BC Birch Tapper]

I've checked out our long term forecast and our weather is looking good for us to tap next week.
As far as Birch goes I tap when you see the first butterfiles, which usually means temps in the 15 deg C range.
We've still got lots of snow which makes life interesting.
We'll get an average of 4 Litres/sap /day/tree, but on a good day & good producer we'll get 2-3 times that amount.
I'll likely put in some test trees on the weekend to get an idea on flow.

[Mac_Muz]

I made some of this in NH once but burned it, or it tasted burned.

At 100 C which is 212 F just how do you boil it?

I am at maybe 600 feet above sea level and found boiling for me starts at about 209 F/ 98.3333333 C.

Are you saying to get just below a boil and sort of steam away the water with out getting a mad boil?

[KenWP]

I have a yellow birch here that must be older then Mac Muz and 4 feet across at the bottom. I figure its the grand parent of all the other yellow birchs around it. They are dripping some now so will tap them maybe end of next week depending on when my maples give out.

[BC Birch Tapper]

The most critical time is the last 1/2 hr or so. As the syrup gets closer that 100 deg is critical as well.
Birch will not behave the same as maple either. Maple gets thicker the closer you get to 66deg brix.

[KenWP]

I tapped a sweet birch today and it came up dry. The yellows are running and I tapped a huge paper birch and if a maple tree ran that good I would only need a few trees. Sap poured out of the tree and I could litterly drink out of the tap. Should be a intresting thing to do when my maples stop produceing.

[BC Birch Tapper]

I tapped a couple of test trees yestrday and was expecting some flow but nothing so far. The temp was up to 16deg C but the ground is still frozen so no sap as of yet. That's fine with me cause I've still got snow to my knees.
Should see lots of snowmelt this week if the weatherman hits the mark. Hopefully I should be going by later in the week.:confused:

[KenWP]

Tapped a couple of birch trees today. My paper birch is running very well. The yellows are trying to keep up. Tested the sap and it is all .5% but what the hell just trying to have fun. If maples run that well I could make a lot of syrup. As I get more taps freed up will tap more birchs and try and make molassas.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Temps hit 14-15 deg C today but ground is still to frozen for sap flow. Checked my indicator trees again, nothing yet, thank heavens. Snow taking its good time melting., still over my knees.
I'll try a few trees later in the week at a lower elevation which may make a difference. stay tuned.

[KenWP]

My sweet birchs do not seem to want to run yet. Have a few big ones and nothing yet from them. The shaveings from drilling them smell really wintergreen.
Found out my yellow birchs have the same winter green taste as paper and sweet birchs just not as distinct.
Have no idea how much sap the paper birch will give becasue the bucket is allways over flowing when I get there to dump it.

[Gary R]

Pulled my 26 Birch taps 2 days ago. Got enough sap. About 15-20 gal. a day for 2 weeks. Just need to make the Birch Beer and clean up.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well, one of my 3 test tree's started dripping today a bit about a cup & 1/2. I checked with another local producer ( we have 3 in our community) & he had similar results. Temps today didn't get too warm but the ground is starting to thaw ( 6 deg C) & the water is flowing off the hills. The weather is calling for warmer temps over the next few days. I would think that we'll be tapping over the next couple of days.
The fun's about to start

[KenWP]

I do not have time to tap birchs right now. They produce a lot of sap when they do flow. One gives me 5 gallons a day easy. Made my birch maple syrup saturday and will figure out what to do with it. Tastes sort of like sponge toffee to me.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well,
I tapped 3 test trees today at lunch & they're all flowing. Looks like our fun is about to start. The weather forecast is for warmer temps which will get rid of more of our snow which will make access easier.
The water level in the rivers & creeks went up which means the ground is thawing & time to get sugarin. :)

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well, we got 70 trees tapped today and trails plowed so we can do a 100+ more tomorrow. Temps supposed to hit 17 deg C which should result in some good flows. Should spark up the evaporator on Friday.:)

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well temps hit 15-16 deg C today & we tapped another 160 trees or so to bring out total to around 240 ish. Almost all were running so I'm expecting a good flow tomorrow 800 + liters or so/day which will keep us hopping. The tapping was challenging as our tees are scattered and the snow is disappearing rapidly but still over your knees in spots and rotten.
So the Sleep deprovation exersise begins. :rolleyes:

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well we've had some cool weather but we've been pulling 600 Litres/day since the start. Rain & some snowflakes today so I don't expect much tomorrow. Had some unexpected changes in asssitance which was frustrating but we've got that sorted out now.
Lots of geese flying north which is one of the reasons why I love this time of year. That & finding the stuff you lost in the snow over the winter.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Quite wet here & lots of sap. I can see my sleep deprivation exercise continues.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Pulled in 800 litres yesterday & didn't even finish everything from the previous day.
Cold last night (-6 deg C) and a few furries today so the flow was down thankfully. Hopefully I can make up some ground today.
Getting ready or a pancake breakfast this weekend & expect to have a bunch of people attend & learn about the whole process.:D

[KenWP]

What does 800 liters give you for syrup. I only boiled down 40 gallons and then got swamped with maple sap again. I am finished boiling for another year after boiling for 12 days straight this last time.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Ken
it depends what your sugar content is, ours is about 120 to 1, which should give us about 6 1/2 litres ish. Another consideration is if you're planning on making pure birch or adding fructose. We make pure syrup but will try a fructose version this spring.

we sell our pure stuff for $86/litre & sell out each year.:D

[KenWP]

I finished up my maple birch syrup today and bottled it up. She who must be obeyed likes the taste of it. It tastes sweeeter then maple syrup. I figure thats becasue its got different sugars in it. I will keep that idea for future years when maple season lags again.

[BC Birch Tapper]

We're having an open house today, pancake breakfast with tours etc so I'm up early bottling syrup .....crazy I know.
We've pulled in almost 5000 litres of sap, pulled 1/4 of our taps at a lower elevation & expect to go for just a few more days.
It's been a good season.:D

[KenWP]

Why pull the taps so early or do they bud that fast there.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Ken,
some of the trees are turning here, budding out & as such the sugars are changing. The sap smells yeasty & turns cloudy.
Not all of our trees have turned, typically 15 % or so go then a bit more & so on.
I can't recall what happens with maple? What does it look like when you pull your taps? What changes exist?

[KenWP]

The buds swell and sprout little feelers and the syrup smells. I got caught with one batch of syrup that I never pulled my silver maple taps fast enough.Tastes semi okay but the smell is sort of earthy or woody. The birches here are budding now and the tap holes put out a white yukky sap now.

[BC Birch Tapper]

I'll be pulling the rest of our lower elevation taps tomorrow which will leave us with around 150 or so for a few more days.
Trees are thinking about budding out & grass is sprouting on the south slopes.
Had a good open house yesterday....150 people or so & a school tour today & we just got an order for 6 litres of syrup from a restaurant in Alberta.
I even got an opportunity to go to bed before midnight yesterday. What a treat!:lol:

[BC Birch Tapper]

Ken
I was sure I was experiencing the 'earthy smell' today as I've pulled about 1/3 of my taps & some of the buckets were going cloudy. I kept smelling this funny smell all day & after supper I realized where it was coming from: my rubber gloves that were cooking on the back of the evaporator for the past 6-7 hrs.....yuk:emb:

[KenWP]

After raiseing pigs my whole life I am both deaf and have no sense of smell so things have to be loud and smell bad before I catch what it is. That's why I never noticed any smells in the sap alone and had to make syrup before I caught it.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well
we've pulled all our 225 taps, washed all the buckets & taps & pulled in 6000 litres of sap & burned most of the firewood supply. We should be able to net somewhere around 50 litres of syrup. Right now it's all in concentrate form in a freezer so we can finish it at a later date.
This year was a better season than the past two years. Every year is a new experience & we learn more about the process & what works for us & what doesn't. We've had lots of folks stop by to pick up some syrup & see the whole process. We're sending off some sap & syrup for some chemical analysis at a local technical institute which will give us some good info.
All in all...... a satisfying season.:D

[northernbirch]

Our birch just started flowing this week - we collected first round on tuesday (may 5th), some areas are still frozen, expect the volume to increase over next few days. We have about 570 litres so far...heading up to collect this mornings volume shortly.

[KenWP]

Which birch trees are you tapping. I tapped paper and yellows as the sweet never did run for me here.

[northernbirch]

We're tapping paper (white) birch - it's the only birch species that grows in this region. Have to be a couple hours south before you run into yellow birch.

[BC Birch Tapper]

We're gearing up for a couple of Birch tapping workshops in Northern BC this spring. We put on a Big Leaf Maple tapping worksop on one of the Gulf Islands last fall.
A Big leaf Maple festival is planned for February 6th on Vancouver Island
http://www.discoveryforest.com/?bigleaf-maple-syrup-festival,109

:) :D

[Frank Ivy]

Not sure where I read it, but I thought Yellow Birch was the original source of birch beer.

I have many yellow Birches in my woods, but every one looks like it's clinging to life by a hair. :(

Anyway, I'd tap them in a second if they were just a bit healthier.

[KenWP]

Actually birch beer was a old Russian thing for centuries. They killed off whole forests of it over tapping for birch beer before anybody though of syrup. It's supposed to have some kind of health benifits also. Makes a different kind of syrup. The trees over there look like our paper birch.
By hanging on do you mean they look sick or is the bark sort of shaggy on them. The shaggy part is normal. I have a yellow birch that must be 4 feet across at the bottom. has to be the mommy to all the others in the woods. I put a tap in it and filled a 5 gallon pail a day off of it. All of them run well. I have paper and sweet birch but can't seem to get sap out of the sweet birch.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Birch sap has been used for centuries in Europe, As Ken indicated there are believed health benifets. They even sold it as a hair tonic at one time. It is believed to asssit with urinary tract infections as well.
Maple sap has about 2 % micronutirents and birch sap has around 8 %. They sell a sap drink in Europe even today, which is what I call "Nature's Gatorade".... water, a bit of sugar & some micronutrients.
White Birch is classed as a "weed" out our way, but I've got a description over 1/2 page of what birch has been used for through history.

[Beans Maple]

I have to tell you...last year a customer brought about a pint sample of birch syrup to my sugarhouse for me to try. He wanted to trade it for a pint of maple. I took a sip of it and almost threw him out. I decided not to and accepted it graciously but charged him for my syrup. Does this stuff always taste this bad or did he just have some rotten stuff. What is it used for? I couldn't imagine anyone actually enjoying what I had on pancakes or anything else.

[KenWP]

As some peoples tastes differ(Some guys can drink bourbon and normal people drink rum) it's hard to say. Mine has a toffee taste and has a different sweetness then maple. We used it for pancakes and what ever. If it didn't taste good I wouldn't eat it. Would like to taste aomebody else's and see some time. Will hopefully make another batch this year again.
Oh and the trees flow when the maples stop for some reason which is why I did it anyway and stopped collecting when the maples started again.

[red maples]

I made a little last year I personally don't like it. but I have a friend that is from minesota and he lived in north west cananda somewhere and he loves birch syrup and very dark very strong almost bitter maple syrup. so I said if I have some wood at the end of the season I would make some for him. and we wants the very end of the season maple syrup too. said he would buy what ever I have. even if tis buddy. said SURE no problem!!!

[Frank Ivy]

Actually birch beer was a old Russian thing for centuries. They killed off whole forests of it over tapping for birch beer before anybody though of syrup. It's supposed to have some kind of health benifits also. Makes a different kind of syrup. The trees over there look like our paper birch.
By hanging on do you mean they look sick or is the bark sort of shaggy on them. The shaggy part is normal. I have a yellow birch that must be 4 feet across at the bottom. has to be the mommy to all the others in the woods. I put a tap in it and filled a 5 gallon pail a day off of it. All of them run well. I have paper and sweet birch but can't seem to get sap out of the sweet birch.

By unhealthy I mean - no yellow birch gets to more than about 1.25 feet in diameter, and by that time there's at least one dead main spar. They typically have bark wounds, rot spots, and so on. They're all clinging to life. I'm shocked they even grow, considering the red maples and red oaks grow like gangbusters.

The ground around here is heavy clay and always wet - the birch don't like it. Cherries too. Cherries around here always look like they have 1,000 wood pecker holes, all of them weeping goo.

But there are various ridges and whatnot around (not so much on my property) that stay dry and you can find some huge cherries and, I presume, birch, on them, and those are the ones doing all the seeding for the sick offspring.

[ejmaple]

i'am intrested in trying to make some birch syrup. i'am not too famliar with birches, i think we have yellow and black birch? the black ones seem to get a lot larger or older than any other around here. my question is are all birch speices game for tapping or is there a prefered speices? thanks ed

[KenWP]

Far as I know black birch is sweet birch and yellows yellow. So you can tap those two and any paper birch. Just be prepared to boil a lot. I want to try birch wine by taking it down to almost sweet so that you don't have to use sugar with it. Another fellow on here does it that way.

[red maples]

yeah I have probably as many black birch as I have red maples. I have a few yellow and some smaller white paper but alot of the paper birch took a good hit last year in the ice storm bent over so far they broke off!!!

I will just do enough to make a few gallons no more than that use too much wood to get it down to syrup. need like 80 to 120 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup depending on sugar content!!! need like 400 +gallons just to sweeten the pans!!!:o but it does clean your pans great. removes the niter!!! more acidic and breaks down the niter, so I have read.

[BC Birch Tapper]

To compare the two is like comparing apples and oranges....yes they both grown on a tree but that's about it.
A similar analogy can be made with birch & maple.
One uses the same hardware, and collection methods but that's about it. You're looking at a different type of tree, different type of sugar, different type of end product & different end use.
We tap only white birch as that is all we have in our area.
I realize it is a stretch to look at different trees for syrup making, but we I have seen is that folks can make a niche product that uses local species to make something a little different which usually fetches a higher price.
some food for thought......:cool: ;)

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well, Canada & Vancouver is hosting the Olympics and birch syrup is there from two producers in our Province. It's getting good reviews & publicity at the BC Street in Richmond :D :) .

[BC Birch Tapper]

The snow is going fast here as the temps are starting to hit double digits (10-12 deg C) during the day. The weather conditions look to to be about a month ahead of normal....whatever that is.

I've got a couple of test trees that I check at lower elevations, but nothing is flowing yet. We typically don't start til April, but this year who knows.

We just got our syrup bottles from Quebec yesterday. Will do a little clean up on the sugar shack over the weekend & get things ready to go.

We plan to tap about 250 birch trees this year.
:)

[cheesegenie]

If your weather is like ours this year, will be much earlier, here was ahead 3 weeks. I have heard about the birch syrup, but don't know much about it.
I think the ratio is over double for maple ,100-1 ? Does it finish out at 66br?
Do you get "sugar sand" with same filters, and does the tree recover ok from the tap hole?
I know , a lot of questions. Thank you and good luck with your season.

[KenWP]

The sap tests about .5 so its more like 160 to 180 to one. I made a small batch last year and you can boil a lot before it starts to taste or color. Maybe this year I will try again.It tastes different then maple with more of a carmel taste. Hard to discribe.

[red maples]

cross between caramel and molasses but less sweet than molases I think yes hard to describe

[BC Birch Tapper]

We have developed a Birch Syrup Poduction Manual which describes in all aspects of syrup production. You are correct, it is very different than maple. Check out our website for more information.
We have been making birch syrup for several years now and it looks like we'll be tapping later on this week. I checked some trees at a lower elevation today and they're starting to run already. We've never tapped in March before but there's always a 1st for everything.

We finish our syrup to 66 deg brix. The thing is there are no standards like for maple. There has been some work completed by the BC Institute of Technology which looks at this very concept. It is believed that due to the differences in birch sap that one doesn't have to take it to 66 deg. The variables involved include water activity and PH.
Some folks finish their syrup by adding fructose which is one of the natural occurring sugars in the sap already. We do primarily pure but we also do some blends as well.

As far as filtering & bottling goes it is similar to maple. :D ;)

[KenWP]

I tapped a few last night as my test tree had sap yesterday. Hopefully get enough for one batch with out to much work. Maple is on holiday right now.

[BC Birch Tapper]

For those of you that use Facebook you can check out the "Canadian Birch Syrup Producers". It links up many of the canadian birch syrup producers and provides an opportunity to link up.
;) ;)

[BC Birch Tapper]

I tapped 2 test trees today at our elevation but they were dry. I checked the nearby creek and it is starting to rise and my daughter saw 2 butterfiles. I think I'll be tapping by the weekend.

This is the earliest for us yet. Typically we're tapping into early or mid April.

This year we've had an extremely mild winter with snowpack levels much lower than normal. Two years ago we tapped in mid April & there was over 2 ' of snow and temps -15 deg C.

The lack of snow will make it easier to get around this year & that's a big plus
:D :cool:

[KenWP]

I collected maybe a gallon of sap off off two trees yesterday. They just are takeing their time to run. Will keep working on it this week.

[BC Birch Tapper]

We just shipped 1.5 litres of Birch Syrup to a restarurant in Chicago. They wanted it right away to add into their menu. Not bad at $88.00/litre
Somebody else stopped by this week as well for another litre.
Still got a reasonable supply that we've kept back for the impending people stopping by which is a must.
:cool: :D

[KenWP]

Birch trees are just about ready to go. Looks like maple will run out soon so I can make a bit of that for a while untill I get tired of boiling.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well we're just on the edge of tapping here. We've got 5 test trees and only 3 of them are running, and only a small amount. Looks like we'll be waiting another day or 2 to start. We just had some farm help arrive this evening so we'l lhave to get them busy on some other farm tasks before the sleep deprivation exercise begins.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well I tried 4 test trees today & only 2 were running. Temps are just too cool & it may be a few more days before we go crazy. Oh well we get to enjoy the easter break though. :-| :confused:

[BC Birch Tapper]

We tapped about 175 birch trees today and most were flowing well. We will tap the remainder tomorrow and collect & start boiling in a day or so.
We had snow on the weekend but things are warming up. Warm temps today 10 deg C and dry weather.
We're also getting set for a sugaring off festival here next weekend. Yes we even do such things here on the west coast!
Anyway feeling a little tuckered after stomping off thru the bushes for the day.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well we woke up to snow this morning so I went off to work to get a few more hours in at my day job. Can't use up all of my holidays tapping.
We finished tapping this afternoon and now have about 250 birch taps in as of today. Haven't collected yet, that's tomorrow and firing up shortly thereafter. :D
We’re planning a pancake breakfast/sugaring off festival on the weekend with local dignitaries in attendance to boot. There's just something about the smell, and the getting outdoors that works for me anyway. It's all about getting back to where things come from. Our society has become so reliant on food products with an ingredients list that is full of 4 syllable words that is long as your arm. It’s nice to make something real!
:cool:

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well we had our open house today with approx 250 people in attendance. We served approx 100 folks for pancake breakfast. Sugarbush tours by tractor & haywagon, lots of dignataries & a sunny day to boot. Sold lots in our store & made lots of folks aware of our farm & marketing opportunities.
We had a cool night last night -10 deg C so low flow today which is a bonus with all the other stuff to get ready for.
Finished evaoprating around supper time so I'm hoping for a good night's sleep which is a bonus.
The temps are supposed to get higher early next week so I'm expecting higher flows.

So far we've pulled in about 1600 litres of sap and most is rendered down. I don't mind the low flow days it give you the opportunity to catch up a bit.
:)

[KenWP]

Don't you guys use gallons out there either. Man makes a guy feel old. I have been boiling all week with birch also. I would have to say 250 gallons so far maybe a bit more.I only work in metric when I have to.
This birch can try a guys patience real well. I boiled over a pan for the first time tonight. Was busy trying to float a hydrometer and then get it out of the cup since it never floated and the pan boiled over a bit. Ended up putting a bunch of near syrup in a pot and boiling on a hot plate to slow it down a bit. I am done tomorrow one way or another. Just tired of boiling down water.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Ken I call it my sleep deprivation exercise. we've pulled in about 2500 litres so far and it looks like the temps are warming up so we should get even better flow.
I can barely keep up as it is. I think I'll have to get some more help.

We've got school tours coming in & my wife is doing 2 brich tapping workshops in other communities as well as some on farm conslutation with at least 2 different groups over the next couple of weeks.
Lots of interest in birch tapping out our way. Likley because we don't have any maple in our parts. There's some in the lower mainland & on Vancouver Island. The syrup from those babies taste's quite similar to sugar maple, but their season is spread out over the winter months due to the mild climate.
I think the ratio is around 50:1 or so.

[70 Buick]

Very interesting read
along with the 5 acres of sugar maples we have a alot of Birch also
decided to tap a few to see how it went
wow do those babies run
collected about 200 litres last weekend
tried boiling it down, but not sure what to do here
I use a thermometer so what temp am I aiming for?
I am going to try a batch of wine this weekend just for the gigles
any help would be appreciated or hints

[KenWP]

To make wine boil the sap until the sap hydrometer floats at 10 with hot sap and it will be enough sugar to make wine. If you need I can give the whole recipe to start it and such. I made beer also and she who needs to be obeyed is drinking it right now. Thats a easy one. You boil sap until the sap hydrometer floats at 6 and then boil it with birch twigs for 20 minutes and then cool and start it for a week and then bottle.

[70 Buick]

Thanks ken, no sugar to be added at all?
the recipe I found called for 2.5 lbs per gallon LOL
how aBOUT THE bIRCH SYRUP, TO WHAT TEMPERATURE SHOULD i BE LOOKING?

[KenWP]

I found that if you boil to 218 it makes syrup but man its going to be dark and taste like sponge toffee. It dosn't cook like maple at all. If you read back you will find where they think you can cook to a lower brix then maple also. When you get up around 215 it trys to boil over big time so be careful. When you get near you will see what we mean by dark as it burns instead of just turn brown like maple syrup does. I am going to use mine for BBQ sauce.
And that was the idea with boiling the sap to get it sweet instead of useing white sugar. It also give it a good color instead of the pale color if you add sugar to birch sap along with the added flavour.

[70 Buick]

I did a batch to 218 on Sunday
it is very dark & has a strange flavour
It is not sticky or thick like maple though
Is that normal?, kind of watery

[3rdgen.maple]

70 when i made birch syrup I used the same hydrometer for maple. If you are using a thermometer you should bring it to the same temp as you would for finishing syrup. Like you said though it does not get stickey until it is done and it seems to be a little thinner than malple. After doing maple my whole life I think it is a required taste though cause it taste nothing like maple at all.

[70 Buick]

Oh I agree 100% about the taste
For me it's having friends up, collecting boiling & having a good time
Thats why I am giving it a try along wityh the wine
Who the hell wants to sit in the house !!

[BC Birch Tapper]

You're right, they are very different, they have different types of sugars which behave differently. As such the end result is not maple syrup, it's birch syrup. It has a different end use, try it on ice cream or on meate & fish as a glaze or in BBQ sauce.
It's normal to be thinner & quite dark.
Some folks do add sugar in hte form of fructose or organic cane sugars to reach the full requirement. THey end up being quite sweet but more of a pancake syrup.
We make primilarily pure but have tried a few blends as well. Even blended it with maple and was quite good.
Birch is fructose & glucose, which is not as thick as the sucrose in maple.
When birch gets close to finishing temp you will see little bubbles from on the top which do not dissipate later on. We take ours to 66 deg brix but it is believed that it doesn't have to go quite that far to be shelf stable. Likely somewhere between 55 and 60. We're getting some more testing done by a lab hopefully this year.

[BC Birch Tapper]

well the weather sure is nice 20 deg & sunny. We're pulling in 600 litres a day & have gone thru 400 litres so far. Hopfully I'll have enough freezer space to hold all my concentrate, but I'm expecting the season to go for another week or so anyway:D

[KenWP]

I am getting a bit of sap still the trees are slowing down now and so am I. I was up to 1 last night reduceing sap to make beer and I will boil one more time and then give up. Have to do some real work soon.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Our trees are slowing down as well, another 20 deg T shirt day. Will pull 1/2 of my buckets tomorrow as they are done.
It's been a short season this year only 10-11 days but the trees are starting to bud out & the grass is getting greener. Haven't seen many canada geese which is typical for this time of year, but everything is slightly changed with the early spring & low snow levels. Could be an interesting fire season.
I'm feeling the effects as well, with the 18 hr days, but the end is in sight. Time to enjoy the last bit of the season.

[BC Birch Tapper]

well about 80 % of the buckets are pulled and we'll top out at just over 5000 litres. This is the earliest we've finished yet and about the earliest we've started too.
I'm looking forward to sleeping in & going back to work to rest my weary bones.

We've had a good season could access everything with our pickup which was a 1st for sure.

[KenWP]

I am finished soon also. She who has to be obeyed has a couple batchs of beer made and one of wine and almost two gallons of molasses made and she said to make more syrup with the rest as she likes it instead of black strap so I will boil till wensday and then be done. Tired of feeding a stove to boil water. It's to bad I can't get to the other birch trees still as I could finish up quick with more taps and fewer days of boiling. It's rained for over a week agains and even the ones I walk to near the house are hard to get to now.

[70 Buick]

just wondering ken, what are your beer & wine recipes?
wouldn't mind trying

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well everything is done in our world. A 12 day season and 5000 litres of sap. A shorter season this year but hey that's the weather, always changing.
We've also offered several birch tapping workshops which have been quite successful. We've even taken it on the road and people are always excited about the process.
We should net somewhere around 50 litres of syrup.
It's nice to see the season come but it's nice to have it finish as well.:)

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well the Christmas season is over & we can start thinking about the next thing on the horizon.

Well installed a steam hood last fall got it at a bargain so hopefully that will reduce the amount of rain inside the sugar shack this year.

Also looking at a few Birch Tapping workshops into March in BC as we've had a few inquiries already.

We got some results back from some labwork recently which is quite interesting & I'll highlight that later when I have it in front of me.

Lots of interest in Birch syrup & the producers are working on a conference call here in the next week or so to touch base.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Sugaring off “boreal forest style” is a great way to get outside in the early spring and it is just around the corner. Lots of snow to go in our neck of the woods. Check out http://www.moosemeadowsfarm.ca for more info. We offer birch tapping workshops, introductory tapping kits, and “The Birch Syrup Production Manual” – the only manual of its kind in Canada.

[3rdgen.maple]

Ted I have a question for you. Is it normal practice for you birch guys to put a small cork in your tap holes after you pull taps? Whenever I seen videos of birch tapping they all did that. If so what is the concept behind it. The birch trees I tapped last year just closed up on their own already.

[BC Birch Tapper]

From what we've read & experienced there are two schools of thought on this issue. Birch trees are more short lived than maples 60-150 yrs or so depending on where you live.
One thought is that you want to assit the tree to heal over & some folks do put corks or a small piece of wood in the hole at the end of the season in efforts to reduce the opportunity for insects & other opportunities for infection to the tree.
The second thought is that by doing the first version you are introducing a foreign body to the tree which would potentially cause other issues.
We leave the hole as is & let the tree heal on its own. What would happen in the tree would be what is called compartmentalization around the injury/wound & there would be a small amount of dead tissue in that area. That's why you don't tap the same hole twice.
We typically just let the tree heal over on its own.

[3rdgen.maple]

Thanks for the reply. I am fully aware of the process of a tap hole healing and just found it quite odd that people plug the holes up. Was wondering what their theory was.

[BC Birch Tapper]

We've still got lots of snow & I figure we're another 3 weeks or so from tapping. It is going though as we're getting daytime temps around 8-10 deg C. lots of snow to melt hopefully or I'll be plowing again which I thought I was done with for this winter. I put about 40 hrs on the tractor this winter, plowing, plowing, plowing.
That gives me some time to clean up the sugar shack, wash buckets etc.
We're having a birch tapping workshop next weekend which is always fun. People love to learn, the taste testing is always a hit.
People come from all over BC to attend.
:D

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well the snow is going, finally & we are getting some warmer temps which I do like. The sugar shack is all cleaned up buckets are washed, just have to give the evaporator a rinse & we'll be ready to go.
Already saw some butterfiles & Canada geese but the creeks here haven't swollen yet, I've got a test tree that I drive by on the way to work every day at a lower elevation that I keep an eye on. I figure we're a week away from the sleep deprivation exercise.
Got an open house planned and a reporter that wants to stop by which is always cool. :cool:

[BC Birch Tapper]

We had a dribble of sap in our test bucket today which means things are about to start. I'm working on cleaning up the sugar shack & hooking everything up so I'm ready to go. :D

[KenWP]

I got a request for birch syrup today from a lady from England that my mom knows.My problem is I don't know if my syrup is good enough to give to others of not.Mine is a lot like molassasas and my wife uses it for that.makes great cookies.

[Gary R]

I cut down a big Birch tree today. The sap was flowing good. I pulled all my Maple taps and buckets. Tapped 23 Birch trees. I plan on making 5 gal. of wine. If I get a lot of sap, maybe I'll try a quart or two of syrup.

[KenWP]

I made wine and beer for she who has to obeyed last year.She liked the beer but wishes she could have more then a half of a bottle of it.I guess when you open a bottle it fizzes over somewhat and you loose half a bottle each time.I will have to work on that problem. I can't taste the stuff to see what it is like.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Same temps today. Talked to a buddy who cut down 50 birch for next years firewood & he said that only one was wet. A few more days to go it looks like before we tap.

Ken, I'd say that if your birch syrup isn't burnt & is finished somewhere past 60 % send it accross the pond.
Just let them know that it is not for pancakes or they'll have a big surprise.

[Gary R]

One tree put out over 3.5 gal. overnight:) A few in the quart or so. 20 gal. total collected off of 23 taps.

Ken, I've had the same problem with alcoholic beer. Too much yeast was added. I've had a few glass bottles blow up. That is a mess. I've read that there is a liquid yeast made just for root beer. It's pricey though. Try the non alcoholic version. Steeped over twigs and sweetened. It's very good.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well I've been saying that the birch sap it is going to start any day now for over a week.
The thing is we've been getting cold nights & cool days. Still need the ground to thaw & the temps to go up a bit. I't's getting closer.....but we're just not there yet.
Only one of my test trees even giving a dribble.

I took the tractor up to the sugarbush & worked my way through the snow to make a path. That should make access easier as time goes on. It can be challenging on soft ground to move machinery without rutting things up.
:confused:

[BC Birch Tapper]

We had a couple of reporters from the US here in the weekend. Spent most of the afternoon with them talking about birch syrup, standards, differences etc. Very cool. They said they were going to run 2 or 3 stories on Birch Syrup production. :cool:

Yes it is definately a niche market with only a few producers out there...but each year we talk to another one or two from Canada & the US that give it a try.
What we're working on not is froming an accociation in hopes of setting some standards. The thing is Birch syrup is not regulated yet, so folks are doing their own thing & finishing it is a variety of ways.
Some folks are adding various sugars & making blends, but not clearly stating that on the lable.
Also folks are not necessarily finishing it to the same sugar content either.

SO if you're buying or selling birch syrup you should clearly state if it is pure or a blend & what sugar density it is finished to.

The customer deserves that much.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well my small watering pond is filling up and the creek is swelling so that means it's time to tap. More of my test trees were flowing today and there's lots of water coming off the slopes as the snow is disappearing.
I'll tap my lower elevation location tomorrow & see how that goes.
2011 birch season, here we come. :)

[KenWP]

Guess I have to tap a few here also.Need to make a couple of liters of syrup for my Moms freind. I want to try the lower sugar method like you suggested last year. 60 brix on a hydrometer works out to 53.5 on the hot scale.See if that will keep it form burnig the sugars as much and make it a little less like molassas.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well we got about 140 trees tapped today which also included a bit of brushing on the trails. We'll get the rest in tomorrow & collect on Wednesday.
Nice day & the sun had a bit of heat....approx 8 deg C,
:)

[BC Birch Tapper]

Guess I have to tap a few here also.Need to make a couple of liters of syrup for my Moms freind. I want to try the lower sugar method like you suggested last year. 60 brix on a hydrometer works out to 53.5 on the hot scale. See if that will keep it from burning the sugars as much and make it a little less like molassas.

That should do the trick Ken, when your starting to get little bubbles forming on top you should be close. I keep reducing the temperature the closer you get to 60 Deg. If you're doing it on the stove just put it #2 or # 3

[BC Birch Tapper]

Another 120 trees tapped today. Still another 50 or so to go tomorrow and will likley collect as well.
Had a surprise in our field, this morning....a brand new minature Donkey. Very cute.

[KenWP]

So it was a tiney minature donkey then. She who has to be obeyed figures we should get birchs tapped as she likes the syrup to make me cookies.And I hate a empty hibou with a passion.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Yes a tiny minature donkey, all grey & fuzzy with a black stipe down her back. Haven't got a name yet, but extremely cute.
Pictures are on moose meadows farm facebook.

Pulled in 600 litres of sap & kinda lost track of the # of taps but should be pushing 300.
Oh yes and the new steam hood is working wonders. Stops the rain inside the sugar shack

Anyway....Off to bed!

[BC Birch Tapper]

Ran til midnight last night & had to pack her in. Cooler temps today only collected about 250 litres & which give us a chance to catch up a bit. Got the scouts coming over tomorrow moring & my daughter's birthday so I don't mind the repreve.
May not get much flow til Monday if the weather man is on his mark.

it's all good, I don't mind the sleep

[BC Birch Tapper]

temps way too cold & snowing so we're on a break. I don't mind sleeping in actually.
Daughter's birthday, 6 10-12 yr olds, home made pizza, but they're out in the barn so the can crank the tunes as loud as they want.

Had a birch tapping workshop today & a scout troup out as well. Always good to share.

Weather is supposed to warm up in a day or so. It would be nice to get some heat & some flow.
:)

[BC Birch Tapper]

Collected 2700 litres of sap & slowly getting though it. Still cool temps only single digits & freezing every night. Not huge flow yet bu the temps are supposed to warm up. I've been hearing that for 2 weeks, but eventually it will have to happen.

[canuck]

Do you use the same brix count for birch as maple?
Thanks Dave

[twitch]

whats the sugar content of birch sap

[twitch]

whats the sugar content of birch sap? Wahts the best kind of birch to tap?

[BC Birch Tapper]

All the equiptment we use if from the maple industry.
Birch sap ranges from 0.5 to 2 % sugar content. Most in our part of hte world are near the 0.5 range,which is about 120:1
We use white birch, paper birch (betula paperifera)
I've heard of folks tapping other birches.....that's all we have in our part of the world.
As far as finishing however, we had some labwork done last spring which leads us to believe that you don't have to finish it to 66 deg like maple, but 60 deg should be sufficient.
please note that it is very difficult if not impossible to make completed birch syrup on an evaporator. The furthest you can get it is around 30 deg or so. It depends on your evaporator set up.
You need to finish it on a very low heat & or double bolier. This is due to the different kind of sugars ( primarily sucrose in maple & fructose & gluecose in brich) What that means is as the sugars concentrate in birch the lower the temperature has to be to avoid scorching.
Good luck

[BC Birch Tapper]

only 400 litres of sap today, as flow seems to be dropping off a bit & a few other signs tell me the sap is changing.

Big sugaring off festival tomorrow & we'll need to get things ready tonight, Should have 100-200 for breakfast.

Temps warmed up to double digits.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Had well over 100 people for breakfast yesterday & a bunch more wandering around. Beautiful day with not a colud in sight, & warm weather. Everyone loves to come to the farm. Lots of interest, sold lots of syrup & spiels for folks to tap at home.
Good Easter activity for families.
Season is coming to an end though, sap is changing fast.
Not huge flow this year, as the weather has been quite cool during the day

[70 Buick]

Is there a way to do it with a thermometer like maple?

If so what degree are you looking to finish at?

[KenWP]

If you go to 67% like maple it is the same temp.The problem with 60% suryp is it will boil around 212 or lower depending on the day or the place you live as it is low enough in sugar to not raise the temp much. That is why a hydrometer helps a lot to get it right.That and it will only read about 53.5 on the hot scale on it.

[70 Buick]

Thanks Ken, I should probably bite the bullet & buy a hydrometer anyways

what do they go for?

[BryanEx]

About $15 ~ $17 locally for a hydrometer.

- Bryan

[70 Buick]

I am looking at the D&G catalogue right now , 12.00 not bad
however 42.00 for the SS cup to put it in ouch!!

What do you guys use, the ss cup or something else?

[spud]

I tapped a couple of my birch trees on the 18th of April. I have gotten 3 gallons of sap per tap so far. I am not going to boil the sap but just showing the kids how it works. I have noticed that the sap runs different then maple trees. Somebody told me it's not the cold nights and warm days that make the sap run but the thawing of the ground that makes a birch tree run. Does anyone know for sure? Thanks

Spud

[KenWP]

Thanks Ken, I should probably bite the bullet & buy a hydrometer anyways

what do they go for?

The CO-Op had then for less then $12 dollars this year. And like I said in another post I use a SS thermos which seems to work well. I am cheaper then a kilt wearer most times.

Birch trees seem to run day and night and if it freezes they stop till they thaw out again.They don't need frost to run just warm days. I have some big paper birchs that will run 5 gallons a day and I have the mother of all yellow birchs that will give gallons also. The sweet birchs do well also. Mine is a melange of three or four kinds of birch sap.

[vikingHB]

I used a 10" stainless steel water bottle. You can buy them almost anywhere for $5 - $8.
Worked great for me.

[BC Birch Tapper]

From the lab work we've had completed 60 % appears to be a food stable product. There's a link between PH water activity & sugar content. The lower PH seems to have an impact.
We use a refractometer. Got thru Ebay, around $100,
much easier than dealing with the cup & hydrometers which I invariabley break.
As far as sap goes, it will run as long as it gets some good daytime temps. If it stays warm overnight, it will continue to flow

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well most of the buckets are cleaned, dried & put away. Still a bit more clean up to do on the sugar shack & plan on putting on a batch of birch wine this weekend.

Pulled in approx 5000 litres of birch sap on 250 taps. Not great flow as the temps were quite cool at both day & night. Had to tap at a lower elevation as there was still loads of snow at our farm & poor access. Could have likely tapped some more trees here & kept things going for a few more days but I'm done. Have to go back to my day job to rest up...I'm bagged.

The season lasted for 2 weeks & individual tree flow was quite variable. Some buckets overflowing & some just a small amount.

Some syrup already made and the rest is in concentrate form in the freezer. I'll make it into syrup at another time. Plan on making some BBQ sauce & salad dressing as they are good sellers. Still need a good BBQ sauce recipie though. Anyone got any favourites??

[BC Birch Tapper]

Getting Ready for 2012
I finished the remainder of the concentrate from last year to make room in my freezer & put in an order to our supplier in Quebec to get a few more items for the upcoming season.
Birch sugaring season here in central BC Canada usually starts in early April. The weather conditions vary from no snow to a fair bit, but hey that's just the weather. It gives us all something to talk about. I'll spend some time over the next few weekends getting the sugar shack ready for "the sleep deprivation exercise".
I do enjoy it so as it connects one back to things before spring planting.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Just talked to some folks in Mnaitoba who are getting into birch in a big way, over 1000 trees with an RO & wood pellet evaporator. Their trees are starting to flow & equiptment is due to arrive in the next couple of days. Oh what fun they are about to have. It is good to learn new things as we age, gives us something to talk about.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well the geese are flying over and the snow is going day by day. This I'll weekend get things ready to go & tap a few test trees early next week. I would think things will be happening here by the Easter weekend.

Got a call from a fellow who is interested in tapping birch & will see if he wants to come & learn about the whole process first hand. It is always nice to have some extra help to pull buckets & it's good for folks to see all aspects.

[BC Birch Tapper]

The water levels are increasing in the smaller creeks and a few test trees are running. It will be time to tap on Friday, so let the fun begin.

[Azitizz]

Were about finished our maple season here it seems. Starting to turn towards the birches. Never done it before. But as we have plenty of wood left and arent sucked dry of energy with the aple season I want to give it a try.

It sounds like you have to be careful with the initial evaporating? I thought I read somewhere you may have said boiling an evaporator at full tilt to 20% brix? and then transferring to a stovetop or a finer more controlable heat source?

Whats a ballpark guess of how much volume decrease 20 brix would be down to. We dont have a huge amount of stove space so Im wondering how to manage that. And a double boiler is also what i read. Let it simmer all day?
Thanks for any pointers
Michael

[BC Birch Tapper]

We do sell a Birch Syrup Manual on how to produce Birch syrup. the one of its kind in print...... check out the classifieds under misc which gives pleanty of details. We've sold 300 + all over canada US & Europe

The initial evaporating is fairly forgiving especially in the first part of the year as there is a bit of sucrose in the sap.

We started on a piece of crap wood stove with a door that didn't quite close, we used flat pans on top & simmered for all day. We combined pans of similar concentrations. You don't want to mix in fresh sap with the partially rendered down concentrate.
Once you get down to 20 deg brix you've removed a great deal of the sap, I'm thinking 80 % ish but you still need to remove the remiander. Finishing can be accomplished on a low heat less than 80 Deg C for many hours. One thing to note this will take all day, & you're not a true syrup maker unitl you've burned some. I'm a syrup maker.
You don't need to finish it to 66 deg brix like maple, 60 is fine

[Azitizz]

Thanks for that info. I would like to get my hands on a copy of your book one day. At this point we havent invested in the process enough to justify it on our budget at this point, but ill keep it in mind. We just collected t about 11 gallons of sap and brought it down to about a half a gallon. We filtered it and measured the brix and it wasnt at 20 yet. Im boiling it a little more on the stove now and will keep measuring it. Its about the color of medium maple syrup now.

Do you have to filter it again? I thought I read you have to filter it a couple of time?

[Azitizz]

So we simmered it down to syrup successfuly. We only made 250 ml if it though. Im satisfied and think its wonderful stuff. Reminds me a bit of Mollases but with more flavor. I probably could have kept it on the evaporator a bit longer. We had no way of measuring the sugar content at the time so we just played it safe and did the rest in on the stove. Boiled it till it got to about 35 brix, then turned it down to a simmer of about 80 to 81 degrees C and finnished it like that. We never filtered it again as there was so little we didnt want it to go to waste in the filter material.

We'll see if we get any more sap in the next few days. Out of 22 trees tapped we only got about 11 gallons of sap. Are the Birches affected by the weather like Maples? will they run less on rainy days etc...?

Thanks for your pointers.
good stuff

[BC Birch Tapper]

Once birch start to run as long as the temps don't get really cold they will run as long as the temps are well above 0 deg C. If it remains +5 deg C over night they will continue to run. As far as using the evaporator goes keep it in there as long as you can, but there will be a point at which your evaporation slows down so much in your sap pan & the fire is almost out as the front pan should not be over 100 deg C that you have to pull it off.

The flavours are complex like a good wine or scotch, it has a beginning, middle & end. Enjoy
It's great on good vanilla ice cream, meat or fish or mix it 50/50 with rye......yummy.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well we tapped 175 trees today & will do a little less tomorrow & likley collect & fire up the evaporator as well. Here we go.

[Snowy Pass Maple]

Once birch start to run as long as the temps don't get really cold they will run as long as the temps are well above 0 deg C. If it remains +5 deg C over night they will continue to run. As far as using the evaporator goes keep it in there as long as you can, but there will be a point at which your evaporation slows down so much in your sap pan & the fire is almost out as the front pan should not be over 100 deg C that you have to pull it off.

The flavours are complex like a good wine or scotch, it has a beginning, middle & end. Enjoy
It's great on good vanilla ice cream, meat or fish or mix it 50/50 with rye......yummy.

For what it's worth, my experience this year was that they ran right through some freezes as low as 25 F only stopping when the drop tubes froze but as soon as the tubes thawed, they were running again. This was with sunny days in the 50s and no snow on the ground. I was surprised because I thought the freeze would shut them down for a couple days, but never saw that happen. Frankly, I was looking forward to a break!

To Azitizz - if it tastes like molasses, I suspect you may still be overcooking it - I had one small pan that hit 205 F briefly and the tangy, fruity tastes ended up a bit muted, and I'd say there was a bit more caramel flavor. It's still quite tasty, but not quite the same.

If you can find a digital thermometer probe (discount stores have them for under $20) try putting that on the bottom of the pan and never let it get over 190F. It is painfully slow, but it makes a big difference - you should pick up a lot more fruity taste. The closest I can think of would be like a concentrated raisin flavor.

I also find that as it gets to ~55-60 brix, the evaporation rate slows down rapidly and the syrup heats up fast even at the same heat setting you may have run for hours prior. It's really easy to overheat the pan as it approaches syrup and you have to constantly back down the heat input.

[fishman]

Since the maple season was a bust I decided to try some birch syrup. I boiled down about 95 gallons and got about 3 quarts of syrup. I'm not wild about it at all. Kind of bitter and my wife likened it to molasses also. I boiled it really slow, barely ever getting it above a fast steam. Lots of work but something I've wanted to try for awhile. Don't know if there was anything I could have done different to make it better.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Continued tapping now pulling in about 800 litres a day off of 275 taps, & I can't keep up. Raining today. Game is definatley on.

[Azitizz]

How much cloudiness is tolerable? I notices a slight haziness in some of the buckets. Letting some sit overnight in pales it seemed to get a bit cloudier. I think were approaching the end of our birch fun. Weve made about 2 litres so fat. I have another 80 Gallons on the evaporator now but with some of the cloudy questionable sap in it.

[jake1]

well we finally made syrup today, tapped 86 trees (hoping for 30 more soon) two days ago and they are just starting to break loose, had 50 gallons of sap for the first 2 days, slow but very sweet, tested as high as 1.2% and made close to a gallon out of 50 gals of sap, felt like i was making maple syrup for a bit, anyway finishing te batch on the stove left me with a question, and it is, my hydrometer has a cold test and hot test, with the cold test red line at 66.5 on the scale, leaving the hot test line somewhere around 60, but i believe its on the cold test scale still, so i just brought my syrup almost to the red hot test line figuring it would put it just over 60%, so my question is with birch syrup the hot test line is for 66.5 brix, how can i test for 60 brix with the cold test scale, is there some sort of conversion? i hope im not confusiny everyone here, does anyone use a similar hydrometer for birch syrup? well anyway, hoping to move some taps aound tomarrow, some trees just dont give me a good feeling and with the sap so sweet i cant wait for them, and boy the new rig sure beats the old way,

[BC Birch Tapper]

A bit of cloudyness is ok, but later on you will see pink or orange which are bacteria & yeasts. At that point you are done!

[BC Birch Tapper]

We're coming close to the end of the season. We have an open house & pancake breakfast this weekend. We're pulling in about 800 liters a day but have pulled about 75 pails. It should only last a few more days. I can use the rest.

[collinsmapleman2012]

do you have a tubing system like on maple? and would you be able to put the trees under vacuum?

[BC Birch Tapper]

we use only buckets, sometime in groups of 2 to 5 as they do tend to grow in clumps. Our trees are quite spread out & on flat terrain. I know of a few folks who have a small gravity system for a number of trees on a slope but I don't know of anyone who has a vaccum system.


We've pulled another 50 pails today & will pull the remainder tomorrow. Bring on the sleep! We're having a pancake breakfast & open house on Sunday, Earth Day so should be a good one. We serve maple syryp for the pancakes and some maple birch/blend as pure birch is much to strong for pancakes by itself.

[jake1]

bc tapper,
we are having some crazy weather here, with 50-60 degree days and im afraid these puppies are gonna bud out soon, but sap is still clear and making great syrup, and the season just started maybe a week ago, so im wondering if buds really effect the syrup like with maple, have you ever seen buds on a tree giving good sap? this will be the shortest season ever if this weather keeps up! should have tapped more trees!

[BC Birch Tapper]

Can't say I've seen that occur. Typically the sap gets cloudy, yeasty & the tubes get plugged up as the tree starts to heal the wound & the flow reduces dramatically. This year we tapped extra trees & removed some when we fould we could not keep up with our overall volume. We targetted the low producers and the ones farthest away to pull 1st & then pulled more as they got yeasty. We did tap some additonal trees later on that was still clear & could likley have gone for a few more days but I'm almost out of firewood, bagged & it's time to go back to my day job for a break.

[jake1]

yeah that sound about right, weve had a few cloudy buckets but thankfully good sap still overall but it cant last too much, just curious what you avg sugar cont was this season, i was surprised to just calculate mine at 1.17 which has been my saving grace since i didnt tap enough trees.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Ours is about 0.5 % sugar, I would love to have your ratio. The rates are quite variable as you can see. I assume it is impacted by site productivity, soil moisture aspect, slope position etc but that is just a theory. It sounds like a good research project.

[BC Birch Tapper]

All in for 2012
We tapped 275 trees pulled in a bit over 6000 litres in 12 days with a peak at 1000 litres one day.
We had a great open house on the weekend with over 150 people attending, which included tractor rides, farm tours & pancakes cooked by our local high school Rotary club & did quite well in our on farm store as well.
Also did a little 1 on 1 consulting with a few folks who wanted to learn a bit more about birch which is always nice & helps add a little $$ into the mix as well.
Just made up two batches of birch wine this evening, one is from the sap itself & the other is from some concentrate at about 10 % brix. I find the end of season sap or concentrate is best for value added type products.
The wine I find takes a good year to mature, but is quite yummy.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well winter is getting shorter here as the days get longer. Will be putting in an order soon for supplies and thinking about getting the sugar shack cleaned up for the upcoming season. The birch wine is still maturing. Hopefully it will be ready in time for sugaring off in April.

[chicken123]

Could I use the same pans for birch syrup as Maple syrup? Also what size birch trees can I tap?

[BC Birch Tapper]

We tap white birch trees as that is all that we have & a minimum of 8 " diameter. Some folks are also tapping yellow birch. Much smaller than 8" we find there is very little flow.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

chicken123
"Could I use the same pans for birch syrup as Maple syrup? Also what size birch trees can I tap?"

I am planning too. Dr Tim connected me with a colleague who connected me with someone at Cornell who is doing this. He is using the same tubing and equipment to make birch syrup successfully. His suggestion was to untap maple, clean tubing, clean equipment and then tap birches. He said he is tapping yellow and white birches. Getting about 20 gal per tap as apposed to 15 with Maple. He said it was more like 180 gal of sap to 1 gal of syrup. RO seems to be key on a large scale. I plan to put 1-200 on vac and see what happens. Worst case is I have a lot of natural sweetener that I can't sell.

[chicken123]

Thank you :)

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well we're about 1 month away from tapping white birch here in western Canada. Just putting an order into our supplier for some last minute tapping items & planning our open house for late April. We keep having inquiries about the Birch Syrup Production Manual & folks wanting to give birch tapping a try. White birch is actually found all across Canada but I can't see it every making a dent in the maple industry. It's more of a niche product, but it is for some like us, the only tree they have to tap.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Tapped In
We've got about 300 birch trees tapped yesterday and just heading out to collect this am. Still cool temps freezing overnight so I'm not expecting huge flow just yet. Game on!

[BC Birch Tapper]

We pulled in 600 litres of sap yesterday and 700 today. A bit of snow & rain to make life a little more damp, but all is well so far.
My wife is putting on a birch tapping workshop this evening. It's always nice to introduce folks to something new & different.

[RyanB]

I have decieded to try the birch syrup thing this year (been on the back of my mind for the past 4 years but was always to busy!). Looks like we will possibly get one last run from the maples here in Southern Ontario this weekend and then I will put my taps, do a quick clean and setup about 50 buckets in my yellow's and white birch's and see what happens. I moved one test bucket Monday to a decent sized yellow and have had no sap yet but have noticed two of the neighbors stopping on the road and looking in its direction...probably thinking I have lost my mind!!!

[BC Birch Tapper]

You could have some fun with that one! Watch your local creeks and ponds & low spots in fields. When they swell with spring run off which means the ground has thawed, then it's game on. Good luck.
We just pulled in another 600 litres today.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well we're about 1/2 way through our season as we're pulling in 400-600 litres a day. Lots of firewood left but my knee is giving out. Too many sports as a kid I guess.
Having an open house this weekend to share the experience with others which is always a crowd pleaser.

[RyanB]

Our maple season was longer than I thought it would be and went well into the running of the birch! I pulled my taps on the maples yesterday and sunk 30 into my birch's. I was amazed at the flow! it was litterly gushing out and was actually almost pulsating. So far I only have 45 gallons which is hardly enough to start my arch for but should be double that by tomorrow. I have tapped all yellow's with the exception of one Paper birch. As we speak I am actually boiling down a little in the house to see if we like the flavour...im running a gallon thru on the stove and once concentrated down enough it will go into a little sauce pan where I will watch it constantly with the hopes of not scorching my wifes good cookware! I just don't want to waste a days boiling if we don't like the flavour from the yellow birches.

Ryan

[BC Birch Tapper]

That's fair. I always recommend that folks do a study 1st before getting into anything. Remember when you're tasting it , you're not tasting maple, it is a different tree, different sugars & a different end use. Is't not a pancake syrup, but more of something to use in cooking or on good vanilla ice cream.

[RyanB]

well, I wasn't to impressed with the taste...Im wondering if we are quite a bit ahead of you out west and even the birch's have reached the end of the season and it has a really off taste because of it...just like the maples do at the end of the season.

[chicken123]

I have about 10 taps in birch trees right now! WOW! they run fast some were all most over flowing at noon:o

[BC Birch Tapper]

It all depends on the season & temps. We're almost done our lower elevation ones & then we'll move to a higher elevation for a bit longer.

[Galena]

Sounds cool, Ted! I lived in NW BC for a few years, Terrace in fact. I know some have tapped bigleaf maples out West but didn't think birch would be prolific enough to make birch syruping worthwhile. Also saw your Farm's site, wow! Very impressed that you're managed to do so much with your farm and as you say, farm with the seasons. Good work!

[BC Birch Tapper]

Thanks Galena, I've fished in Terrace & Rupert & enjoy that part of BC. It is fun but as Birch Syrup season draws to a close, I'm always fine with the concept. I'm happy to see it come & happy to see it go. We're having an open house & pancake breakfast tomorrow to share with folks. It is always nice to show what opportunities exist.

[Galena]

Yep, pretty much the first big purchase I made with my first paycheque when I moved to Terrace (worked for Skeena Broadcasters, the radio station) was a salmon rod, line and lures! I sure caught a lot of pinks in the Skeena and other rivers nearby. Once had the misfortune to see all my line and favourite lure vanish - all of a sudden my line was being ripped from my reel and heading upstream at about a gazillion miles an hour.

I was left standing on the bank with a stunned look on my face and a lineless fishing rod! The locals fishing the same area with me all had a laugh and told me a coho had just taken my stuff. *sigh* the good ol days...

btw I have a huge gnarly tree in my backyard that seems to a birch, going by the bark, but if it is, it is the hugest, ugliest, most twisted-looking birch I've ever seen. A friend of mine thinks it's diseased. If I take a pic think you can help ID it?

[BC Birch Tapper]

sure thing no problem. Main thing too look at is the bark & leaves.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well we had an open house today with pancake breakfast, tractor ride,s sugar shack & sugar bush tours. Several hundred people stopped by to learn about birch syrup production. The weather cooperated as well with not a cloud in the sky which is always nice.

[Galena]

sure thing no problem. Main thing too look at is the bark & leaves.

Well, that's where it gets confusing. The bark screams birch, but the sheer size of the trunk and limbs are, to my eye, simply freakish. Let's just say I almost tapped it my first year thinking it might be a maple cause it's so huge and limbs twisting up in all directions more like a maple.

At the end of my signature, there is a direct link to my Maple Gallery, and the pics of the birch and some frozen sap on its trunk are in the bottom row of images. Much appreciate you finding time to take a look-see! :-)

[BC Birch Tapper]

Hi Galena, the upper branches look like white birch, white curly papery bark are the main characteristics to look for. The main stem indicates that it is quite an old tree

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well all good things must come to an end, so to is this year's season. We had 300 trees tapped at the peak & pulled in 6000 litres. That should finish up to about 50 litres when we're all said & done, although I did burn one batch by mistake. Too many things going on at the time.
We've been washing & storing buckets as we've been going along as we've pulled taps that were not producing. Now the final cleaning of everything & put away for next year. We had a beautiful day for our sugaring off event yesterday which is an added bonus. We provided lots of various wild syrups for the pancake breakfast including , hawthorne, rosehip, high bush cranberry, birch, maple & a new one which was apple pie syrup. ( the apple pie syrup was a hit & we sold out!)
Sold a few of the Birch SYrup Production Manuals as well.
Next weekend I'll plant the greenhouse so we can move on to the next season ( Farmer's Market!)

[Galena]

OOh yeah the bark is definitely curly/papery, but more of a dull metallic sheen, further adding to the confusion. Will post a couple more pics in the gallery. I don't have any (other) birches on my property, just cedar, poplar, sugar maples, Manitoba maples and a few pines that look deliberately planted and didn't just happen to be there.

Just saw that you're planning on adding a greenhouse, I've seen your website...what, you don't already have enough to keep you busy?! ;-)

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

The snow has melted, the ground is unfreezing and I pulled maple taps on two small sections, rinsed the lines and put in 100+ birch taps on my maple system by adding extensions to existing drops. Both yellow and White Birch. I've been targeting the Whites more as I've heard they have better sugar content. Heading back out now to get another 50 in. The experiment begins...

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

Galena, is that maybe a Yellow Birch? Will still have peeling paper like a white. I have some monster White and Yellow Birches and that kind of looks like a yellow.

[Galena]

Galena, is that maybe a Yellow Birch? Will still have peeling paper like a white. I have some monster White and Yellow Birches and that kind of looks like a yellow.

It could well be, like most around here I know the delicate little white birches, but this is probably the first yellow birch I've ever laid eyes on! Are your monster yellow birches also big gnarly things like mine? If so then I'm guessing that's what it is:confused:

[BC Birch Tapper]

Wait til it leafs out in a few weeks. Taste the buds, yellow will have a wintergreen taste

[BrutemanAl]

It could well be, like most around here I know the delicate little white birches, but this is probably the first yellow birch I've ever laid eyes on! Are your monster yellow birches also big gnarly things like mine? If so then I'm guessing that's what it is:confused:

Just doing a quick search on google , i would say it is a yellow birch

[BC Birch Tapper]

One last thing to do before the season ends.....make some vino. Put a batch on last night & still have two that have been maturing since last year & gradually improving with age, as we all do....with the exception of my knees which are not getting any better I'm afraid. Hauling sap buckets seems to have a lot to deal with that. Next year I will have to expend some $$ to pay for sap haulers as it takes too big of a toll on my appendages. I'm fine with everything else, just hauling buckets is getting too painful. I guess that will be something to deal with next year.
it seems that much of the younger generation doesn't have much of a work ethic...but I'm sure they could out text many of us with their opposable thumbs. We had a couple of 18 year old boys from the city helping up pick up square bales a couple of years back & it took 2 of them to lift 1 bale. My 10 year old daughter at the time informed them that " they suck" & got on with it & showed them up quite nicely. She made me proud!

[Galena]

...We had a couple of 18 year old boys from the city helping up pick up square bales a couple of years back & it took 2 of them to lift 1 bale. My 10 year old daughter at the time informed them that " they suck" & got on with it & showed them up quite nicely. She made me proud!

Baahahaaahahahaaa!! Not surprised in the slightest that 2 18-yr-old boys could be outdone by a hardy, farm-raised 10-yr-old girl :-) Bet they died of shame (or should have). I used to work with horses and it was nothing to spend 8 hrs a day or more just doing hay. Usually in the field I'm the stacker and stacked 4 bales high, sometimes 5. Also I spent many summers doing the work of 5 people, because the 4 so-called *working* students had to be constantly chased after to do their work and they usually did it half-assed.

[MillbrookMaple]

Reporting in from the states. We pulled our taps today and did our last boil on the evaporator. I have 10 gallons of about 45 brix syrup and 5 gallons of 66.7% finished and filtered syrup. I would expect once I finish and filter the rest we should end up around 12 total gallons for the season. We figured that the week before we tapped was a good week but we were still cleaning up from maple season. I also dumped a couple of days of sap because the 4x4 broke on the sap hauler and we couldn't collect for a few days. 320 taps and I figured that we would have been closer to 20 gallons if we had started on time and not had so many problems. Lessons learned:
1. RO holds about 10 gallons of concentrate and we should get a drain that we can empty the RO into buckets instead of chasing out the concentrate with permeate.
2. Buckets run better than tubing.
3. Buckets suck to collect when you have a day job.
4. Don't let people try syrup before finishing and filtering.
5. We bought some light Alaska birch syrup on ebay. We found that our syrup was lighter in color than that but it was about 3 times more stronger in flavor. I'm not sure what that means. It was like the difference between Light amber maple syrup and Grade B in taste, except theirs looked like Grade C and ours looked about like Grade B. I guess I am going to have to buy from a couple more producers to compare.

[Scribner's Mountain Maple]

I was able to bring my first batch of Birch syrup to a reality last night. I drew off two gal at 67 brix off the arch. It's the first I have ever seen of Birch Syrup so I was wondering if someone could answer a few questions for me.

1. Consistency? it seems thin even at 67 brix? is this normal?
2. Seems very bitter, is this normal? Smelled nutty when cooking, but seems bitter when finished.
3. So far I have collected about 7 or 8 gpt. My snow just melted last week, and the peepers have been out for a week. Bugs just starting to come out. When is it done? what kills the season? Temps for me are 30's at night 50-60's during day. Do they dry up before the sap becomes buddy? Or will they keep running and running. It's a new taste to me so I wouldn't know if what I made is good, and how to tell when it goes bad...

4. More of an observation than a question. I noticed that the maples were still running alright on my hill when I put a test tap in a birch that was also running well. I think for Maple producers to make any production with Birch they are going to have to be right on top of making the switch at seasons end to maximize both seasons, or would have to set up two systems for collection and processing to handle the simultaneous sap flows. I ran it on my vacuum and wouldn't say it increased the flow. I will say that since there is so much gas in the sap, that it got it from point A (tree) to point B (releaser) much faster than gravity would have. And that helped to keep sap fresher I think.

Thanks for any information.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Birch is primarily fructose & glucose which is much thinner & less viscous ( thick) than maple which is primarily sucrose.
The overall flavour is much different than maple and it is not a bad idea to try 1 or 2 from folks that have been doing it for a while.

Most people I talk to do not finish their syrup on the evaporator but use a more consistent & lower heat source to finish. It is a much different taste than maple as it is a different tree & different sugars.
The season may overlap with maples depending upon location.
At the end of the season the sap will start to ferment, smell yeasty & get cloudy. When pouring sap through a filter you will notice a slower rate of flow at a certain point as it changes.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Birch Beer
Well for decades now I have been purchasing products from a variety of breweries, however recently our newly formed microbrewery purchased some birch syrup to make a birch syrup stout. Barkerville Brewery has only been open for a few months and it is getting lots of attention and is using many locally sourced ingredients in their brew. It provides something to quench your thirst after a long day in the sugar shack.

[BC Birch Tapper]

Inquiry from Norway
We had an inquiry from Norway recently from folks that want to start tapping birch trees there. They inquired about how big to get and all the ins and outs of producing Birch Syrup. I relayed to them what I do to many folks.....start small, learn the process and the next year take steps to increase. Typically at this time of year I will get an inquiry from somebody who has never tapped a tree in their life that wants to start out tapping 1000 trees. My response is typically the same....start small, learn, then evolve. We have provided numerous birch tapping workshops and one on one workshops as well which I wish we had the opportunity to do before we started out. It would have answered a few questions earlier on in the process. People appreciate the information and it helps them plan how to make things fit in their world. Not everybody who has come to a workshop has started a operation, many however tap birch just for the real or perceived health benefits associated with drinking the sap

[BC Birch Tapper]

Well, normally this week I would be getting ready to tap our birch trees but our weather has been so cool I would anticipate that we are at least a week behind schedule. Still very cold temps and not even close to starting. with tons of snow.
We're supposed to get some warmer temps this week which is what we need to start. The ground has to thaw before we begin. The streams swell and the low spots in the fields follow up with water and then it is......"game on"

[BC Birch Tapper]

Game on! We tapped around 100 trees today and will put in a bunch more tomorrow. We've had interest from some micro breweries who use it in their beer making and it is getting good reviews which is a win for all concerned. Should collect in a couple of days & fire up the evaporator. I do like this time of year.

[BC Birch Tapper]

We've got about 275 trees tapped now but not much for flow so far. It looks like we're a bit early, but we're off on a holiday next week so you have to make hay while the sun shines so this year will be what it will be. We're pulling in about 400 to 500 litres a day but it is still quite cool and lots of snow still in the bush. I don't miss staying up until midnight to get everything done either.

[KevinS]

We're cleaning up the sugar shack and starting to get ready to start tapping white birch for our 3rd season. That's right White Birch (Betula paperiferia, paper birch, canoe birch) Typically Birch starts flowing after Maple, which in our area is the Month of April.
Birch has a much lower sugar content than Maple, typically birch is 100 to 1.
We live in Cental BC where no maple grows other than ornamental planted versions. We tap about 200 trees & enjoy the experience on our 2x6 wood fired evaporator.
The end product & taste is different than sugar maple but it sells for a much higher price tag ( $60-$100/litre).
The southern part of BC & Vancouver Island has Big leaf maple which has similar properties to Sugar maple & flows typically in February-March. It too fetches a tidy sum at the farm gate, but there are very few producers so the demand is much greater than the supply. As such it doesn't last long on local store shelves.
Best of luck for the season

website: www.moosemeadowsfarm.ca
Good luck!
I want to try it down here also.
I was shocked today. I saw 8.5 oz Canadian pure maple syrup in the store here for 3.99 for 8.5 oz. what

[BC Birch Tapper]

we find that many folks are giving it a go. We've sold numerous copies of the birch syrup procuction manual in several different countries. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but maple doesn't grow everywhere & you have to use what you have. My suggestion is to start small & go form there. Best of luck.
We're pulling in around 400-500 litres a day off of just under 300 trees which is not great, but I can get through it each day. It is a cool spring but the weather does what it does.

[MillbrookMaple]

we are having a terrible time with the syrup close to done foaming up this year. the last 3 year we have not had this happen. Any suggestions? explainations?

[BC Birch Tapper]

How are you finishing it? I would recommend a very low heat and just simmering. I find the higher the tems when finishing may cause this to occur. Also birch only has to be taken to 60 deg Brix which may assist as well.

[BC Birch Tapper]

All in for 2014
Everything is pulled after a short season on our end due to life and priorities. Will have all cleaned & stored away for the season. The flow has been low and later than previous years. We could have gone on for perhaps another week, but the rest is always welcomed.

[Cedar Eater]

There don't seem to be many Michiganders tapping birches, but one guy pointed me to this thread. I just finished reading and I'm glad I did. I plan to tap a few birches this year and hopefully I've gleaned all the important stuff. Thanks to those who've added to it.