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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.
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.
just wondering ken, what are your beer & wine recipes?
wouldn't mind trying
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.:)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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:
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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. :)
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.
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,
:)
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 # 3Quote:
Originally Posted by KenWP
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.
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.
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!
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
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.
:)
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.
Do you use the same brix count for birch as maple?
Thanks Dave
whats the sugar content of birch sap
whats the sugar content of birch sap? Wahts the best kind of birch to tap?
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
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.
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
Is there a way to do it with a thermometer like maple?
If so what degree are you looking to finish at?
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.
Thanks Ken, I should probably bite the bullet & buy a hydrometer anyways
what do they go for?
About $15 ~ $17 locally for a hydrometer.
- Bryan
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?