Birch Tapping one Month Away

[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.