Amazing. Still running. Next year I will definitely give it a go. The catch is going to be how to have the sap store well over time. For example, it’s 73 degrees today and the sap is running, but at those temperatures there is no way it will store well over time. The other major issue I forsee is with bugs. When I removed the buckets after a week, of just leaving them on and letting it go – due to being too busy and giving up on this project – the buckets were filled with bugs. I mean filled. I think I’ll need to look into those sap sacks…
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Honestly it was completely due to burn out. I’m done. I did collect a bunch of sap and ran it through the RO machine. Probably obtained enough sap/concentrate to get 1/2 a gallon of birch syrup. I just couldn’t find the time and it’s no longer cold enough for the sap to keep for long periods of time. So there is much more to consider during this time of year when it comes to birch sap. Going to cut my losses, clean the buckets and put everything away and work on prepping a better way to retain my heat so I can boil faster next year.
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Been at it two days now. I have three trees that fill up my buckets and another 4 that do next to nothing. The black and white birch are the producers while the silver ones – in a more wooded location though – are barely doing anything. Regardless, I have about 20 or so gallons of sap I’ll need to run through the RO system tonight after I make one more collection – Maybe 30 gallons by tonight. I’m a little busy as the weather has gotten warmer, the birch sap I doubt will keep for long due to the warm weather. At this point, not sure why I’m even…
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I put up a couple of buckets on some birch trees to give an indicator on when it starts running, so only then would I put up the rest. Yesterday it started to really run. I put up 7 three gallon sap buckets to collect. The birch trees out in the sun are really running right now. The ones in the woods are trickling, but barely. The way the trees in the sun are running I’m thinking I can fill a 3 gallon bucket in a single day. Doesn’t matter if it’s a white or black birch, they’re both running just as fast. Of course this comes at a horrible…
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I’ve mentioned about tapping birch trees to a few folks and you would think I was making things up… Not one person has heard of birch syrup. So just in case you fall into that camp: Yes, birch syrup is thing. It’s bigger on the west coast – Think Alaska west coast – where maple trees do not exist, but birch is in abundance. Birch syrup is also very expensive due to the birch tree’s sugar content being so low. Instead of Maples 40:1 ratio (40 gallons of sap to 1 gallon of syrup), Birch finds itself at 100:1 – ouch! To top that off with the fact that birch…
