We have sweet birch trees on our souther tier New York property. We would like to tap them but don't know what to do after that. Do you boil the sap or not? Do you ferment the sap? If so, how. Any books we could reference? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-- Cindy DuBois (cd1455@yahoo.com), January 14, 2001

Answers

dont know about the beer,, but birch syrup is great,, use it just like maple. Maybe from that you make the beer?

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), January 14, 2001.

I've sen birch beer like root beer for sale, but not an alcoholic beer.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), January 14, 2001.

try euell gibbons "stalking the wild asparagus"

-- Todd Schut (martini@tir.com), May 08, 2001.

You can tap sweet birches just like any maple. In fact, any tree in existance can be tapped and made syrup from, the maple is the most efficient, however (and not very, being about 60 gallons to make 1 gallon syrup). The trees should be a good size diametre around before tapping. To make the syrup, just collect sap and boil it down until it reaches the desired taste and consistency. My family has always boiled one pot almost all down, then kept diluting it about 2 or 3 times (filling it back up when it goes down). We can make about 2 or 3 gallons a year from 7 or so trees. Email me if you have any other questions :) (Note: Birch beer is not made from sap!)

-- Dave Anderson (jedikayakr@hotmail.com), August 20, 2001.