BIRCH SAP WINE Recipes

Just 4 u

Ingredients:
1 gallon birch sap 3 lb. white sugar
2 lemons (or quart of honey)
1 sweet orange 1 Seville orange
1 lb. raisins Yeast and nutrient

Method:
Obtain a wooden beer or wine-barrel tap, a piece of glass or plastic tubing, or even
a piece of bamboo cane with the pith removed. With a brace and bit of the same diameter
as tap or tube bore a hole into the trunk of the tree to just beyond the inside of the bark,
and insert the tube, which should incline slightly downwards to allow the sap to run
easily. In March, when the sap is rising, it should be possible to draw off a gallon or so of
liquor in two or three days. Plug the hole afterwards.
Peel the oranges and lemons (discard all white pith) and boil the peel in the sap
for 20 minutes. Add enough water to restore the volume to one gallon, then pour into a
crock containing the sugar and chopped raisins. Stir until sugar is dissolved; when the
liquor has cooled to 70 degrees F. add the fruit juice and yeast. Cover the crock with a
thick cloth and keep in a warm place until fermentation has quietened. Then strain into
fermenting jar and fit trap. Leave for about six months, then siphon off and bottle. Use
strong bottles, tie down the corks, and store the bottles on their sides for at least another
six months before sampling.
Sycamore and walnut sap wines can be made in the same manner and an excellent
beer can be produced by reducing the sugar to 1 lb.