Homemade wine recipe: Birch sap wine

Tapping birch trees:

Equipment:

1 gallon demijohn
Length of syphon tube
Drill and bit (use a wood bit just big enough to make a hole that will hold the syphon tube)

Only tap birch trees in the first 2 weeks of March !

Never attempt to tap a birch tree less than 9 inches in diameter. Smaller younger trees cannot handle losing a gallon of sap and you run the risk of seriously damaging or killing the tree

Never tap more than 1 gallon from a single tree in a 1 year period as this can lead to damage of the tree.

If the sap looks cloudy or smells like dog piss discard sap as it's highly likely the tree has an infection

Once you have finished tapping the birch tree you must seal the hole up or risk the tree bleeding out or infection setting in. I use clean unscented wax or a clean piece of wood of appropriate size tapped into the hole with a rubber mallet

Equipment:

10 litre fermenting bucket
1 gallon demijohn
Length of syphon tube
Airlock
Milton tablet in 5 litres of water or 5 Camden tablets per 1 pint of water for cleaning
Weighing scales
Cooking pot (stainless steel)

Ingredients:

1 gallon of birch sap
280ml of white grape concentrate
1.5kilo sugar
2 lemons
2 oranges
Yeast nutrient
Yeast

Music by:

Jeff Kaale

  / jeff-kaale