Alcohol from wood-sap

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BarnabyRude

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I was watching country file last Sunday afternoon (U.K T.V) and they showed you a team drilling holes into ash trees at a 45 degree angle and attaching a pipe to them and into a bucket.
The sap would drip down the pipe into the bucket and they said they can yield up to 5 liters from one tree

They took the sap off to a local refinery where they distilled it but said you can drink it neat as it is

It all sound to good to be true, anyone know anything about it please?
 
"Distilling" is A) Illegal and B) Not allowed on this Forum ... :thumb:

... but using sap and foraging other bits of the countryside to make wine IS permitted and can be massive fun.

Check out this Thread ...

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=60905&highlight=birch+wine

With regard to the sap from trees, apparently the Russian nation's thirst for Birch Sap Wine (which is supposed to taste like a fine champagne) resulted in thousands of square miles of birch forest being killed off during the early part of the last century!

Personally, I wouldn't try it unless it was from a tree in my own back garden, because passing yobs have apparently been known to piddle into the collection bucket. :doh:

Enjoy the Thread though! :thumb:
 
It may seem obvious, but you have to be careful in picking your trees. Some will be poisonous.

Cherry Laurel (sometimes confused with Bay Laurel - which we use in cooking) is packed full of juicy cyanide and benzaldehyde.
 
Distilling seems to be illegal "in the eu ".....will that change when we leave?

Not while money making distillers fund and lobby the political parties!

Lobbying by the distillery companies is the only reason why cannabis was included in the list of illegal substances back in the early 1900's!

"Turkey don't vote for Christmas!" and distillers aren't going to let their puppets legalise home distilling either! :doh:
 
It may seem obvious, but you have to be careful in picking your trees. Some will be poisonous.

Cherry Laurel (sometimes confused with Bay Laurel - which we use in cooking) is packed full of juicy cyanide and benzaldehyde.
Silver birch trees are safe and fine to take sap from,done it myself as I have a big bugger at the bottom of my garden:thumb:
 
Silver birch trees are safe and fine to take sap from,done it myself as I have a big bugger at the bottom of my garden:thumb:

I also have a an over large Silver Birch in the back garden. It is a pain and tapping the sap seems like a very good idea indeed. The tree is far too large, we should never have allowed it to grow so big and suck so many nutrients out of the garden and so much sunlight out of the lawn.

Any tips on the methodology on this one, Godsdog?
 
I tapped three silver birches today. Unfortunate, I think we missed the boat, as they only flow in the first three weeks of March. Two of them were dry, and the one that did flow didn't give a lot. Not enough for birch sap wine anyway, so we drank it instead.
 
I had a pine sap pale ale a two a beer festival last weekend. It was interesting, sort a deeper/richer pine flavour than you get out of piney hops
 
I also have a an over large Silver Birch in the back garden. It is a pain and tapping the sap seems like a very good idea indeed. The tree is far too large, we should never have allowed it to grow so big and suck so many nutrients out of the garden and so much sunlight out of the lawn.

Any tips on the methodology on this one, Godsdog?
As ianM has said in his post its a bit too late now late Feb/ early march is the best window for sapping the silver birch,just when its waking up again after winter
 
As ianM has said in his post its a bit too late now late Feb/ early march is the best window for sapping the silver birch,just when its waking up again after winter

OK - maybe next year. Many thanks for the advice.

Not the first time I've thought about it though. I have a vague recollection of Ray Mears doing something similar?

Bri could remember better than me this time?
 
I tapped three silver birches today. Unfortunate, I think we missed the boat, as they only flow in the first three weeks of March. Two of them were dry, and the one that did flow didn't give a lot. Not enough for birch sap wine anyway, so we drank it instead.

Well I can't be the only one that's intrigued, what did it taste like and what was the consistency of it? Tried to obtain some myself years ago when I used to make wine but left it too late in the spring.
 
Well I can't be the only one that's intrigued, what did it taste like and what was the consistency of it? Tried to obtain some myself years ago when I used to make wine but left it too late in the spring.

The flavour is subtle. Thin like water, but sweeter with a slight mineral taste. Very refreshing. The guy I went with is a tree surgeon and he said that if it was in flow, instead of going to the shop to buy water he would just tap a birch. I can see why, it is thirst quenching for sure. You shouldn't drink it by the pint though, as apparently it has a laxative effect, which I guess isn't particularly welcome if you're stuck up a tree.
 
So I see silver birch is used hear, but I get the impression that no sap is produced after the leaves start to bud.

How did you make it? Or did you drink it neat?

On the tv program they did not show distillation, all it showed was them boiling it in a pan.
 
So I see silver birch is used hear, but I get the impression that no sap is produced after the leaves start to bud.

How did you make it? Or did you drink it neat?

On the tv program they did not show distillation, all it showed was them boiling it in a pan.

They wouldn't show any distillation because, unless you have a licence, it's illegal!

They were probably boiling it to sterilise it and reduce it down to a syrup. The syrup could then be:

1) Used neat on pancakes.

2) Fermented to make a wine.

3) Mixed with water, boiled with hops and fermented to produce a beer.

4) Mixed with a small amount of water and fermented to produce a high ABV mash that could be distilled by the distilling company. (IMHO this would be a complete waste of the sap because the distilling process would remove 99% of the flavour. Even Scottish Whisky gets most of its colour and flavour from the barrel it is stored in for a number of years.)
 
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