Tapping in Quebec 2010

[Bernard]

Hi, it's time for tapping here. First tap today and finish tomorrow. 300 taps like last year. Tap one tree sunday and the sap run, it have 4 inches of sap in the bucket today. Forecast is good for the week-end and next week. About 3 foots of snow in the brush and walk without snow-shoes. Bernard

[KenWP]

You must have way more snow then we do. Ours is almost gone and sap has run for a week now. I want to try for 200 taps but I have to work up to that first. Had my best run today and it was short due to the temp but the trees poured sap. Every tree put out which is a first. Now if they put out a lot i am in trouble.
It's -5 right now so if it warms up any tomorrow will be another good day. I am trying to figure out how to get home early to boil and miss the french theater.

[Bernard]

Hi, start collect the sap sunday, 2 barrels of 45 gallons of sap, yesterday, 2 and half barrels and today, only one. The forecast is for little rain or snow until monday, next week more cold. Bernard in Quebec

[Bernard]

Hi, 10 gallons of syrup made until now. We have a snowstorm since yesterday, 1 and half feet of damp snow and strong wind. Forecast for tomorrow is +6 C and sunny, good for the sap running. Bernard in Quebec

[KenWP]

I had a good run of sap today finally. Am on new trees in most cases as the old ones started to bud. Just further from home. Supposed to freeze hard tonight finally and will see what I get tomorrow. The weekend is supposed to get real cold so probbably no sap then untill Monday.

[Brian Ledoux]

bernard,
Just curious, where in quebec are you? Near Trois Riviers? -brian

[CBOYER]

Here's my numbers to date:
5,5 us gallons of Syrup made
Ratio sap/syrup is good 31:1
Refills and sweeten pans, waiting for sap to continue
sap is running very low, never fill more than half a bucket on best trees
meteo here seems good for next two days, but warming for nights after
still having 1 ft of snow on ground.
Last year, first boil was on 29 of march!
Very different this year.:confused:

[KenWP]

Another place I have no idea where it is. This province has so many towns not on the map it's not funny. I am up to 17 gallons now and lots of sap left to boil if I ever get it home.

[CBOYER]

Milan is near mount Mégantic, 60 miles east of Sherbroke

[KenWP]

Almost in my part of the county. I am west of Coaticook.

[802maple]

Milan is where Lapierre's sugarbush is. Kenwp you need to go see that operation 140,000 running right in the sugarhouse, I have been there when it is really running, quite impressive.

[slw105]

Finished my last boil last night. 26 Taps and ended up with 24 litres (6.3 US Gallons). I am pretty happy with that considering the funny weather this year. I have never collected sap in a T-shirt before.

Are you done now?

Stephen

[KenWP]

Proabbly finished running tomorrow. Taps still dripping a bit tonight when I emptied every thing. Will gather tomorrow again and see what happens. Have to boil off a good bit and then finished.

[Bernard]

bernard,
Just curious, where in quebec are you? Near Trois Riviers? -brian

Hi Brian, i'm from Rimouski, about 5 hours, far east, from Trois-Rivière. That the end of the season, +16 yesterday +12 today and +8 for tomorrow. I've tapped 265 this year and made 16 gallon of syrup. Bernard

[KenWP]

I would say I am done here also. Pulled a few taps to put on birchs and they are budding like crazy now. If it froze tonight I might get something but in a week not a chance.

[CBOYER]

after this week end of record temperature 84 F on saturday, all taps are dry
finish whit 10.25 usg of syrup, 34:1 ratio sap syrup.
Now i have to dismantle the temporary shack (built in 2 days) and start sawing logs for the new sugar shack.:D

[KenWP]

For some stupid reason some of the trees with no buds tried to run today. Weird. I pulled a bunch of taps already and hopefully the rest tomorrow night. I beat last year by a bit so am doing okay.

[Bernard]

bernard,
Just curious, where in quebec are you? Near Trois Riviers? -brian

Hi Brian, i'm from Rimouski, much far east from Trois-Rivières. Bernard

[Brian Ledoux]

ok. was just curious bernard. I have a friend in quebec named bernard who speaks english and also makes syrup. I have not heard from him in a while, but he is in Trois Riviers. Thought you might be him! you never know.

[70 Buick]

Hi there gentlemen
Just getting in to this & trying to find some places to look for equipment
I am in Montreal
looking for some stainless pans, is ebay the way to go or are there any local people in Quebec you can recommend?

[KenWP]

SS pans like resturant pans seem to be expensive here. Try some of the returant supply places and see if they have used chaffing pans. I ended up useing ss sinks due to not finding anything around Sherbrooke. I found the sinks work well and stand up to abuse and once I figured out how to solder ss I closed the holes up myself pretty easy.

[heus]

I have always wondered if there were any traders out in the western part of Quebec. I go fishing in Angliers every summer. Its part of the Ottawa river system on Lac de Quinze. I know that there are some locals there that tap but didn't know if anyone on the trader lived anywhere near the place.

[KenWP]

I allways wondered what french people do for fun. Has to explain the large familys. Around here one in 10 speaks english and I am the one. LOL.

[70 Buick]

well I am a true half & half LOL
My Dad and his whole side don't sopeak english
my Mom's side is from England
I remeber an uncle having a sugar shack in the Chateauguay valley when I was a kid
we had a ton of fun helping out collecting the sap & eating the candy on the snow

I guess a sink would have a nice drop down on it also
I wondered about the SS 4" deep holding pans myself, I'll hit the used restasurant stores here in Montreal, just checked the yellow pages no shortage of them thats for sure

What part of La Belle province are you guys in?

[KenWP]

I am south of Sherbrooke and 8 miles north of Stanstead. The reneck part of the country or Cou Rouge.

[70 Buick]

wasn't far from ya last week, I was in Fleurimont closing up the old TD Canada trust

[BryanEx]

Hi there gentlemen
Just getting in to this & trying to find some places to look for equipment
I am in Montreal
Montreal? Dominion & Grimm is in your neighbourhood...

http://www.dominiongrimm.ca

Other places to check out but a little further away would be...

CDL (http://www.cdl-dallaire.com/)
Patrick Phaneuf (http://www.maplesyrupevaporators.com)
WF Mason (http://wfmasonwelding.com)
Atkinson's (http://atkinsonmaple.com/)

If you are looking for used then either the classifieds here on Maple Trader, eBay, Craig's List, or Kijiji.

Hope that helps out.

[802maple]

I just heard from a very reliable source that they are still making syrup on the Golden Road in Maine, so they must be making some in the Northern reaches of the big producers in Quebec. I heard that some of the producers are getting as big a run as they have gotten this year, today.

[KenWP]

They could be as I still have trees that are not budded out yet deep in the back but not enough frost for them to run. If you go east of here into those hills and what you guys call mountains they would probbably be colder then here still. But they say the trees up north of here are budding also. When you say syrup do you mean good syrup or stuff like Theron makes.

[802maple]

I would assume they are making Pennsylvannia Fancy.

[70 Buick]

I would assume they are making Pennsylvannia Fancy.

I'm new at this so I gotta ask
what is Pennsylvannia Fancy.

[KenWP]

It's crap you wouldn't feed your dog but they sell to Jerry for big money. Theron makes barrels of it and you need a gas mask to cook it and a ton of defoamer to keep it in the pan.

[802maple]

Careful Ken careful, I don't want Theron sending Uncle Guido after me. I only got one good knee left.

[KenWP]

LOL you have one more then me then. I couldn't even make PF this year trees just stopped on me when we got over 80 degrees. I have one tree bleeds a bit and that's it.

[70 Buick]

Montreal? Dominion & Grimm is in your neighbourhood...

http://www.dominiongrimm.ca

Other places to check out but a little further away would be...

CDL (http://www.cdl-dallaire.com/)
Patrick Phaneuf (http://www.maplesyrupevaporators.com)
WF Mason (http://wfmasonwelding.com)
Atkinson's (http://atkinsonmaple.com/)

If you are looking for used then either the classifieds here on Maple Trader, eBay, Craig's List, or Kijiji.

Hope that helps out.

Thanks for the links BryanEx
I checked them all out & sent emails looking for info
the only one kind enough to respond was Bill mason, seems like a real nice guy

[KenWP]

Atikisons will respond in a while they are slow. CDL sometimes will and sometimes not. I had to write in french finally for them. I don't deal below borders so never bother contacting US companies. Only problem is doing anything with a maple companies involves a hose and a rubber bag. The prices suck.