Hello All,
I started building a steam hood for my 2x7 evaporator. Hood will be 2x5, over my flue pan only. A copper pipe preheater will be installed inside the hood.
What size should I build my...
Type: Posts; User: Stanbridge
Hello All,
I started building a steam hood for my 2x7 evaporator. Hood will be 2x5, over my flue pan only. A copper pipe preheater will be installed inside the hood.
What size should I build my...
It's too late for me for this season, but am curious about hearing feedbact from those who have started using it.
Would also be curious about how people are dealing with the RO in a sugarhouse...
Hi,
I just noticed this RO on their website. I'm tapping 300 buckets, biggest sap runs will be no more than 400 gallons. Average day would be in the 200g range. I have no power, would have to run...
Stanbridge Station, Quebec (5 miles north of Highgate, VT):
Sugar maple buds have started to swell. Snow cover is gone. Sap has stopped running Monday overnight. 60% of average crop this year....
The data I just received shows 59 taps/acre on 249 acres. 60% of the taps are red maple. Far from ideal, but at least the slope is good.
Thanks Joe. I'm actually waiting for more info on this parcel from my realtor, I'm trying to get my hands on the forestry plan. The land was just harvested, not sure to what extent. I'm guessing the...
Hello all,
I've been looking for that nice piece of land for a while now. Missed out on a few really nice parcels due to bad timing or other uncontrollable factors, but I'm really motivated to...
Here in Quebec nobody uses plastic jugs. Most retail syrup is sold in 540ml cans, like tomato cans. The maple logo is printed on. It will keep forever with no taste whatsoever. We crimp the lids on...
Everything runs on 12V, batteries are already hooked up in parallel, it would be too much hassle to re-rig every time.
Hello All,
I am starting this thread to see if there are many other sugar makers with an off-grid setup. I run my lights and transfer pump off of 12VDC batteries charged by a solar panel. I really...
Tubing and equipment loans are 7 to 10-year terms, so that's how fast it has to pay itself. Not an easy prospect for a startup starting from bare land. Land and sugarhouse loans can be up to...
Thanks for your input everyone.
With today's bulk prices, it seems there's more money to be made installing tubing than pulling sap out of it.
Hello,
Might have found a great piece of land in northern VT. I need to start on a business plan. The woods are fully stocked at around 80-100 taps/acre. All sap would flow down to the potential...
Haven't you all heard of pepper spray???
I like to look at it by price per tap. It seems that if you're paying more that 25-30$ per tap for raw land, the numbers won't add up at the end. If your 6000 taps are on a 100-acre stand and the...
Well, it was not to be for this specific piece of land. We're 10k apart on the price, and I'm not willing to budge as I've already been quite generous with my offer.
The search goes on for that...
Luckily, I am as american as most of you. I was lucky enough to get US citizenship through my mother.
All this advice has been great, many valid suggestions. I will keep you posted on my progress....
I've been sugaring my small sugarbush at home for years (300 taps), so I have a good idea what I'm getting into. I'm big into forest management. Tubing and RO will be new to me however. The lot I'm...
I think we're getting off-track a bit here with the economics of such an operation, might be a good subject for another post. I do welcome the comments however. I do have another stable source of...
I am very fit, so tapping all day, day after day, on a hillside is not an issue. Also, I don't see tapping as being an issue, as it is not a time-sensitive task. It can be done over several weeks....
I'm thinking of taking the plunge on a 5000-tap piece of land. The land itself slopes down to the sugarhouse site, which has roadside power. The plan is to operate it mostly on my own, as my kids are...
This number does not tell the whole story. Because of the production quotas, producers in Quebec are limited in the amount of lb they can deliver to the federation without penalties or delayed...
This is a good point if running an operation with a few thousand taps. But with operations in the tens of thousands of taps, it is quite difficult to get a large percentage of retail sales unless...
I am a Canadian/US citizen living in Quebec a few miles north of the VT border. I recently lost out on a bid to purchase a 20000+ tap piece of land in VT. I'm still looking. The land market is slow...
Quebec Federation has just announced that Grade A bulk price will be 2,95$ CAD for 2017, which converts to about 2,23$ USD. This is what US producers will most likely get this year, assuming the...