Alcohol stoves: who uses, makes?

[Ad Astra]

Recently got the Esbit alcohol stove and cook set. (Did not need. Amazon Black Friday thing).

Now I already HAD a few alcohol stoves - the Whitebox stove for example, is pretty good - but the Esbit rig has two pots, windscreen and an insert for using Esbit fuel cubes.

The brass burner, in particular, is pretty good: has a snuffer/regulator on top.

I've made a few alky stoves out of catfood cans, etc. Likely you have too. But I was afraid my Pepsi can one would get crushed (it still likely will) in a bug out bag or overstuffed light pack. And the Whitebox stove has disappeared into some survival kit, probably in the car. Somewhere.

Any fuel tips?

I'd bought a large can of denatured alky, and then found the per-ounce price of yellow bottle HEET is actually cheaper ... and it brought water to a boil quicker in one test. Sheesh.

Who uses alky stoves? Which one?


AA

 

[bryant]

I make them and use them as a back up. I make the simple penny stoves out of beer/soda cans. They work in a pinch and I always carry a couple of ounces of the yellow bottle Heet as fuel. I carry a bush buddy wood gas copy that I built as my primary stove.

 

[SmoovD]

I have a couple but tend to reach for a mini biomass gasifying stove instead. That said, I use denatured alcohol from the hardware store or yellow Heet. The cleaner burning the better.

 

[Cphobes]

Love playing with them (MBD, homemade), including esbit stoves too but I just haven't had a reliable shoulder weather/season alcohol stove. Really cold water and/or really windy conditions just seem to defeat any attempts at hot water. I've usually grabbed the canister stove and small canister for weekend trips.

Lately I'm looking at cookless menu's but I still love my hot coffee and hot tea so I may consider them again just because for 2 or 4 cups of hot water a day (as opposed to cooking a meal) they may just be what I need.

-Stephen

 

[Deltaboy]

HEET works great. My is homemade from a pair of Fosters Beer Cans I got from the Neighbor.

 

[bryant]

Fosters Beer Can pot is my next project. Just need to order some rings from one of the suppliers.

 

[Ad Astra]

There's a million ways to make one, but I had to laugh yesterday: it's a paint can (new), with a roll of toilet paper stuffed inside, and doused with a bottle of rubbing alcohol.

of course it worked!

Wind is the bane of these low-power devices, it seems, but with the right windscreen, effective.

Its said they're safe to use indoors, more or less. Alky stoves have been used in boats for many years, and boat cabins can be airtight by design. They consume oxygen, but pollutants not so much.

Might go run it in that chilly downstairs bathroom ....


AA

 

[Ad Astra]

Well. Had a day off. Picked up my pack and headed for the woods with the new Esbit stove!

Vietnamese food was the call. Personally, I love the "Nan Ru" flavor peanuts from the Asian market...



Found a nice clearing. I've been very "situationally aware" since seeing a bear near here, but decided ain't no bear ruining my rare day off ...



Stove fired up nice. Made a kind of windbreak with pack and packaging. Temp was 50, cold for us.



The dehydrated Pho was decent. Added 24 oz. of boiled water and was glad to eat piping hot food in the cold!



Esbit kit worked perfect! Used about 1.75 oz. of HEET to boil 24 oz of water in less than 15 min.


AA




EDIT: Gratuitous pic of our woods. Neat trail!

 

[bryant]

Well. Had a day off. Picked up my pack and headed for the woods with the new Esbit stove!

Vietnamese food was the call. Personally, I love the "Nan Ru" flavor peanuts from the Asian market...



Found a nice clearing. I've been very "situationally aware" since seeing a bear near here, but decided ain't no bear ruining my rare day off ...



Stove fired up nice. Made a kind of windbreak with pack and packaging. Temp was 50, cold for us.



The dehydrated Pho was decent. Added 24 oz. of boiled water and was glad to eat piping hot food in the cold!



Esbit kit worked perfect! Used about 1.75 oz. of HEET to boil 24 oz of water in less than 15 min.


AA




EDIT: Gratuitous pic of our woods. Neat trail!

Very nice! Thanks for taking us along.

 

[Ad Astra]

Thanks. I never would have found this forest if I didn't have a precious couple days off one Christmas couple years ago.

The pho looked better than that; lots of little steak squares and noodles, not showing.


AA

 

[MrSpeedy]

Maybe you guys can answer this for me. When using and alcohol stove, how do you know how much fuel to use (when heating water) and how much to bring on a trip? I realize that the second part of the question depends partly on how much water you are boiling, so let's assume coffee in the morning, a dehydrated meal (Packit Gourmet) in the evening, and a cup of cider in the evening per day.

 

[bryant]

Maybe you guys can answer this for me. When using and alcohol stove, how do you know how much fuel to use (when heating water) and how much to bring on a trip? I realize that the second part of the question depends partly on how much water you are boiling, so let's assume coffee in the morning, a dehydrated meal (Packit Gourmet) in the evening, and a cup of cider in the evening per day.

Can't really tell you how much fuel you will use. You have to test it at home (part of the fun of alcohol stoves) before going to the field. There is some variance in each stove as to how it burns and how much fuel is needed to boil. I use yellow HEET exclusively and have two bottles that I carry it in. One is an 8 ounce squeeze bottle I purchased at REI and the other is a 2 ounce from the same. I use the 2 ounce to fill my stove with the desired amount of fuel and the larger bottle carries my total supply and refills the smaller. Go grab some fuel and cook some meals or make some drinks at home and keep track of what you use and burn times. Experiment with the amount you use and keep in mind that these stoves are somewhat temperature sensitive and do not like really cold weather and won't burn as efficiently.

 

[Cphobes]

Most alcohol stoves are quoted at 1/2 ounce of fuel per cup (8oz), so the standard usually is 1 ounce for two cups to a boil. Most stoves in a controlled environment can do that. It's outdoors that gets a bit wacky with wind and temp.

I budget at least 1/2 ounce per cup I plan to boil on a trip. Include coffee, breakfast, lunch, diners and maybe an extra per day. So typically I would drink in one day 2 cups of water for coffee, 1 cup for oatmeal, 2 cups for a freeze dried diner and 2 cups for an afternoon tea/coffee. Lunch for me is usually a non-cook meal. So 7 cups = 3.5 ounces, I'd round up to 4 ounces of fuel per day. That's a lot, in the summer maybe I don't have the afternoon tea/coffee but definitely in the shoulder seasons (spring/fall).

I have found most of the bottles you buy at REI are NOT sealed tight, meaning they will leak in your pack or pack pocket. To Test: put cap on tight then squeeze, if you hear air escaping, it'll leak. The simplest and cheapest is to re-use a 20oz soda bottle which can hold enough for up to a 5 day trip. Remove the label and mark it "POISON" so it's not confused with water, some people put dye in it also. I marked 4 ounce measures on the bottle so I can eyeball how much I have left.

NOTE: If you use a 20oz soda bottle for your drinking water choose another container, I don't use soda bottles except for fuel.

In your cook kit bring a lighter and a small 1 ounce measuring cup, you know the ones that come with your cough syrup or kids medicine, 1 tsp = 5 ml, 1 ounce = 30ml though some go up to 30 ml which is perfect.

Use a good windscreen and make a cozy for your pot out of the reflective bubble wrap.

-Stephen

Maybe you guys can answer this for me. When using and alcohol stove, how do you know how much fuel to use (when heating water) and how much to bring on a trip? I realize that the second part of the question depends partly on how much water you are boiling, so let's assume coffee in the morning, a dehydrated meal (Packit Gourmet) in the evening, and a cup of cider in the evening per day.

 

[Legion]

I have a Trangia, but I also make beer can versions which work pretty well, and unlike a DIY penny stove they do not need priming.

 

[MrSpeedy]

Thanks for the help, guys. Made a cat food stove and did some testing (see my other post).

 

[Deltaboy]

Cat food and tuna cans are tougher than those soda can ones.

 

[sooper8]

The Trangia is a great little set up. Not ultralight , but its worth the extra weight/space in my experience

 

[DelayedNeutron]

Looked at the Esbit, have seen a few in action on group trips. I personally went with the Whitebox stove. Have been very pleased. It's a bit unsteady, but for solo cooking with an MSR Ti Kettle it's been perfectly satisfactory for me--about oz and a half will more than boil enough water for a full Mountainhouse meal. May have to take another look at the Esbit.

 

[accunlmtd]

I saw this little jewel at an antique shop. Could not resist mainly due to the patent date Sept 8. 1908. The day happens to be my birthday.
It works very well on denatured alcohol.

Al in colorado

 

[Hoka Hey]

View attachment 777956 View attachment 777955 I saw this little jewel at an antique shop. Could not resist mainly due to the patent date Sept 8. 1908. The day happens to be my birthday.
It works very well on denatured alcohol.

Al in colorado

Wow! Is that pressurized?

Mark