First attempt at cooking with an alcohol stove.

[JD Mandrell]

Gave this a try today, worked really well.

Used a small folding emergency stove, with a 3oz can for a burner. Just used it as is this time, but looking at some of the designs I've seen online.
The fuel in the black bottle is a generic brand name version of HEET in the yellow bottle.





A little windy here today, so I had to improvise a windbreak with some concrete blocks.



Brought the water to a boil in about 6-7 minutes.



Done and ready to eat.


Package hook on a Victorinox SAK makes a great pot bail hook!


Never posted a video before, not sure if this will work.


From lighting the burner, to finishing eating, was about 23 minutes and took about 2oz of fuel. I look forward to trying other burner designs to see if they are more efficient than just an open top can.

 

[Quirt]

Nice job! Buy bulk denatured alcohol by the gallon at local hardware store and your set to go. It will be considerably lesser expensive. Alcohol burns hot, is odorless, leaves no visible smoke, and has extremely low light signature which is why I like it for cooking in a spike camp when hunting. However you have to have a really good wind break or it will take an extremely long time to boil and go thru a lot of fuel.

In the wild I just make a wind- break out of whatever I can find laying around. Rocks, limbs, snags etc. No need to pack one more thing to get lost, left behind, add weight/bulk, or break. The little trangia is a kick butt stove and not that expensive. My kit all nests inside my cook pot.

 

[Les Snyder]

if you have to rely on 70% isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, the design typically needs a pre heater screen... the one shown has a double ring of 1/4" hardware cloth for pot support (you need to cover the top) and a single ring centered....lots of air low in the combustion chamber (hand held paper punch).... the screen needs to be preheated to a glowing stage before placing pot... there is an optical illusion to the pic due to reflection off the Pyrex pot, there is only slightly more than 1/4"of screen above the lip of the can... if denatured alcohol is used, most any of the "penny stove" designs work pretty well

 

[JD Mandrell]

More fun testing a different stove.

Coghlan's Folding Stove



Much bigger and sturdier than the Emergency Stove above.





Everything was the same as the first test, except for the stove. This one did boil water and cook the Ramen noodles in about half the time, and used far less fuel, which I assume was due to its closed up design being more efficient in channeling the heat up to the pot.

 

[North Arm Knives]

Neat! I've been meaning to get a small on of these the bottom of my pack for day trips hiking fishing and back country skiing. Good to see they work reasonably well. Fuel consumption doesn't sound to bad either.

-mike

 

[LG&M]

Very nice, we made some with out scout troop last weekend. They seemed to enjoy it.
Have you seen http://zenstoves.net/

 

[wildmanh]

I really like the looks of the second stove that you posted. I'll have to keep my eye out for them. Thanks!

 

[JD Mandrell]

I really like the looks of the second stove that you posted. I'll have to keep my eye out for them. Thanks!

I got that one on Amazon for just under $10.00.

It is basically the same as the classic Sterno folding stove. I do like it way better than the first one, that little one is light, but folding it into the position to set just a cup on it, it doesn't take much for it to want to collapse.

 

[upnorth]

Cool. I have never used that type of set up. I remember finding a little alc beer can stove a few years back. And I have the same gas line anti freeze in my trunk every winter. Toss it in when it get -30\-40.

 

[HeavyHanded]

Very cool, I use a pop can design most of the time, is very efficient if a bit slow. A good windscreen that sits close enough to increase heat feedback is key.

This is the best place to check out designs and get you thinking.
http://zenstoves.net/

This is what most of mine look like - can set a pot directly on it and the flame comes out the side holes, or use a stand and the flames come out the top. With a tight fitting wind screen it can rolling boil 1.5 quarts of ice cold water with about 1.5ozs denatured alcohol.

and I did a lot of experimenting with the cyclone ones - they are real neat but very temperamental.

This is what they look like when running good

Lots of fun, and inspired the design of my new twig stove -that will also double as a heat shield for my popcan stove from time to time. The air gets pulled in through partially hidden inlets near the bottom, puts a little spin on it and (hopefully) increases air velocity.

 

[JD Mandrell]

Cool designs! I got my Trangia Stove Kit in the mail today, hoping to test drive it next day or so. We've got another round of ice/snow storms coming over the weekend.