Mechanic Mike's Pop-can Alcohol Stove

I just read the great little instruction sheet that came with the stove, and they advise dousing it with water to extinguish immediately; apparently you can't blow the stove out, and it won't go out even in wind. I would guess dousing with water works both because you dilute the alcohol, and because you lower the temperature of the alcohol and stove, thus decreasing the vapor available to burn. I still prefer to just cap it if possible, seems like less to go wrong.

Definitely be careful with what you set this stove on though. It is lightweight and could tip over easily.
 
great stuff Russell...:thumbup: nice way to spend a day... foggy or not.. those little pop can stoves are cool...
 
Ther is a tutorial about making these on a sticky I think. I made some out of the 12 and the 24 oz. Heineken cans from their instructions and they work great. I use grain alcohol because it burns cleaner and you can use it in the field to sanitize AND add a little to your coffee etc.:D--KV
 
I made 3 or 4 versions of these stoves a while back and they do Rock! I found the best way to extinguish it is with an overturned cup, it goes out in a couple seconds
 
I got into making these simple alcohol stoves to use in case a hurricane knocked out power for several days. Made the beer can pots wrapped with fiberglass wick as well and gave a few to friends. I made the open top, the penny stove, and a wick stove. They all work well and aren't very hard to make. I use only Heet as a fuel, inexpensive and easy to come by. Sorry you can't see the stove due to the windscreen protecting the stove.

Here is a pic of my wife and I taking a break from riding around the Smokey Mountains outside Gatlinburg. Had a great time and the wife got to see a small black bear as well.

GATLINBURG063.jpg
 
Looks like a very mice evening on the beach! I've used the Pepsi-G can stove on a few longer trips now. We've got other cannister and white gas stoves, but we really haven't used any of them in years, even car camping!

You definitely got better results with 91% isopropryl than the times I've used it in a pinch (only suitable fuel available at limited resupply points mid-trip). I've found isopropyl to be sooty and not very hot, but for a cup of milk it would be fine. Don't forget that the yellow bottles of HEET are an excellent and surprisingly cost-effective source of methanol. That being said, I usually just buy quarts of denatured alcohol from the painting section at Home Depot.

I've noticed a large performance increase from isopropyl to methanol, but no noticeable increase among different methanol sources (HEET, dentatured, "marine grade" denatured, various other methanol auto products). There are people who measure these differences but they all seem pretty small.

Alcohol stoves are great!
 
Last edited:
Good to see lots of people have made these :thumbup: I need to meet-up with Boomstick to make a few of my own :)

@tradja - The isopropyl was definitely sooty, it blackened the bottoms of our cups. I'm looking forward to picking up some HEET, and yes, I'll be sure to pick up the yellow bottles (in case others don't know, the red bottle is isopropyl based, the yellow bottles are methanol based). :thumbup:

I'm loving this little stove, can't wait to make a few :D
 
I have both a Swedish surplus version and a Vargo XE stove. The Swedish version is nice because it has a contained fuel storage. Best way to avoid having to extinguish it is knowing your stove's burn times and measuring the fuel to either cook or just bring a cup of water to boil. I hate having to waste fuel (especially if you're backpacking). The diminutive Vargo stove gives gets me 4 cups of water to a rolling boil (moderate 60 degree temps and with a wind shield.

Cool little stove though...I wouldn't mind trying one out...

ROCK6
 
95% ethanol is availiale locally and cheap. Burns so good! I even had to add a couple drops of water to make it burn slower.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top