Pics of your Alcohol stove set up!

steve-in-kville

steve-in-kville

Joined
Dec 25, 2001
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I am doing a fastpacking trip this fall. The plan is to power-hike all day and into the night. No sleeping gear, but we plan to stop for a hot meal and coffee a few times. I'd like to put together an alky stove of some manner. I've made them before from tuna cans, but I'd like to see pics of other's stoves to get some ideas. The most we are heating up is a camp cup full of water.

Also what type of container should I be using to keep my HEET in?

Thanks in advance!!
 
For carrying the fuel pick up a Vargo polyurethane bottle or two . You can find them online for about $2, and they weigh just a tad under 1 oz. each

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alcohol_fuel_bottle-47193.jpg
 
We use a Whitebox alcohol stove shown below. It is made of thick aluminum and I swear I could stand on it and not hurt it. It is very dependable, cost about 20 bucks. In the image shown, that stove has already been used over 1000 times but still looks it top shape. I carry Kleen Strip SLX for fuel and am real happy with it. A narrow neck Nalgene is what works for me. They make a sort of flask shape 8 oz that sit nice in the side pocket of my pack.

It does not need a pot stand and though it looks narrow I have never tipped it, very stable. It does come with a foil windscreen.

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I have found that the wider pot the better for this alcohol stove. The boil times decrease with wider pots significantly.
 
Steve,

Best I can do from my iPhone is post links....

https://flic.kr/p/rc55mA

The burner is a Batchstovez 2.0 which is similar in design to the Boxstove mentioned above. Very light but very durable and efficient.

For fast and light backpacking, I use this stove with a GSI Soloist and a (not shown) windscreen made of a flashing, which fits inside of the pot.

The burner will also work inside of an Emberlit stove with the floor used as a 5th panel. The idea here was to replicate the cone shaped windscreen of the Caldera Cone system and to have alcholol/wood multi-fuel capabilities. In practice, I never use this combination though as I find burning wood to be a PITA when backpacking.

I do carry the Emberlit on fast and light and long XC day trip where an injury could keep us in the winter woods. This gives us the ability to keep a fire going all night if the need presents itself.

If you can deal with the hassle of feeding it and dealing with sooty pots and if it's legal and feasible to burn wood in your area, stoves like the Emberlit are a super light option as you don't need to carry fuel.

I carry alcohol in an old plastic Coke bottle.
 
I have a ti vargo, and I now will be getting one of the bottles from above!
 
I carry Alcohol (moon shine) in a stainless steel flask. If the stove don't keep me warm the shine will. (The last comment was intended as a joke, the use of alcohol can actually reduce your core temp.)
 
The shine I have is 106 and burns well, but not as well as some fuels. But better to have something to consume and burn than just burn alone. My opinion

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
 
mbjannusch said:
The shine I have is 106 and burns well, but not as well as some fuels. But better to have something to consume and burn than just burn alone. My opinion
Click to expand...

106 proof is 47% water. You'd be better off burning isopropyl / rubbing alcohol at 30% water, and I'd never recommend that. If you want one alcohol you can consume which will burn efficiently in a stove look for 190 proof or better. Like Everclear.
 
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I bought a qt. of Everclear for stove fuel once. Best fuel I found; however, at 25 bucks a qt. .....:rolleyes: I liked the idea of using it as a disinfectant or fuel( I don't drink alcohol)but between availability and cost it didn't make much sense.
leghog said:
106 proof is 47% water. You'd be better off burning isopropyl / rubbing alcohol at 30% water, and I'd never recommend that. If you want one alcohol you can consume which will burn efficiently in a stove look for 190 proof or better. Like Everclear.
Click to expand...
 
I carried this cat food can alcohol stove for about 7,000 miles of backpacking and have no complaints with it. It even worked well above 10,000 feet. I would just spill a little alcohol in the rim and it would light fine. EDIT; I just saw the picture of the stove and it looks big! It's not...it's made out of the small cans cat food comes in.
I pretty much stopped carrying a stove altogether back about 2004 I think and went all cold food. I still eat cold food on long distance hikes. It's just easier for me, but I do miss my coffee on cold mornings.

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Here is how I used it for morning coffee. I believe I carried it in this picture for a winter hike in 2010...just 'cause I'm spoiled and wanted hot coffee. I still ate cold food. :)
The shoe did a fine job of holding the Dunkin Donuts coffee cup upright.
I would have coffee and watch morning come before I ever got out of my tent.

U0hK08q.jpg


The stove, lighter, piece of bandana and wind screen fit into the titanium pot. The piece of bandana kept things from rattling.
The coffee filter stayed in the Dunkin Donuts cup when packed for the day.
The shoe got used later in the morning too. Dual purpose, ya know. :)

Here is the link I used to make this one back in 2001.

http://royrobinson.homestead.com/cat_stove.html

I always used the smallest plastic Coke bottle I could find to carry alcohol. Usually about 6 ounces I believe.
The commercially made alcohol container I tried once (I think it was Vargus) leaked.
The Coke bottle never did and was easier to use.

It's very hard for me to justify all this stuff just for hot coffee.
It worked great when I used to cook on the trail, but again, that's just too much work for me. I just want to walk all day.
I carry Starbuck's Via Iced coffee packs now and have learned to like them even though they are sweetened.
 
Love your life Stumps, one day hopefully soon I'll be on that Appalachian Trail, putting miles behind me.
 
Here is one that I just built from 2 aluminum beer bottles...



It has fiberglass between the two walls of the stove to help prevent spills, and the cutout in the top forms a lip that also helps to prevent spills. I am happy so far. It boiled 2 cups of water in 4 minutes (from 2 oz fill). I didn't measure the temp of the tap water, but my other attempts boiled the same in about 10-12 minutes, so this is an improvement...

 
A pepsi can stove I made. You want it to burn blue.

Weighs less than 1/2 ounce (0.4 oz).

Stove%2520Weight.JPG

Stove%2520afire.JPG
 
Ok, I took some shots of my alcohol rigs during an excruciating conference call today.

Three alcohol rigs. Details are in the notes on the Fllkr pages, so click on the pictures for more details.

My tea making rig based on a Batchstovez 1.0 and Stanley pot.
Tea Kit - Packed by Pinnah, on Flickr

Tea Kit - Parts by Pinnah, on Flickr

Tea Kit - Assembled by Pinnah, on Flickr


My 1-2 person rig based on a Batchstovez 2.0 and GSI Solist pot.

2 Person Kit - Packed by Pinnah, on Flickr

2 Person Kit - Parts by Pinnah, on Flickr

2 Person Kit - Assembled by Pinnah, on Flickr


My 3 - 4 person rig based on a Trangia burner, Mojo pot stand and a Open Country 2 quart pot.

4 Person Kit - Packed Up by Pinnah, on Flickr

4 Person Kit - Parts by Pinnah, on Flickr

4 Person Kit - Assembled by Pinnah, on Flickr

Thanks for looking.
 
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