Ways to avoid superheating in a smooth-lined container

uyotg

uyotg

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Sep 5, 2010
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Every time I need to boil something in a camp fire, I do it in my Klean Kanteen, but the interior wall is very, very smooth. This ends up with a superheated liquid that never boils until something sets it off, then it's dangerously explosive and/or ends up in a lot of lost water.

I'm wondering if any of you have encountered this and found a way to fix it with just things you find or make on site. One thing I've found myself doing to give some rough surface area for bubbles to form is to drop a small piece of charcoal into the container. Charcoal is supposed to be pretty clean and purifying, so I think it helps with that too, but I think there may be some woods that produce toxic charcoal.

Any other suggestions?
 
I was also thinking of an irregular surface. Maybe drop a clean pebble in there before you pop it on the fire? Or you could stir it with a stick occasionally, that seems simple and fool-resistant :o .
G
 
Water boils at a certain temperature, regardless of the container. Adding rocks or charcoal does not change that fact. The bubbles will form when the water begins to boil. 212 degrees at sea level.
 
Codger_64 said:
Water boils at a certain temperature, regardless of the container. Adding rocks or charcoal does not change that fact. The bubbles will form when the water begins to boil.
Click to expand...

Without a nucleation point, the water will super heat and not boil. Add a wooden kebab screwar or a toothpick to give an irregular surface for the water to boil.
 
Bishop2Queen's6 said:
Without a nucleation point, the water will super heat and not boil. Add a wooden kebab screwar or a toothpick to give an irregular surface for the water to boil.
Click to expand...

+1
Check out some explosive water in microwaves on YouTube, codger. But don't try it out yourself!
 
Done it many times without explosions. Even a caveman can do it. It depends on using only pure distilled water. Most tap, spring etc. water has impurities that permit the water to boil. Look at the mythbusters video.
 
The reverse is also true. You can super cool a liquid where it will be below freezing and not for ocean. Take a corona or heinakin, but a corona bottle is best. Open it and place it in the freezer for 2 days undisturbed. When you check on it after a few days, it will still be liquid, butter if you fist slam the bottle on a table, it will instantly freeze.
 
Codger_64 said:
Done it many times without explosions. Even a caveman can do it. It depends on using only pure distilled water. Most tap, spring etc. water has impurities that permit the water to boil. Look at the mythbusters video.
Click to expand...

what container do you use?
my klean lantern is guilty of this every time whether I put tap water or found water in the outdoors, but it's the only heatable bottle I bring with me. first few times I would keep it right in the fire for almost an hour but nothing boiled, but when I dropped in a cube of soup bouillon, it would suddenly boil over and spill more than half the water inside.

sure it's a small concern and it doesn't seem that hard to solve, but I thought it'd be interesting to share and discuss, especially with the idea of using charcoal

I wonder if taking some sandpaper to the inside of that bottle would be safe.
 
You could try that or scratch the bottom inside with a knife or coarse steel wool. I've boiled water in all manner of pots and pans and never had this happen. Maybe it is because you container has a small bottom exposed to the heat. What kind of water are you using and at what altitude?

I use a stainless Aussie billy can now, but have used many different ones. You might look at the Stanley bottle on the outdoor gear section?
 
I wouldn't scratch or etch the inside of your bottle. You'll create a nice area of bacteria to live and it would be difficult for them to leave.
 
When ever I need to boil chemicals at work, we always drop a couple boiling stones in the solution so it gives a place for the bubble to form. Drop a clean rock, or get some boiling stones.
 
Stones are likely to have bacteria on them, right? And... would grow more when cooked in food with no way to get the bacteria out, right? As I said, I've never had this problem with the water I use at lower elevations whether spring water or creek water or tap water. But my pans and pots do have slight scour marks inside, if not machine marks from manufacturing. Whatever.
 
Codger_64 said:
Stones are likely to have bacteria on them, right? And... would grow more when cooked in food with no way to get the bacteria out, right? As I said, I've never had this problem with the water I use at lower elevations whether spring water or creek water or tap water. But my pans and pots do have slight scour marks inside, if not machine marks from manufacturing. Whatever.
Click to expand...

Bacteria die once you reach a temp above 140 F, parasites die once you reach 165 F. The scour marks do mean you a have a place for a bubble to form in your pan. Think of the Sam Adams commercial for their glass with that scour mark at the bottom which "release the aroma of the hopps". Notice how a majority of the bubbles form at score mark.

OP. I wouldn't really recommend scoring, scratching the inside of your container because I like keeping my things as nice and as new as possible even though I do use them, but toothpick, kebab skewer, boiling stone, score mark, scratches on the inside of your bottle, there are many solutions to your issue.
 
I like the pebble idea, I mean you are going to cook off anyhing thats on the stone anyway in the heating. Pluss one less thing to carry.
 
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