alcohol quantity

[orions_knight]

ahhh i cant find this anywhere!! im pricing/weighing my thru gear and just wondering how much denatured alcohol or heet one goes through in a typical week.
I plan on using something like the Fancee Feest, Supercat, or MBD Elite. 2 hot meals a day(breakfast and supper) and Aquamira for water purification(so no boiling for that).
Dont know the type of pot yet, still looking(suggestions??).
I know this is vague but until I can get some field time I have to keep bothering you guys. Sorry. TIA!

[LIhikers]

For a pot you should consider the grease pot sold by Kmart.
While it's a little bigger than one person needs, being aluminum it's pretty light and also it heats up pretty quick.
And did I mention it's less than $10.

[Slo-go'en]

Too many variables to give a good answer. Depends on how cold the water is to start, how cold and windy the enviorment is, how long it takes to cook what ever it is your cooking, how effiecent the stove is, the kind of pot you have, ect.

That said, figure about 1 oz per meal. Consider getting a Caldora cone set up from antigravity gear. It is very effiecent. I use about 1/2 oz per meal with that set up and titanium pot.

[kayak karl]

some things you need to learn on your own. how much fuel does your stove need to boil 1 1/2 cups of water? how many meals cooked a day? ( you said 2). will you be melting snow for water? do these things and the come with your OWN #. i carried 16 oz in winter, but i carried Everclear.

[4eyedbuzzard]

I can usually get 2 cups (16 oz) of 45° to 50°F water to the boiling point (but not at a prolonged rolling boil) on 1/2 to 5/8 oz of HEET. I can get to full boiling and keep it boiling for another 6 minutes on a full oz. That's using one of Zelph's Starlyte stoves and a K-mart grease pot with a lid and a windscreen under ideal summer conditions. Colder water, colder ambient temps, wind, etc would likely require more. I'd say a safe estimate is probably 3/4 oz per pint boiled if you aren't actually cooking, just heating water, except in really cold weather where 1 oz per 2 cup boil is probably a better safe estimate. Usually I'm only out for a few days at a time and I take 8 ounces, because, well, I have an 8 oz bottle that doesn't leak, and because I can. I'd feel okay with an off the shelf 12 oz bottle of HEET for 5, maybe 6 days - 2 oz per day. I'm sure some will call overkill on that and try to get it down a few ounces, but especially in colder weather I'd rather carry a few extra ounces and know I have a hot cup of coffee and hot soup/noodles in reserve.

[10-K]

You'll have an easier time of it using esbit. Especially with a graham cracker esbit stove and a caldera cone.

If you're going to melt snow you're going to need a LOT of alcohol or esbit. Use white gas for that.

[4eyedbuzzard]

You'll have an easier time of it using esbit. Especially with a graham cracker esbit stove and a caldera cone.

If you're going to melt snow you're going to need a LOT of alcohol or esbit. Use white gas for that.

Just my limited experience, but I don't get anywhere near as good results with esbit as I do with alcohol. I bought a box of the stuff and tried it a few times and it barely ever got water to the boiling point (I had a windscreen, adjusted the height, pretty much everything). I just can't say I like or trust the stuff to get the job done.

[10-K]

It's a never miss with me - I swear by the stuff, but I've never used it without my caldera cone. Have you tried that?

Another thing about esbit is that it doesn't spill or leak and doesn't require a specific kind of container. A baggie is fine.

[4eyedbuzzard]

You're not the only one that likes it. I've had other people say they get good results with it too. I don't have a cone, but have a pretty tight fitting windscreen (a Zelph corrugated model with a few holes in the bottom). I've tried one of the folding stoves, and a homemade one, paying attention to what seems the correct distance to the pot (1 1/4" or so). The windscreen comes up about half height on the pot (above the water level). I just found it doesn't get the water up to temp as well as alcohol does. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, or maybe the stuff just doesn't work well on New England water (everything stubborn is common up here ).

[10-K]

If I can't convert him to esbit maybe I can get him in a hammock...

[4eyedbuzzard]

If I can't convert him to esbit maybe I can get him in a hammock...

Now that I'm actually starting to enjoy. Sending my Hennessy out for a zipper mod this winter. This old beat up spine doesn't even like a Neoair anymore.

[swjohnsey]

I didn't see that much esbit along the trial. I carried a 16 oz water bottle plus the little 4 oz "filler". I tried not to go more than about five days between resupplies and usually had some left over. I was using a Super Venom.

[orions_knight]

good info guys thanks. i was just curious as to whether to carry a 4oz or 8oz fuel bottle really. i guess ill go with the 8 and tweak the amount of fuel i put in it. i might give esbit a try. im startin april 22, so i dont plan on melting any snow, but i guess it could happen.

[Del Q]

Alcohol. Went into no-cook mode about 2 years ago, carry one Esbit tab in my 1st aid kit and enough "alcohol" to last me a few days. Scotch, Bourbon, Tequila (and limes), 8-10oz max per resupply.

[Fiddleback]

Too many variables to give a good answer. Depends on how cold the water is to start, how cold and windy the enviorment is, how long it takes to cook what ever it is your cooking, how effiecent the stove is, the kind of pot you have, ect.

That said, figure about 1 oz per meal. Consider getting a Caldora cone set up from antigravity gear. It is very effiecent. I use about 1/2 oz per meal with that set up and titanium pot.

+1

Too many variables, but...

That 1oz per meal is almost dead-on what I plan. However, I do FBC and therefore my 'cooking' and hot water needs are greatly reduced. In any case, a single 8oz bottle of alky is going to be very, very tight for a week of two-meals per day. I say it won't be near enough fuel. A 12oz bottle would work for me and there are some great 12oz contact lens fluid bottles that are ideal for the purpose.

Consider...after about 3 or 4 days of camping, the weight advantage of alky stoves and their fuel vanishes. After that, the efficiency (BTU's) of other fuels gives them the weight advantage, even with their heavier stoves. Somewhere online, you can find Sgt Rock's pretty nice comparison that determines the cutoff where the weight of the alky carried exceeds that of other stoves and fuels.

FB

[moytoy]

Consider other uses for alcohol. I use it for hand sanitizer and a foot bath if my feet are tired and wet. 12 oz will last me 4-5 days and thats all I stay out anyway.

[RoadApe]

What I've learned with alcohol stoves is the amount of alcohol you will use each time will depend on a bunch of variables. Wind, temperature, altitude.... it's nice when you test your stove at the house in perfect conditions. Completely different on the trail.

Did a video about our latest experience...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f8qWZPCKMY

Mike & Cindy

[orions_knight]

that video is dissapointing!

[orions_knight]

i mean to say, the results of your boiling endevour.

[RoadApe]

Probably going with a MSR Pocket Rocket next time or a JetBoil