Considering an alcohol stove, what is a good choice?

[Odd Man Out]

cheap, easy, reliable solution. The bent piece of metal in the tealight cup is engineered carefully to speed up the burn rate of alcohol so the bloom covers bottom of pot. holes are to pick it out with tent stake so can snuff flame. Did I mention it will boil 4 cups on 0.9 oz, and 2 on 0.6 oz? You can pay more, but you really cannot improve performance.

Looks nice. What would the flame pattern be without the bent piece of metal?
How do you snuff out the flame? Just put the pot on it? Does that tend to crush the tea light?
My minimal experiments with wind screens suggest I need more air flow. Yours seems to have minimal air inlets. Did you test this pattern to optimize?
I might add a circle cut from the bottom of an Aluminum Pie Pan to use as a base to protect the ground and radiate heat.
Is that 1/2 inch hardware cloth pot stand (from a 19 square x 4 square piece)?

[MuddyWaters]

Flame pattern is the same without the piece of al in the cup, but its about 3 minutes slower boiling 4 cups, in fact, it goes out at 12 min right as its about to reach boil. The metal just wicks more heat into the alcohol, making it vaporize faster, boiling it in about 9 min with a little left.

Not real scientific, just a bit of trial and error.

I take the pot lid and put over the flame to snuff it , the pots a little heavy when full of water, but Ive done that too, just have to be careful. Well, not that careful, my son has stepped on everything before and I successfully bent it back without issue.

Seems to be enough airflow. If there isnt enough the flame will burn orangeish and it will take too long to boil. It works, is all I can say. 2cups boils in about 5 min,( I forget exactly what.) 4 cups in about 9 min.

THe hardware cloth is hardware cloth.,probably 1/2" squares. Clip out most, grind down to deburr. Good idea to burn zinc off once and for all with propane torch (dont breathe) Made it big enough around to fit around my coffee cups so everything would fit in (and be more stable)

the wts are:

windscreen 0.85oz (heavy, but its a large pot) Foil would be much lighter, but a whole lot more trouble This stays put in wind and is self centering and doesnt lose much heat..
stand 0.26 oz
tealight 0.07 oz
metal scrap - .07 oz but could be much lighter too

[MuddyWaters]

The best part is no priming, no dumb penny that melts, no time needed to heatup and bloom before can put pot on, etc.
KISS.
I put stand over stove, then dip a small stick or piece of grass in the alcohol, light it, and use it to light the stove. Set windscreen in place and put pot on. takes about 2 seconds, maybe.

[SunnyWalker]

Get one. Use one.

[Another Kevin]

The best part is no priming, no dumb penny that melts, no time needed to heatup and bloom before can put pot on, etc.
KISS.

Hmm. I've never melted a penny in my Penny Stove, and by now I've cooked a number of hot meals on it. But, since I'm a clueless weekender, I'm probably not doing it right.

I admit that building the Penny Stove is a trifle fussy. The dimensions are important (how far the lip of the cup sticks up over the burner, and how large to make the jets). And you have to use a pre-1982 penny. (Maybe you could melt a newer one. I haven't tried.) But once built, I've found mine to be quite a satisfactory performer. I don't think I'd go back to the Cat.

I might give your design a try, but I haven't had a lot of luck in the past with open-pan burners. In my hands, they all seem to burn too rich. As you observe, the symptoms are orange tips to the flame, soot left on the pot, and a longer boil time with lower fuel efficiency. It seems to me that using your heat conductor to boil the fuel faster would only make the fuel-air mixture worse, but I've been surprised before.

[MuddyWaters]

The single most important element of an alcohol stove, is the windscreen. A good windscreen, or lack of it, outweighs everything else about a stove and its setup. Even with a good windscreen, still need a sleeping pad or such for additional windscreen if any significant breeze at all to count on performance.

I played with a lot of stoves before deciding most were just unnecessarily complicated with no benefit that was worth the additional hassle. They all do the same thing, in the same way, in about the same time, using about the same amount of fuel. Except for the supercat, which makes a scary amount of flame which can engulf your pot, and uses about 1.5x the fuel of more efficient slower burners. YMMV.

[MuddyWaters]

I shoud add, there is something about the very thin foil-like metal of a tealight cup, that works much better than heavier containers for use as a stove. I suppose it conducts less heat into the alcohol. I got started with my SP600, found that the tealight was really the perfect burner for it (ala Jason Klass). Then on a whim tried the larger one for the larger pt , and was surprised it was about as good as much fancier stoves, and a lot less trouble. Other open cup burners dont burn the same way.

[OzJacko]

I have progressed through a couple of stages on alcohol stoves starting with Trangia.
I think it mostly depends on your own preferences as to which is best and what weight savings you are trying to make - the Trangia is hard to beat when weight is not critical and is my number one recommendation for groups.
Homemade stoves are cheap to the point of free, easily made (my son's getting pretty good) and most importantly they work. The key with a pepsican stove or similar is always what you use for stand/windbreak.
I was using the Evernew Ti DX set and love it but found the stove support was also needing a further windbreak in fairly light breezes and was pretty hopeless in a stiff breeze.
My current set is a Caldera Cone TiTri with inferno insert. I use this with my Evernew stove.
Reasoning behind this is the actual stove is essentially indestructible. It's basically a simple pepsican stove made out of titanium. Others may have better performance (not huge amounts), but I love the fact that this thing will last longer than me.
The Caldera Cone just cannot be beat for efficiency and stability for the weight. Only drawback is it's a bit finnicky with pots other than the one it's built for. In my case the Evernew 1.3l pot. With the stakes in and another hole or two drilled in it I can use it with a variety of pots (noteably my billy).
The inferno inset because I can use little bits of wood (especially with the billy) instead of alcohol. Very useful when you're the sort of person who likes to keep water on the boil for a while for social hot drinks.
I also carry a couple of Esbit tablets as backup.
Instead of worrying about simmering make a pot cozie for all your pots. They really do work wonderfully, allow you to hold the pot without scalding yourself and keep soot blackened pots from making everything else in the pack black!

[Odd Man Out]

The single most important element of an alcohol stove, is the windscreen. A good windscreen, or lack of it, outweighs everything else about a stove and its setup. Even with a good windscreen, still need a sleeping pad or such for additional windscreen if any significant breeze at all to count on performance.

I played with a lot of stoves before deciding most were just unnecessarily complicated with no benefit that was worth the additional hassle. They all do the same thing, in the same way, in about the same time, using about the same amount of fuel. Except for the supercat, which makes a scary amount of flame which can engulf your pot, and uses about 1.5x the fuel of more efficient slower burners. YMMV.

Agree with the windscreen comment. I need to do some more testing. I would also add that it is not just the windscreen, but how the windscreen, pot, and stove work together as a system.

What is the size of your tea light? It seems bigger than the ones I have at home.

For my Supercat, I use only one row of holes (the simmercat) which cuts down on the flame size to avoid the inefficiency you describe. Also, if you use a small wire to put a gap of about 1 mm between the top of the stove and the bottom of the pot, you can put the pot on the stove without priming. This also increases the size of the flame (but not as much as the original supercat). This increases efficiency even more (as you don't have 30 seconds of burn time without the pot). Another benefit is with one row of holes you get a much greater fuel capacity, if you need it.

[cabbagehead]

The best windscreen is one specifically made to fit the pot. I like the shape of the caldera cone. I don't use a windscreen because they can be a little difficult to pack. I use rocks, or my body.

[MuddyWaters]

Agree with the windscreen comment. I need to do some more testing. I would also add that it is not just the windscreen, but how the windscreen, pot, and stove work together as a system.

What is the size of your tea light? It seems bigger than the ones I have at home.

The one in the pics is a large tealight. Most places , including walmart sell 2 sizes, small, and large.

[Connie]

No alcohol stove works well in actual conditions, unless the flame pattern produced matches the cooking pot diameter and volume and the windscreen keeps the flame to the cooking pot.

The only person I know who does all that is zelph.
His forum: http://www.bplite.com/viewforum.php?f=2
His store: http://www.woodgaz-stove.com/

If you want to make your own alcohol stove, he will help you.

If you want an optimized alcohol stove design, each design he sells work well.

If you go to the forum, state the cooking pot you use and cooking style (hot water, add-hot-water, use cookware for cooking), he will help you find a working combination that actually works.

The other forum participants are also very knowledgeable.

Not everything works well, because the cooking pot size and diameter is mismatched to the alcohol stove and, for the most part, the windscreen is useless unless properly designed.

He even made a custom-order cone windscreen that works perfectly with my alcohol stove of choice and my cookware of choice.

Really interesting stove cookware windscreen designs show up at his forum, or, are developed at his forum made by other people. I have a stainless steel coffee mug design, The Fire Mug, made by Cadyak I saw at his forum I really like.

He has an alcohol stove optimized for the NATO Crusader cup.

I have his Super Stove, Ring of Fire (my favorite soup's on stove) and Folding Wood Stove. I also have his StarLyte named for a member of this forum. I have his Fancee Feest. I also have his Mini Fancee Feest with his 1-cup Ridgeline for minimalist backpacking like this http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-...hread_id=62701

I like a titanium windscreen that packs well and springs back to shape. I like Suluk46.
http://www.suluk46.com/products%20%2...indscreen.html

Even so, the diameter and height makes a big difference, as well as, how much air is allowed to enter the bottem and exit at or near the top.

I also like zelph's EZ-Fold Windscreen, because it packs well and holds up better than any other aluminum windscreen I have used.

I have purchased other alcohol stoves and other brand name alcohol stove, I am not mentioning, because they do not work well unless it is a matched working cooking system of alcohol stove, cookware, and windscreen.

I have purchased much more expensive alcohol stove, cookware and windscreen that did not work well.

[MuddyWaters]

Its not rocket science.

[Drybones]

Make your own. Check out www.zenstoves.com. I have a Jetboil and about every other kind of stove but normally use stoves I've made. I have special stoves I've made to use with a Jetboil fry pan to cook slower ...the Jetboil stove cooks bacon and eggs too fast.

[Cadenza]

I like my RUCAS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4F8y6nbJE4

[Papa D]

Miller Beer can stove - made with 2 cans - 1 uses 1/4 of can (bottom part) - cut slits and invert into can 2 (1/3 can (bottom part)) in which you punch a good row of holes in - pressurizes very nice - recommend HEET - windscreen using peel off duct tape - the heavy heat reflective kind that is available from HVAC supply house.

[Wise Old Owl]

I currently own a jet boil which I like a lot for the ease of use and how fast it is. For my through-hike though I am thinking about picking up an alcohol stove for lighter weight and easier to find fuel. Any recommendations on an alcohol stove, or a titanium pot? Also I have heard a piece of aluminum foil can make an adequate wind screen, is this good enough?

OOOH screech.... wait... hmmmm "The Alcohol Stove you make yourself.... its an exploration for the backyard..." Hey Rocket Socks... Pass the shelter Mice! wow love the party.... Lets move on.....

[SloHiker]

I like this guys stoves: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alcohol-Stov...item46060720e1

[cabbagehead]

I make stoves that you can stand on (with a full pack). I also make sure that all surfaces are painted (to reduce corrosion). I even paint the bottom.

- efficient
- can use small or large amounts of alcohol
- good fuel capacity
- durable
- no stand
- $7 or $8

[ferdEggmont]

I used a Miniatomic #2 for my entire thru hike and it worked great - google minibulldesigns. It was like 15 or 20 bucks- highly recommend it