A easy pot holder is three metal tent pegs , stick them in the ground so they form a triangle for your pot to sit on. They are adjustable for the size of the pot and also adjustable for the height you want from the alcohol burner. Using alcohol has other advantages.......... 1. If some spills there is no damage like the damage white gas can do to your backpack. 2. It will disinfect any cuts or scrapes but do not scream to loud when using it. 3. If you over heat some on a rag will cool down your skin when applied to it. 4. It will kill Ticks. 5. If a snake bites you ( Non Venomous snakes ) and will not turn loose then some poured in it's mouth will make it let go. Any Alcohol will work for that from Vodka to Scotch. LOL. The list goes on and on.
Brilliant presentation. Effectively summarizes untold hours of "how I built this alcohol stove." Thank you for the great contribution. Great narration voice too. Best wishes, man.
As always, you are direct and to the point. Your testing procedures provide clear guidance for us to use. I use a Trangia alcohol burner in my Firebox stove; but I frequently wondered how much fuel to put into the container to cook a meal. Now I know. Thanks a million. Keep up the good work.
You make some of the best technical breakdowns of backpacking gear I've ever seen. One modification I would like to see on an alcohol stove is some sort of folding legs that can be popped out to create a wider base for more stability.
+Alexander Finlay You make a good point about stability. We need to be careful with cooking setups that are tall and narrow - really flat ground can be hard to find and unless a rig is wide enough the whole thing might easily topple over. Thanks for watching!
Some rubbing alcohols contain lanolin or other oil to prevent the skin from drying. Avoid them, as they burn with a lot of soot. Also, if you use oil to ease the assembly of an alcohol stove, the stove burns sooty the first several uses. Water or alcohol serves as a good.clean lubricant in its place.
on fuel I just fill up my Trangia and use it down at meals, refill as I go. I carry spare fuel in a marked Nalgene bottle. the heavy tin foil works great as a wind shield.
Really enjoyed this video! I'm constantly watching for ways to lighten up and simplify my pack. Can't wait to replace my heavy stove with a soda can!!! :D
Thanks again for another great video Mr. Flatbrokeoutside ... I swear you sound just like a high school math teacher I once had but I know you couldn't be as the year was 1966 and he was about 60!!! The point is I really love your delivery, it reminds me of a teacher standing at a chalk board and doing math problems... really takes me back :)
+BreadNButter I was a newspaper editor back when newspapers could afford to have a few editors around. I narrate with a variation of my Mr. Editor Voice. And thanks again for watching.
Oh man, I really enjoy all of your videos and appreciate the tips but you really out did yourself this time. I am now so inspired that I cannot wait to go buy a canned soda so I can pour it out and use the can to make a stove. Thank you, thank you.
Alcohol stoves can be dangerous………………….to your mental health. I admit being a lover of technology, a bit of a wrench head, and a light weight gear fanatic. I started to build a soda can stove with fiberglass and a grommet, but couldn't find the glass cloth in my already less than tidy work shop. I did make two stoves out of aluminum bottles that worked well, but did I stop there? NOOOOO. Several penny stoves came next, then a ultra small Fancy Feast graphite felt model. I made 1 can stoves, 2 can stoves, and 3 can stoves. In the meantime, I had abandoned self respect as I elbowed aside winos and destitute senior citizens, as I dumpster dived for aluminum stadium bottles, beer cans, cat food cans, and treasure of treasures, a Fosters beer can. To those I added tomato paste cans, poisoned myself eating vile vienna sausages to get the cans, and hoarded tuna fish cans. One corner of my workshop now looks like a recycling center, and I have misspent countless hours watching videos of stove builds, burn tests, and a hundred variations on a simple soda can theme. My work bench is littered with half built stoves, and my band saw is covered with aluminum sawdust. I figured out the most efficient stoves, the lightest stoves, the tiniest stoves, easiest to build stoves, and those that can be built on the trail from common materials with minimal tools. At the height of my madness, I even invented a can stove that can be built with only a can opener and a push pin. Then I tested them all, and decided to stick with my trusty Svea 123 that I have used for decades. ARRRGGGGGHHHHH ! ! ! I now go to meetings where we begin by saying, "Hi, My name is Tom, and I'm a stoveaholic". As I said, alcohol stoves can be dangerous to your mental health.
Good Luck with your recovery. But before you know it, you'll be back . Perhaps just a little at first, maybe a micro stove...made from an empty rescue inhaler. Hanging out in pharmacy parking lots, trying to score an "empty". I afraid I too am being sucked down that rabbit hole of addiction called alcohol stoves. But hey, like I said, good luck with your recovery.
I use the same plastic squeeze bottle you show here but i put one ounce lines on the side of the bottle. Squeeze, check the one ounce line level and there's your one ounce. Great vid.
I like the Solo Stove Lite, combined with their 900 stainless steel pot and alcohol burner. The Solo Stove is basically a fire box, and can run on twigs, birch bark, etc. I used my alcohol stove nested inside the solo stove, which makes the whole set up alot more stable and less dangerous. I know of one hiker who suffered 3rd-degree burns from a homegrown alcohol stove. There have also been AT shelters and possibly forest fires caused by shady alcohol stove set ups.
I liked the content and presentation. Very good info on watching water boil. No, seriously, it associated actual temps with visual appearance. I have been cooking most of my life (60+) and did not know that information. Great Video.
Another exceedingly well-presented tutorial. Never used the two-burner alcohol stove that was installed in our sailboat during the 9 years we had it since we had a propane grill up on the stern railing, but I still have the bottle of stove alcohol we bought just in case. So a couple months ago I finally bought a Trangia to try out this summer. Your discussion of how much alcohol to use was very helpful, though the Trangia of course can be closed up with extra fuel inside. As to the boiling and bacteria, there are other organisms to consider, too. On Isle Royale, where I used a Peak 1 white gas stove back in the early 80s, the recommendation was to boil water for a full five minutes, as the cysts introduced by beaver & moose into the lakes take that long to be killed. I am not sure whether the chemical treatments were that effective with the cysts, though a filter with the proper pore size would. So some environments may make it harder to go truly ultra-light with minimal stove/fuel combos such as the Pepsi can stove and limited alcohol load out.
Random Button Pusher I find your remarks about those cysts highly interesting because I used to spend weeks in the woods near Sudbury, Ont. (amid vast numbers numbers of beavers and moose) and I never heard of such a cyst danger. (yikes) The best water I could find was from a river, the Wanapitei I think it was. And thanks for watching!
Things get concentrated on Isle Royale because it is a "closed system" of sorts. The few streams are small, and most interior water sources are ponds and lakes, which get considerable use by the moose and beaver, meaning regular contamination. The Lake Superior shore water wasn't a problem, but when you were hiking the interior, that wasn't an option. Only had to think about the parasites you could get from the cysts and the weight of the stove and white gas (or a good filter) didn't seem that bad. I can wait the extra 5 minutes of boiling.
Random Button Pusher Do you think an alcohol stove isn't good enough to boil the water on Isle Royale ? I am planning on going there next week and wanted to use filter and also boil in my ever new titanium alcohol stove .
Trevor: Well, if your filter has the necessary pore size to catch the cysts, you will be fine. If you have to boil for longer periods, you just need to have enough alcohol fuel to meet your needs. Check the IR website for the current recommendations on boiling water from inland sources (lakes) and check your filter's stats to see if it has pores smaller than cyst size.
Trevor Johnson Here's what I found from a Park Service pamphlet for camping on IR, giving boiling time and filter specs: "Drinking Water: Water not obtained from the spigots at Rock Harbor or Windigo must be considered contaminated with the eggs of the Echinococcus granulosus tapeworm and other harmful organisms. Boil water for two minutes, or filter through an adequate water filter (pore size of 0.4 microns or less). We recommend the purchase and use of water filters; ... Remember, it is unsafe to drink untreated Isle Royale water. Water treated with chemical tablets, such as chlorine, halazone, or iodine WILL NOT guarantee safe drinking water. So current time for boiling is 2 minutes. NOTE that chemical tabs don't cut it.
I just built my first remote feed alcohol stove. I bought an aluminum key chain pill holder; that is my stove. I have recently baked two cakes with this little thing. The remote fuel bottle gives me plenty of burn time. The whole thing including my pot stand I welded together, the fuel line and the fuel bottle (empty) probably weighs about 6 oz.
Being fascinated with alcohol stoves, I have built a variety of them. I am very fond of the "penny" style stove. I find that if I make a single 1/8 inch hole in the top for filling, I can plug the hole, and use the cupped stove top to measure the alcohol. I use a dowel, sharpened to a cone in a pencil sharpener to plug the hole. When I visually measure the amount of alcohol in the indentation, I remove the plug, and the alcohol drains into the burning chamber. For greater quantities of alcohol, this can be repeated
I've used 91% iso and was unhappy with all the soot it leaves on my pot. Most people don't care but when everything is designed to nest together you essentially dirty things you want clean. Methanol (yellow HEET) burns much cleaner and hotter but evaporates quickly. But at least you save some time not needing to scrub the black soot off your pot. Thanks for the video, lots of good, useful info.
Great video. I have a homemade pressurized alcohol stove and it was a pain in the butt to fill it every time. One day I was in a rush and just grab a small cat stove that I had made.I just fill it with alcohol barely under the holes I had drill on it and put it in my folding stove. I was surprised it performed better than the other stove. So I decided to buy a can of cat food, I didn't drill holes on it, I put 4 screws on a 2 inch CPU fan protector and fold some aluminum foil as a wind screen. To pack it I just turn the CPU fan protector upside down and the can fits there really snug. I put it in a leather pouch with a bic lighter. Cheers.
I've used a bunch of alkie stoves over the years, Trangias are nice but always struck me as too heavy especially since they need some kind of pot stand. I made some Whitebox stove knock-offs using Bud "cottles", these are impressive to use and really sturdy. My favorite is the Cat Can stove, much easier to make (just need a Fancy Feast can, a hole punch, some kind of tape measure or ruler and a marker) they weigh in the single digits in GRAMS and like the Whitebox, they act as their own pot stand. I used to use a Heineken "Keg Can" as a cook pot, back then I found an open burner stove called the Klasslite worked best due to the narrow pot. Seriously though, the Fancy Feast is by FAR my favorite. You can even add a priming wick around the base to help light in very cold weather, I've used these in temperatures well below zero although there are some tricks to it.
that triangle is very difficult to find. I own 6 trangia sets of everything. I love their larger tea kettle to house my complete trail kitchen. I use blue paper towels from car parts store they are thick and have great strength. I separate my parts to keep them clean.
absolutely down to the earth dead simple simplicity. 100% LOVE how you took 10 oz of water and told the temp for each stove you used.....you are more of a scientist doing real science than a degreed scientist. Job well done buddy !!! from a real Scientist :)
When I did the trail, AT hikers used unleaded gasoline in primus and svea stoves. My pressure cap blew once and a jet of fire three feet long roared for 5 minutes from my stove. Alcohol is a much safer fuel.
That's why a lot of home made designs are made with the open core being filled with fibreglass with a mesh screen over top & holes for the burn on the rim. That way even if you flipped the can you'd never spill a drop because the fibreglass has a hold of all the fuel.
You're awesome as always thank YOU for another great piece of info! I'm going to try a bean can with my alcohol stove inside to see if that will work as a pot holder for my needs. Might I suggest you add a black bandanna to your cook gear - it comes in handy to wrap up the 'sutted' items so they don't get on everything!
+Florida Girl Adventures Good tip on the bandanna. I rub soot off on the grass - if there is any grass - and carry the pot inside a sil nylon stuff sack. Be careful in the kayak and thanks again for watching!
FBO, I am going out for a section hike of the AT! I have sat here Since December watching your videos preparing myself! This FLA Girl is going to drive from here to Trail days - then do a SOBO section. Didn't want to buy the book for a section buy your 'getting lost' video convinced me - buy the book take my section with me! I am so excited, I have all of my gear (bought my bag last) and Your videos have been a huge helpful inspiration! Will you be at trail days?
I think maybe a good source for smaller, packable quantities of alcohol would be HEET - gas line de-icer. I don't know about southern states, but up north you can get a 12 ounce bottle for a couple of bucks and it's a small light plastic bottle.
I've used a G.I. canteen cup with the open stove. My fuel container was a 12 oz pop can bottom, cut down to hold 2 oz of fuel. I drilled extra holes into the stove for increased air flow. A 5 hour energy bottle holds exactly 2 oz of fuel. If you cut the top part off, you get about 1.5 oz. You're welcome.
Interesting. For an extended hike, it would seem you want something lightweight for cooking breakfast (coffee/hot cereal) and supper as well as something light in lighter fluid.
I use the titanium octagon but I cut the outside rim off the bottom. Pot sits on top so no need for a pot stand. If needed I use my pack or sleeping pad for a windbreak. think the gasification of stoves heats with less fuel l than an open can.
I think the size of the pot makes a difference. the wider the base of your pot would mean more surface area for the water to spread out over to heat. I use a small kettle that has a spout and lid and can boil 16 ounces pretty fast using an alcohol burner due to the water being more shallow inside the kettle than a standard backpacking pot.
No doubt true. I wonder how much the difference is. Have you ever done a time test between narrow and wide pots, same flame and same water volume? And thanks for watching!
flatbrokeoutside no, I've not done a time test, I just have the GSI Outdoors stainless kettle. I've been backpacking with others that have the tall, narrow pots and mine will always boil first. using same amount of water, 16 ounces for mountain house meals.
While not the most efficient or cheapest (but still fine) I use everclear. I like the versatility of everclear and its ability to double as a disinfectant. I am not afraid of it spilling and contaminating things (potentially)
ive cooked everything from cornish hens with veggies to chocolate cakes to stews to lasagne to homemade doughnuts to pizza and much more using my alcohol stoves. basically there isn't anything ive found that i cant cook using it. ive got lots of videos showing it as well. they are the best stoves. combine with a wood stove and you cant go wrong.
Great information. Sounds as if you were very scientific about it! I once did my own experiment using the Trangia stove comparing denatured alcohol and HEAT (the yellow bottle). I can't remember the specifics, but chose to use HEAT. Since then, some people have pooed my use of HEAT. I like it because it is clean, effective, and widely available, possibly more widely available than denatured alcohol. Do you know of any reason that HEAT should not be used?
+John On the Spot Not really. I have seen it in red and yellow bottles - one is methanol and the other is isopropyl - I forget which is which. I read that methanol is way more toxic than isopropyl, so I would take care not to get any on my skin. Other than that, I wouldn't hesitate to burn it. And thanks for watching!
thanks great info im not walking the Appalachian but the gr11 across the pyrenees coast to coast i was going to go with gas but now for sure il go with meths
Thanks for your video, just a correction in the types of alcohol available. There are three types of alcohol commonly available, ethanol a product of fermentation and what we drink, isopropyl, rubbing alcohol and methanol, or denatured alcohol. Methanol is the type best used in camp stoves and common used for cooking on boats. Of the three isopropyl is the least efficient and not used as a fuel in camp stoves or autos. Ethanol is now added to gasoline and is abundant, but is not that good for stove. Methanol is a manufactured alcohol and is clean burning, but poisonous as the body metabolizes it and becomes it a neurotoxin. See the red Heet product for ethanol and the yellow Heet product for methanol, which makes an excellent stove fuel.
Larry Anderson I have not seen red Heet for sale in gas stations in my area for a long time. I have no idea why this is so - the yellow is still there. Thanks for weighing in and thanks for watching!
I have been enjoying and learning a lot from your videos. So which one of your alcohol stoves do you use the most? From this video I get the impression that it is the open top burner bean dip pot stand/windscreen combo. Thanks for your excellent videos
Yes, once I hit upon the bean dip pot stand it's been hard to overlook for light weight. With the bottom of the soda can burner and the bean dip plastic lid included, it weighs one ounce. I also can turn the pepsi can burner upside down and burn an Esbit tablet that way. I still have the Trangia's - I'm sure they'll see more use when camping close to home. Thanks a million for watching the videos and keep hikin' !
+flatbrokeoutside Thanks for your reply! I will be experimenting with thevq can alcohol burner from Tom Allen's channel on a car camping trip this weekend. I will now have to look for a large bean dip container! I have never seen one that big biut haven't looked for one either. Anybody got any flavor recommendations?
I'm a sucker for the cheese dip. I scored a can of unbrand nacho dip for a buck at the Dollar Store and the can's dimensions are a perfect match for the Fritos brand that's $3 a can elsewhere. I think they both use the same can supplier.
Your bubbling water chart made me wonder at what temperature are bacteria in water killed. On my campouts I'm concerned about using too much fuel to bring water to a rolling boil unnecessarily.
Appalachian Swede On the AT I treat all water with Aquamira or iodine, so I consider any bacteria already dead. On the other hand, I read that killing bacteria requires a full boil of at least a minute and in something like a survival situation I would build a fire for that job. And on yet another hand, at 10,000 feet above sea level the boiling point plunges to 194 degrees Farenheit. The CDC only says to boil water 3 minutes above 6,563 feet elevation to kill bacteria. Let's hope that works at 10,000 feet and higher, also. And thanks for watching!
thx for putting this together. would be interesting to see how methanol (e.g. yellow heet) would compare, but in many countries it's not easy to buy because its a poison. I would assume that it generates less heat being a simple alcohol with only 1 carbon in comparison to ethanol. typically, the stuff they put into denatured alcohol just makes you vomit. I use 96% grain alcohol (i.e. ethanol) which I can use also to disinfect wounds or even drink - diluted of course. I don't let the other stuff get close to my food :) cheers, chris
TheLicewine I have not seen yellow heet for sale in my area in a long time. So I was unable to try it. The can of denatured shown in the video is several years old and the label says it contains methanol, less than 4 percent. I have no idea why the manufacturer decided to mix it in. Thanks for watching!
I never used an alcohol stove on land, but I have built a bunch of them out of a variety of cans. Alcohol is very popular on boats, where fires can be fatal. Alcohol is miscible with water, and water dumped on burning alcohol dilutes it to a dilution that does not burn. Pouring water on a white gas fire just floats the burning gas into the bilges, under the fuel tanks, and into the oil pan, guaranteeing an exciting, if short, voyage. PS Sterno is very popular with indigent travelers, judging by the piles of Sterno cans under bridges, and in such places. By using one can of Sterno to heat another to the liquid state, the liquid can them be poured through a filter made of several slices of bread to remove denaturing agents, producing a drink referred to as a "pink lady" by its aficionados. I cannot personally recommend it from experience. JUdging from the nearly blind condition of those who do drink pink ladies, I strongly reccomend that you DO NOT DRINK STERNO if you value your vision.
A pot holder is a insulated cloth or rubber that allows you to grab a hot pot. A Pot Stand is a device that holds a pot above the stove.Great Chart. Good advice otherwise. Thanks
+Bobby Harper It only takes a modest piece of aluminum foil to minimize problems with wind. Even when I have carried a canister stove, I have carried a foil windscreen - made from an aluminum cookie sheet I bought at a supermarket. And thanks for watching!
in one of your posts you mentioned moving away from freeze dried food because of cost. The cost of freeze dried food, assuming marketing and sales costs are the same, should be lower. [a] lower fuel costs to re-hydrate and heat [b] less wasted water; regular mac n cheese or pasta needs to be drained(??) I watched some other thru hikers journal the AT and there is so much information that is missing. I've been practicing bushcraft just because I want to learn something new. But I could not imagine walking 2300 miles without additional skills prep and knowing the capabilities of my tools like my RUCUS not to mention the ability to replenish..
When I used freeze dried food I used one half of an Esbit tablet or one half fluid ounce of alcohol to heat the water. When I have cooked meals in my pot I also used one half of an Esbit tablet or one half fluid ounce of alcohol. (My particular cooking method is described in more detail in the "Alcohol stove secrets" and "Stuff we don't need" videos.) So, I experienced no fuel savings with freeze dried. I also never drain water from a meal in the pot. I use just enough water to decently cover the noodles or macaroni or whatever. Once the allotted fuel is consumed I let the pot sit for 8 to 9 minutes. Why 8 to 9 minutes? If you look at the package of any freeze dried entree, you will see a wait time of about that length as you read the directions. (That's what I see with Mountain House.) So when that wait time is over the food in the pot has absorbed the great majority of that water. With macaroni there usually is enough left for me to add the cheese powder. I also should say that almost all the time, even if there is snow on the ground, I find the meal so hot at this stage that I add some more water to cool it off a little. This is true in temperatures down to the upper 20s. Rarely - like once or twice - I decided to add some more water and cook it some more. Having said all that, if someone loves freeze dried, they should buy it and use it and why not? Tell me more about the information you think is missing online about the AT. I am always looking for video topics - maybe I could speak to those issues. Based on the channels I watch, those who finish those 2,300 miles have a pretty clear idea of what they are in for, and/or they are quick learners and modify their gear and tactics as needed. And thanks for watching.
just finished my first backpacking trip, and of corse im looking for ways to drop weight before my next hike. lol i think im swapping to alchohol stove ran into a few guys that were using them
@@flatbrokeoutside6921 my 6 year old daughter and I hiked 20 miles south on the AT from penn mar park to I-70. we go back in a few weeks todo I-70 to harpers ferry!
For those supermarket prepared meals like the ones you show in this video, have you ever tried dumping the package into the cold water, then heating the water to a boil or near-boil? Then no further cooking. I used to do that a lot and the food always seemed to turn out fine -- plus the meal was ready sooner and less fuel required. Did that with Uncle Ben's flavored rice, for example. Just curious as to whether anyone else tried this shortcut and if so, whether they liked the results.
The short answer is I first saw other AT hikers cooking basically with the method you describe a number of years ago. For more, see my "Stuff we don't need video" at the 5:35 mark. And thanks for watching!
flatbrokeoutside well,i started wt the penny stove,but now use a metal water bottle,set up in the same way as the hobo stove ,i varied the types of container/metal thicknesses, finally settled on the 1/2 litre water bottle and a talcum powder tin-same shape but smaller,i tried 1mm holes 12 bit big ,went to 8-9mm ,that helped with the pressure,but all inall , really i just sawed em in half,and stuck em together---oh i made sure the holes pointed up
i use the lid of my fuel bottle to measure out. for a cup of tea, you dont need a rolling boil, for dehydrating, a little hotter is better. any other cooking, work out as you go.
carr jeep I haven't been able to find any of that in a gas station in my area for quite a while. Hope they are still selling it somewhere. Thanks for the tip and thanks for watching!
That stand came with the burner when I bought it around 1999 or so. Looks like Trangia no longer offers the stand - a shame because it stores flat and takes up very little space. And thanks for watching.
I'm assuming these tests were all performed with the water being boiled with lid ON? As it wasn't specified lidded or not, I can only assume since it does make water boil faster.
The lid was on, as shown by the photo at 4:33. It wasn't exactly super tight because with the thermometer in the spout it wouldn't close 100%. But even that much coverage helps the water get hotter, like you say.
If we are weekend camping, why not? If we are hiking hundreds of miles on the AT, time becomes an issue. It takes time to scrounge for wood, particularly because most AT hikers spend the night at shelters, and shelters these days are typically picked clean when it comes to dead wood lying around. The average long-distance AT hike is worn to a near frazzle when they get to a shelter, and many arrive close to dark. Leaving wood availability aside, in recent years I have not seen any AT hiker using anything except a canister stove. 15 years ago alcohol stoves were common; not so much these days. This switch to canisters emphasizes how convenience, particularly regarding time, has become more of a priority. And thanks for watching.
Where can I get the triangle metal pieces that go around the stove, The big windscreens are too big to hold my camp cooker. The 3 piece one showing here at 0:13 would be perfect how can I make one or buy one please let me know. Thanks
chromerimshop Trangia used to include these pieces when you bought an individual burner, but no longer. Would this work better for you? The diameter is about 3.9 inches - tinyurl.com/oatkgz9 -- Too bad youtube won't let us msj images ... I could send you a pic with dimensions for the three piece. And thanks for watching!
A easy pot holder is three metal tent pegs , stick them in the ground so they form a triangle for your pot to sit on. They are adjustable for the size of the pot and also adjustable for the height you want from the alcohol burner.
Using alcohol has other advantages..........
1. If some spills there is no damage like the damage white gas can do to your backpack.
2. It will disinfect any cuts or scrapes but do not scream to loud when using it.
3. If you over heat some on a rag will cool down your skin when applied to it.
4. It will kill Ticks.
5. If a snake bites you ( Non Venomous snakes ) and will not turn loose then some poured in it's mouth will make it let go. Any Alcohol will work for that from Vodka to Scotch. LOL.
The list goes on and on.
+Chuck Littleton Alcohol is my first choice for cuts and scrapes and you're right about the screaming part! And thanks for watching!
Never put denatured alcohol on a cut. Make sure it's isopropyl.
Brilliant presentation. Effectively summarizes untold hours of "how I built this alcohol stove." Thank you for the great contribution. Great narration voice too. Best wishes, man.
+Doug Stetson Thanks a million and thanks for watching!
this is the best alcohol stove video I have seen on RUclips .
And you, my friend, are an excellent judge of quality. ;) And thanks a million for watching!
As always, you are direct and to the point. Your testing procedures provide clear guidance for us to use. I use a Trangia alcohol burner in my Firebox stove; but I frequently wondered how much fuel to put into the container to cook a meal. Now I know. Thanks a million. Keep up the good work.
Thanks again for watching!
You make some of the best technical breakdowns of backpacking gear I've ever seen.
One modification I would like to see on an alcohol stove is some sort of folding legs that can be popped out to create a wider base for more stability.
+Alexander Finlay You make a good point about stability. We need to be careful with cooking setups that are tall and narrow - really flat ground can be hard to find and unless a rig is wide enough the whole thing might easily topple over. Thanks for watching!
this is the best straight to the point information about alcohol stove. 1000k thumbs up if I can. Good job, thx much for the info.
Thanks for the endorsement and thanks a million for watching!
Some rubbing alcohols contain lanolin or other oil to prevent the skin from drying. Avoid them, as they burn with a lot of soot.
Also, if you use oil to ease the assembly of an alcohol stove, the stove burns sooty the first several uses. Water or alcohol serves as a good.clean lubricant in its place.
I'm watching this video for the 3rd or 4th time and I've added it to my camping playlist.
Thanks! And thanks again for watching!
I appreciate the testing you did for this video, well done.
+Timothy Rice Glad you liked the video and thanks a lot for watching!
Great experiment! Well performed sir! Good information.
Glad you liked it! And thanks a million for watching!
Excellent presentation, informative and to the point. Good work, best wishes
eddy de wilde Thanks for watching!
on fuel I just fill up my Trangia and use it down at meals, refill as I go. I carry spare fuel in a marked Nalgene bottle. the heavy tin foil works great as a wind shield.
Chock full of great info and no fluff! Thanks for your service citizen scientist!
I am here to serve. :) And thanks for watching!
great tips!!! thank you for your due diligence and controls of your experiments. Thank you for your time and excellent information
Darren Ambrose Glad you like the video and thanks for watching!
It's on my bucket list to do the AT.
Really enjoyed this video! I'm constantly watching for ways to lighten up and simplify my pack. Can't wait to replace my heavy stove with a soda can!!! :D
+Alisha Smith Glad you liked the video and thanks for watching!
Thanks again for another great video Mr. Flatbrokeoutside ... I swear you sound just like a high school math teacher I once had but I know you couldn't be as the year was 1966 and he was about 60!!! The point is I really love your delivery, it reminds me of a teacher standing at a chalk board and doing math problems... really takes me back :)
+BreadNButter I was a newspaper editor back when newspapers could afford to have a few editors around. I narrate with a variation of my Mr. Editor Voice. And thanks again for watching.
Oh man, I really enjoy all of your videos and appreciate the tips but you really out did yourself this time. I am now so inspired that I cannot wait to go buy a canned soda so I can pour it out and use the can to make a stove. Thank you, thank you.
+Vincent Miceli Well, there are zillions of canned sodas out there so there's plenty of time! :) Glad you liked the video and thanks for watching!
Alcohol stoves can be dangerous………………….to your mental health. I admit being a lover of technology, a bit of a wrench head, and a light weight gear fanatic. I started to build a soda can stove with fiberglass and a grommet, but couldn't find the glass cloth in my already less than tidy work shop. I did make two stoves out of aluminum bottles that worked well, but did I stop there? NOOOOO. Several penny stoves came next, then a ultra small Fancy Feast graphite felt model. I made 1 can stoves, 2 can stoves, and 3 can stoves.
In the meantime, I had abandoned self respect as I elbowed aside winos and destitute senior citizens, as I dumpster dived for aluminum stadium bottles, beer cans, cat food cans, and treasure of treasures, a Fosters beer can. To those I added tomato paste cans, poisoned myself eating vile vienna sausages to get the cans, and hoarded tuna fish cans. One corner of my workshop now looks like a recycling center, and I have misspent countless hours watching videos of stove builds, burn tests, and a hundred variations on a simple soda can theme. My work bench is littered with half built stoves, and my band saw is covered with aluminum sawdust. I figured out the most efficient stoves, the lightest stoves, the tiniest stoves, easiest to build stoves, and those that can be built on the trail from common materials with minimal tools. At the height of my madness, I even invented a can stove that can be built with only a can opener and a push pin.
Then I tested them all, and decided to stick with my trusty Svea 123 that I have used for decades. ARRRGGGGGHHHHH ! ! ! I now go to meetings where we begin by saying, "Hi, My name is Tom, and I'm a stoveaholic". As I said, alcohol stoves can be dangerous to your mental health.
+tom jackson Haha. Alcohol stoves are like potato chips. Once you start, it can be hard to stop! Thanks again for watching!
Me too .. dangerously addictive 😁 .. my 'safe space' is my Optimus 8R ..
My gateway drug was Hyram Cook's RUclips channel. Hyram builds and demonstrates stoves on camera. Stove porn? Maybe.
Damn... I enjoyed reading that....😎
Good Luck with your recovery. But before you know it, you'll be back . Perhaps just a little at first, maybe a micro stove...made from an empty rescue inhaler. Hanging out in pharmacy parking lots, trying to score an "empty". I afraid I too am being sucked down that rabbit hole of addiction called alcohol stoves. But hey, like I said, good luck with your recovery.
I use the same plastic squeeze bottle you show here but i put one ounce lines on the side of the bottle. Squeeze, check the one ounce line level and there's your one ounce. Great vid.
Good tip! And thanks for watching!
I like the Solo Stove Lite, combined with their 900 stainless steel pot and alcohol burner. The Solo Stove is basically a fire box, and can run on twigs, birch bark, etc. I used my alcohol stove nested inside the solo stove, which makes the whole set up alot more stable and less dangerous. I know of one hiker who suffered 3rd-degree burns from a homegrown alcohol stove. There have also been AT shelters and possibly forest fires caused by shady alcohol stove set ups.
Third degree burns? Yikes. Did he overfill it? And thanks again for watching!
I liked the content and presentation. Very good info on watching water boil. No, seriously, it associated actual temps with visual appearance. I have been cooking most of my life (60+) and did not know that information. Great Video.
Glad you liked it and thanks for watching!
Another exceedingly well-presented tutorial. Never used the two-burner alcohol stove that was installed in our sailboat during the 9 years we had it since we had a propane grill up on the stern railing, but I still have the bottle of stove alcohol we bought just in case. So a couple months ago I finally bought a Trangia to try out this summer. Your discussion of how much alcohol to use was very helpful, though the Trangia of course can be closed up with extra fuel inside.
As to the boiling and bacteria, there are other organisms to consider, too. On Isle Royale, where I used a Peak 1 white gas stove back in the early 80s, the recommendation was to boil water for a full five minutes, as the cysts introduced by beaver & moose into the lakes take that long to be killed. I am not sure whether the chemical treatments were that effective with the cysts, though a filter with the proper pore size would. So some environments may make it harder to go truly ultra-light with minimal stove/fuel combos such as the Pepsi can stove and limited alcohol load out.
Random Button Pusher I find your remarks about those cysts highly interesting because I used to spend weeks in the woods near Sudbury, Ont. (amid vast numbers numbers of beavers and moose) and I never heard of such a cyst danger. (yikes) The best water I could find was from a river, the Wanapitei I think it was. And thanks for watching!
Things get concentrated on Isle Royale because it is a "closed system" of sorts. The few streams are small, and most interior water sources are ponds and lakes, which get considerable use by the moose and beaver, meaning regular contamination. The Lake Superior shore water wasn't a problem, but when you were hiking the interior, that wasn't an option. Only had to think about the parasites you could get from the cysts and the weight of the stove and white gas (or a good filter) didn't seem that bad. I can wait the extra 5 minutes of boiling.
Random Button Pusher Do you think an alcohol stove isn't good enough to boil the water on Isle Royale ? I am planning on going there next week and wanted to use filter and also boil in my ever new titanium alcohol stove .
Trevor: Well, if your filter has the necessary pore size to catch the cysts, you will be fine. If you have to boil for longer periods, you just need to have enough alcohol fuel to meet your needs. Check the IR website for the current recommendations on boiling water from inland sources (lakes) and check your filter's stats to see if it has pores smaller than cyst size.
Trevor Johnson Here's what I found from a Park Service pamphlet for camping on IR, giving boiling time and filter specs:
"Drinking Water: Water not obtained from the spigots at Rock Harbor
or Windigo must be considered contaminated with the eggs of the
Echinococcus granulosus tapeworm and other harmful organisms. Boil
water for two minutes, or filter through an adequate water filter (pore
size of 0.4 microns or less). We recommend the purchase and use of
water filters; ...
Remember, it is unsafe to drink untreated Isle Royale water. Water
treated with chemical tablets, such as chlorine, halazone, or iodine
WILL NOT guarantee safe drinking water.
So current time for boiling is 2 minutes. NOTE that chemical tabs don't cut it.
Excellent info. Very well put together.
+Bob1942ful Thanks for watching!
Best video I've seen on DIY alcohol stove thanks.
Glad you liked it and thanks a million for watching!
I just built my first remote feed alcohol stove. I bought an aluminum key chain pill holder; that is my stove. I have recently baked two cakes with this little thing. The remote fuel bottle gives me plenty of burn time. The whole thing including my pot stand I welded together, the fuel line and the fuel bottle (empty) probably weighs about 6 oz.
Sounds good. And thanks for watching!
Being fascinated with alcohol stoves, I have built a variety of them. I am very fond of the "penny" style stove. I find that if I make a single 1/8 inch hole in the top for filling, I can plug the hole, and use the cupped stove top to measure the alcohol. I use a dowel, sharpened to a cone in a pencil sharpener to plug the hole. When I visually measure the amount of alcohol in the indentation, I remove the plug, and the alcohol drains into the burning chamber. For greater quantities of alcohol, this can be repeated
Methyl Hydrate (found in the paint thinner section of any hardware store), is an excellent alcohol stove fuel! In Canada, 1 gallon costs about $9.00.
+Paul Gibson Thanks for the tip and thanks for watching!
Well done and very useful video. Thank you 👍🔥
Glad you liked it and thanks for watching!
I use HEET (Yellow bottle). You can get it just about anywhere, including gas station stores.
serious detail here, appreciate the effort
Glad you liked it and thanks for watching!
I've used 91% iso and was unhappy with all the soot it leaves on my pot. Most people don't care but when everything is designed to nest together you essentially dirty things you want clean. Methanol (yellow HEET) burns much cleaner and hotter but evaporates quickly. But at least you save some time not needing to scrub the black soot off your pot. Thanks for the video, lots of good, useful info.
+crazy4offroad Thanks for watching!
Great video! Thanks for posting, I’m going to improve my alcohol stove set up based on your info.
Hope you like how it works out and thanks for watching!
Great video. I have a homemade pressurized alcohol stove and it was a pain in the butt to fill it every time. One day I was in a rush and just grab a small cat stove that I had made.I just fill it with alcohol barely under the holes I had drill on it and put it in my folding stove. I was surprised it performed better than the other stove. So I decided to buy a can of cat food, I didn't drill holes on it, I put 4 screws on a 2 inch CPU fan protector and fold some aluminum foil as a wind screen. To pack it I just turn the CPU fan protector upside down and the can fits there really snug. I put it in a leather pouch with a bic lighter. Cheers.
Survivor245 Nice job on the stove and thanks for watching!
I've used a bunch of alkie stoves over the years, Trangias are nice but always struck me as too heavy especially since they need some kind of pot stand. I made some Whitebox stove knock-offs using Bud "cottles", these are impressive to use and really sturdy. My favorite is the Cat Can stove, much easier to make (just need a Fancy Feast can, a hole punch, some kind of tape measure or ruler and a marker) they weigh in the single digits in GRAMS and like the Whitebox, they act as their own pot stand. I used to use a Heineken "Keg Can" as a cook pot, back then I found an open burner stove called the Klasslite worked best due to the narrow pot. Seriously though, the Fancy Feast is by FAR my favorite. You can even add a priming wick around the base to help light in very cold weather, I've used these in temperatures well below zero although there are some tricks to it.
Thanks for sharing your experience and thanks again for watching!
that triangle is very difficult to find. I own 6 trangia sets of everything. I love their larger tea kettle to house my complete trail kitchen. I use blue paper towels from car parts store they are thick and have great strength. I separate my parts to keep them clean.
Great application of the scientific method!
Glad you liked it and thanks again for watching!
absolutely down to the earth dead simple simplicity. 100% LOVE how you took 10 oz of water and told the temp for each stove you used.....you are more of a scientist doing real science than a degreed scientist. Job well done buddy !!! from a real Scientist :)
Thanks for the endorsement and thanks a million for watching!
When I did the trail, AT hikers used unleaded gasoline in primus and svea stoves. My pressure cap blew once and a jet of fire three feet long roared for 5 minutes from my stove. Alcohol is a much safer fuel.
+thru hiker Thanks for sharing your experience and thanks for watching!
Unless it spills. Then you can have a shelter burn down.
That's why a lot of home made designs are made with the open core being filled with fibreglass with a mesh screen over top & holes for the burn on the rim. That way even if you flipped the can you'd never spill a drop because the fibreglass has a hold of all the fuel.
You're awesome as always thank YOU for another great piece of info! I'm going to try a bean can with my alcohol stove inside to see if that will work as a pot holder for my needs. Might I suggest you add a black bandanna to your cook gear - it comes in handy to wrap up the 'sutted' items so they don't get on everything!
+Florida Girl Adventures Good tip on the bandanna. I rub soot off on the grass - if there is any grass - and carry the pot inside a sil nylon stuff sack. Be careful in the kayak and thanks again for watching!
FBO, I am going out for a section hike of the AT! I have sat here Since December watching your videos preparing myself! This FLA Girl is going to drive from here to Trail days - then do a SOBO section. Didn't want to buy the book for a section buy your 'getting lost' video convinced me - buy the book take my section with me! I am so excited, I have all of my gear (bought my bag last) and Your videos have been a huge helpful inspiration! Will you be at trail days?
+Florida Girl Adventures This sounds exciting! Hope it's a great trip! I won't be making it to trail days. :(
I think maybe a good source for smaller, packable quantities of alcohol would be HEET - gas line de-icer. I don't know about southern states, but up north you can get a 12 ounce bottle for a couple of bucks and it's a small light plastic bottle.
Very good information! Thank you for sharing this sir!
+Joseph Rose And thank you for watching!
THANKS FOR THE EDUCATION AND EXPERENCE!!!!!!
+anthony marino And thanks to you for watching!
Very informative video sir. Thanks!
Glad you liked it and thanks a million for watching!
I've used a G.I. canteen cup with the open stove. My fuel container was a 12 oz pop can bottom, cut down to hold 2 oz of fuel. I drilled extra holes into the stove for increased air flow. A 5 hour energy bottle holds exactly 2 oz of fuel. If you cut the top part off, you get about 1.5 oz. You're welcome.
This was a good video. I like this guy. He's cool.
Glad you liked it and thanks a million for watching!
You are amazingly informative!
Glad you liked it and thanks again for watching!
Awesome information and insight. Thank you so much!
+Troy Johnson And thank you for watching!
Fantastic!!! Thanks for sharing your tips. Be blessed. John
Glad you liked it and thanks for watching!
Interesting. For an extended hike, it would seem you want something lightweight for cooking breakfast (coffee/hot cereal) and supper as well as something light in lighter fluid.
Thank again for watching!
Thank you flatbrokeoutside!!!
You're welcome! And thanks for watching!
I use the titanium octagon but I cut the outside rim off the bottom. Pot sits on top so no need for a pot stand. If needed I use my pack or sleeping pad for a windbreak. think the gasification of stoves heats with less fuel l than an open can.
I think the size of the pot makes a difference. the wider the base of your pot would mean more surface area for the water to spread out over to heat. I use a small kettle that has a spout and lid and can boil 16 ounces pretty fast using an alcohol burner due to the water being more shallow inside the kettle than a standard backpacking pot.
No doubt true. I wonder how much the difference is. Have you ever done a time test between narrow and wide pots, same flame and same water volume? And thanks for watching!
flatbrokeoutside no, I've not done a time test, I just have the GSI Outdoors stainless kettle. I've been backpacking with others that have the tall, narrow pots and mine will always boil first. using same amount of water, 16 ounces for mountain house meals.
While not the most efficient or cheapest (but still fine) I use everclear. I like the versatility of everclear and its ability to double as a disinfectant. I am not afraid of it spilling and contaminating things (potentially)
+TuacaWaca Thanks for watching!
Excellent! Thanks so much.
Glad you liked it and thanks for watching!
Very informative video. Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
ive cooked everything from cornish hens with veggies to chocolate cakes to stews to lasagne to homemade doughnuts to pizza and much more using my alcohol stoves. basically there isn't anything ive found that i cant cook using it. ive got lots of videos showing it as well. they are the best stoves. combine with a wood stove and you cant go wrong.
I have a trangia 27 but like the looks of a Clicstand stove using a trangia burner. Much lighter but still having wind protection.
Outstanding video thank you thank you thank you.
Glad you liked it and thanks for watching!
Very helpful and informative video.
Thanks a lot 👍
Glad you liked it and thanks for watching!
Great information. Sounds as if you were very scientific about it! I once did my own experiment using the Trangia stove comparing denatured alcohol and HEAT (the yellow bottle). I can't remember the specifics, but chose to use HEAT. Since then, some people have pooed my use of HEAT. I like it because it is clean, effective, and widely available, possibly more widely available than denatured alcohol. Do you know of any reason that HEAT should not be used?
+John On the Spot Not really. I have seen it in red and yellow bottles - one is methanol and the other is isopropyl - I forget which is which. I read that methanol is way more toxic than isopropyl, so I would take care not to get any on my skin. Other than that, I wouldn't hesitate to burn it. And thanks for watching!
thanks for the info. i really enjoyed it
+BumSlayerS Glad you liked it and thanks for watching!
awesome science in action bro
Glad you liked it and thanks a million for watching!
Great tips, thanks.
Glad you liked 'em and thanks for watching!
Very useful. Thank you.
+0017Bulldog And thank you for watching!
fantastic video!
+Paul Berick Glad you liked it and thanks for watching!
thanks great info im not walking the Appalachian but the gr11 across the pyrenees coast to coast i was going to go with gas but now for sure il go with meths
Bushcraft Adventures France Sounds like a great hike! Thanks for watching!
Great review
Glad you liked it and thanks for watching!
Thanks! Good information.
+Determined2Survive 1 Glad you liked it and thanks for watching!
Well done. Thank you.
And thank you for watching!
wow sooooooo much real info and the kind we can use !! thanks so much and happy new year sir !!
Glad you liked it. Happy new year to you also, and thanks for watching!
Love my pop can stoves I use methyl hydrate gas line antifreeze. $10 for 4 L.
Thanks for being a viewer!
Thanks for your video, just a correction in the types of alcohol available. There are three types of alcohol commonly available, ethanol a product of fermentation and what we drink, isopropyl, rubbing alcohol and methanol, or denatured alcohol. Methanol is the type best used in camp stoves and common used for cooking on boats. Of the three isopropyl is the least efficient and not used as a fuel in camp stoves or autos. Ethanol is now added to gasoline and is abundant, but is not that good for stove. Methanol is a manufactured alcohol and is clean burning, but poisonous as the body metabolizes it and becomes it a neurotoxin. See the red Heet product for ethanol and the yellow Heet product for methanol, which makes an excellent stove fuel.
Larry Anderson I have not seen red Heet for sale in gas stations in my area for a long time. I have no idea why this is so - the yellow is still there. Thanks for weighing in and thanks for watching!
I have been enjoying and learning a lot from your videos. So which one of your alcohol stoves do you use the most? From this video I get the impression that it is the open top burner bean dip pot stand/windscreen combo.
Thanks for your excellent videos
Yes, once I hit upon the bean dip pot stand it's been hard to overlook for light weight. With the bottom of the soda can burner and the bean dip plastic lid included, it weighs one ounce. I also can turn the pepsi can burner upside down and burn an Esbit tablet that way. I still have the Trangia's - I'm sure they'll see more use when camping close to home. Thanks a million for watching the videos and keep hikin' !
+flatbrokeoutside Thanks for your reply! I will be experimenting with thevq can alcohol burner from Tom Allen's channel on a car camping trip this weekend. I will now have to look for a large bean dip container! I have never seen one that big biut haven't looked for one either. Anybody got any flavor recommendations?
I'm a sucker for the cheese dip. I scored a can of unbrand nacho dip for a buck at the Dollar Store and the can's dimensions are a perfect match for the Fritos brand that's $3 a can elsewhere. I think they both use the same can supplier.
Outstanding!
Steven Boyd Thanks for watching!
I've read that wineos put toilet paper or a rag in a cut off soda can and add isopropyl alcohol to burn for heat or cooking.
Your bubbling water chart made me wonder at what temperature are bacteria in water killed. On my campouts I'm concerned about using too much fuel to bring water to a rolling boil unnecessarily.
Appalachian Swede On the AT I treat all water with Aquamira or iodine, so I consider any bacteria already dead. On the other hand, I read that killing bacteria requires a full boil of at least a minute and in something like a survival situation I would build a fire for that job. And on yet another hand, at 10,000 feet above sea level the boiling point plunges to 194 degrees Farenheit. The CDC only says to boil water 3 minutes above 6,563 feet elevation to kill bacteria. Let's hope that works at 10,000 feet and higher, also. And thanks for watching!
Appalachian Swede Research water Pasteurization. You'll be surprised at what temperature water is safe to drink.
Appalachian Swede Raw chicken and pork is considered safe to eat if cooked to an internal temperature of 190F.
Yes, which is below water boiling temp.
Thank you for this video ♡
Glad you liked it and thanks for watching!
thx for putting this together. would be interesting to see how methanol (e.g. yellow heet) would compare, but in many countries it's not easy to buy because its a poison. I would assume that it generates less heat being a simple alcohol with only 1 carbon in comparison to ethanol. typically, the stuff they put into denatured alcohol just makes you vomit. I use 96% grain alcohol (i.e. ethanol) which I can use also to disinfect wounds or even drink - diluted of course. I don't let the other stuff get close to my food :) cheers, chris
TheLicewine I have not seen yellow heet for sale in my area in a long time. So I was unable to try it. The can of denatured shown in the video is several years old and the label says it contains methanol, less than 4 percent. I have no idea why the manufacturer decided to mix it in. Thanks for watching!
nice video friend thanks
+kenneth caloun Glad you liked it. Thanks for watching!
I never used an alcohol stove on land, but I have built a bunch of them out of a variety of cans.
Alcohol is very popular on boats, where fires can be fatal. Alcohol is miscible with water, and water dumped on burning alcohol dilutes it to a dilution that does not burn. Pouring water on a white gas fire just floats the burning gas into the bilges, under the fuel tanks, and into the oil pan, guaranteeing an exciting, if short, voyage.
PS Sterno is very popular with indigent travelers, judging by the piles of Sterno cans under bridges, and in such places. By using one can of Sterno to heat another to the liquid state, the liquid can them be poured through a filter made of several slices of bread to remove denaturing agents, producing a drink referred to as a "pink lady" by its aficionados. I cannot personally recommend it from experience. JUdging from the nearly blind condition of those who do drink pink ladies, I strongly reccomend that you DO NOT DRINK STERNO if you value your vision.
tom jackson Good points about putting water on burning alcohol and white gas. Agreed, drinking Sterno is a bad, bad idea.
Ha! Desperate folks...
A pot holder is a insulated cloth or rubber that allows you to grab a hot pot. A Pot Stand is a device that holds a pot above the stove.Great Chart. Good advice otherwise. Thanks
Some through hikers say they have so much trouble with alcohol stoves in the wind they went to gas canister stoves.
+Bobby Harper It only takes a modest piece of aluminum foil to minimize problems with wind. Even when I have carried a canister stove, I have carried a foil windscreen - made from an aluminum cookie sheet I
bought at a supermarket. And thanks for watching!
Cool!
Glad you liked it and thanks for watching!
thanks definitely doing alcohol stove
Keep hikin' and thanks for watching!
thanks mate, well done
in one of your posts you mentioned moving away from freeze dried food because of cost. The cost of freeze dried food, assuming marketing and sales costs are the same, should be lower. [a] lower fuel costs to re-hydrate and heat [b] less wasted water; regular mac n cheese or pasta needs to be drained(??)
I watched some other thru hikers journal the AT and there is so much information that is missing. I've been practicing bushcraft just because I want to learn something new. But I could not imagine walking 2300 miles without additional skills prep and knowing the capabilities of my tools like my RUCUS not to mention the ability to replenish..
When I used freeze dried food I used one half of an Esbit tablet or one half fluid ounce of alcohol to heat the water. When I have cooked meals in my pot I also used one half of an Esbit tablet or one half fluid ounce of alcohol. (My particular cooking method is described in more detail in the "Alcohol stove secrets" and "Stuff we don't need" videos.) So, I experienced no fuel savings with freeze dried. I also never drain water from a meal in the pot. I use just enough water to decently cover the noodles or macaroni or whatever. Once the allotted fuel is consumed I let the pot sit for 8 to 9 minutes. Why 8 to 9 minutes? If you look at the package of any freeze dried entree, you will see a wait time of about that length as you read the directions. (That's what I see with Mountain House.) So when that wait time is over the food in the pot has absorbed the great majority of that water. With macaroni there usually is enough left for me to add the cheese powder. I also should say that almost all the time, even if there is snow on the ground, I find the meal so hot at this stage that I add some more water to cool it off a little. This is true in temperatures down to the upper 20s. Rarely - like once or twice - I decided to add some more water and cook it some more. Having said all that, if someone loves freeze dried, they should buy it and use it and why not? Tell me more about the information you think is missing online about the AT. I am always looking for video topics - maybe I could speak to those issues. Based on the channels I watch, those who finish those 2,300 miles have a pretty clear idea of what they are in for, and/or they are quick learners and modify their gear and tactics as needed. And thanks for watching.
flatbrokeoutside Thanks... is this where I should post those questions or would you prefer an email?
Why not email - myflatbroke@gmail.com
just finished my first backpacking trip, and of corse im looking for ways to drop weight before my next hike. lol i think im swapping to alchohol stove ran into a few guys that were using them
What trail were you backpacking on? And thanks for watching!
@@flatbrokeoutside6921 my 6 year old daughter and I hiked 20 miles south on the AT from penn mar park to I-70. we go back in a few weeks todo I-70 to harpers ferry!
For those supermarket prepared meals like the ones you show in this video, have you ever tried dumping the package into the cold water, then heating the water to a boil or near-boil? Then no further cooking. I used to do that a lot and the food always seemed to turn out fine -- plus the meal was ready sooner and less fuel required. Did that with Uncle Ben's flavored rice, for example. Just curious as to whether anyone else tried this shortcut and if so, whether they liked the results.
The short answer is I first saw other AT hikers cooking basically with the method you describe a number of years ago. For more, see my "Stuff we don't need video" at the 5:35 mark. And thanks for watching!
3 plastic bottle tops,boils my 2 cups in rift setup boiled in less than 3mins, cost £00.00
+Martin Taylor For the benefit of those of us in North America, please explain the components of your setup. Thanks.
flatbrokeoutside well,i started wt the penny stove,but now use a metal water bottle,set up in the same way as the hobo stove ,i varied the types of container/metal thicknesses, finally settled on the 1/2 litre water bottle and a talcum powder tin-same shape but smaller,i tried 1mm holes 12 bit big ,went to 8-9mm ,that helped with the pressure,but all inall , really i just sawed em in half,and stuck em together---oh i made sure the holes pointed up
i use the lid of my fuel bottle to measure out. for a cup of tea, you dont need a rolling boil, for dehydrating, a little hotter is better. any other cooking, work out as you go.
It's been my experience that methyl alcohol (yellow Heet) is a superior fuel to both denatured alcohol as well as isopropyl alcohol.
carr jeep I haven't been able to find any of that in a gas station in my area for quite a while. Hope they are still selling it somewhere. Thanks for the tip and thanks for watching!
Walmart has red and yellow
I don't know if you'll remember or not, but what is the name of that Trangia burner stand that you are using at 4:53?
That stand came with the burner when I bought it around 1999 or so. Looks like Trangia no longer offers the stand - a shame because it stores flat and takes up very little space. And thanks for watching.
Awesome!
Glad you liked it and thanks for watching!
Real talk.
ley2lo Thanks for watching!
Great information once again.
Hiker63 Thanks for watching!
TY!
+Giovanni Baldi You're welcome and thanks for watching!
if you live near a drag strip you can get a gallon of methanal
for 5 to 7 dollars it works great
Thanks for watching!
I'm assuming these tests were all performed with the water being boiled with lid ON? As it wasn't specified lidded or not, I can only assume since it does make water boil faster.
The lid was on, as shown by the photo at 4:33. It wasn't exactly super tight because with the thermometer in the spout it wouldn't close 100%. But even that much coverage helps the water get hotter, like you say.
Why go so lite. Get a firebox mini with trangia burner. That way if you run out of fuel you can burn wood especially in the colder months. Good video
If we are weekend camping, why not? If we are hiking hundreds of miles on the AT, time becomes an issue. It takes time to scrounge for wood, particularly because most AT hikers spend the night at shelters, and shelters these days are typically picked clean when it comes to dead wood lying around. The average long-distance AT hike is worn to a near frazzle when they get to a shelter, and many arrive close to dark. Leaving wood availability aside, in recent years I have not seen any AT hiker using anything except a canister stove. 15 years ago alcohol stoves were common; not so much these days. This switch to canisters emphasizes how convenience, particularly regarding time, has become more of a priority. And thanks for watching.
What is your go to stove these days? I would be curious to see your current setup in general as well. :)
Where can I get the triangle metal pieces that go around the stove, The big windscreens are too big to hold my camp cooker. The 3 piece one showing here at 0:13 would be perfect how can I make one or buy one please let me know. Thanks
chromerimshop Trangia used to include these pieces when you bought an individual burner, but no longer. Would this work better for you? The diameter is about 3.9 inches - tinyurl.com/oatkgz9 -- Too bad youtube won't let us msj images ... I could send you a pic with dimensions for the three piece. And thanks for watching!