Little fun with alternative cooking. Alcohol burners

[clm2112]

Decided to explore a little off the beaten track. How to boil water and cook using alternative fuels I have around for those "what if..." scenarios.

First up for me is Methyl, Ethyl, and Iso-propyl Alcohol. I bought this neat little guy online and it showed it in the mail bag this morning. Spirit burner from Trangia. From what I can tell, this is sort of the universal standard in terms of size & shape for alcohol burners. It is like what every kinda backpacking stove emulates.

Dirt simple construction with no moving parts. Just pour in the alcohol and light it with a match. When it starts up cold, it burns the vaporized alcohol right off the top of the reservoir. As the metal heats up, it switches over to burning vaporized alcohol out the ring of vent holes in the top of the ring like a gas stove. Half filled with 91% Iso-propyl alcohol, it ran for about 15 minutes. Burned clean with no odor that was noticeable to me... but I admit my standards are pretty low, I don't find the smell of the kerosene heater offensive.

Now, I gotta make a chimney/pot stand for it to sit in and actually cook something. I saw someone's setup using a stainless steel kitchen utensil drying rack (like those ones you see at the buffet holding all the forks and spoons.) Looked like a cheap option to try out. Might just carve up an old steel coffee can or a #10 tin can to control the airflow into the burner.

I'm eventually going to try out all the options. Jellied Alcohol looks intriguing. I've got plenty of egg-shells to use in making the calcium acetate.

 

[BeerHunter]

I still have this DIY wood-burning back-packer stove I built years ago when I was a Scoutmaster: Woodgas Can Stove

It's fueled by [dry] twigs you easily find laying around your campsite and boils a quart sized pot of water in under 5 min!

 

[clm2112]

I still have this DIY wood-burning back-packer stove I built years ago when I was a Scoutmaster: Woodgas Can Stove

It's fueled by [dry] twigs you easily find laying around your campsite and boils a quart sized pot of water in under 5 min!

Yep, that's the concept I'm going for. The inner core is your combustion chamber (be it alcohol burner, wood, sterno, etc.) and the outer cylinder is for the control of intake air. Like building a little furnace that uses the column of hot air going out the top to create a draft going in the bottom. When used with wood as fuel, the core gets hot enough to vaporize the resin in the wood and burn that before the fibers of the wood burn.

A smaller version of the airtight wood stove my little alcohol burner was sitting on during it's test burn.

 

[Bongo Lewi]

There are a number of scenarios I've considered and prepared for, but my favorite is SNHTF (Shit Never Hits The Fan) and I don't spend a minute of my day worrying.

I've done my share of backcountry hiking, camping, hunting in some very remote locales. Some of that was difficult terrain and at altitude, so carrying an ounce more than you need is not a good thing. Add some work-related Hell on Earth swamps, deserts, and steaming jungles with bugs I never knew existed. Looking back, I ask myself what the fuck I was thinking when could have easily been in a warm, comfortable bed every night and nobody around me smells like a goat.

But I digress. There is some really good lightweight gear out there for cooking. This is the best in my opinion. Super light. LiteMax Titanium Stove

Give a choice of skinning and cooking varmints, eating MREs or First Strike bars, I'll take this:

 

[clm2112]

Well, I actually got to use the little stove a few times. Thanks to the intermittent reliability of West Penn Power. That's just the way it is out here on the edge of Allegheny mountains.... nobody gives a shit about maintaining the power lines or phone lines. If they go down, well, you are just shit outta luck until they get around to patching it again. Happens a couple times every year. Funny, they never have that lax attitude when it comes to paying the bill.

Anywho, added stainless utensil can, screw-driver shafts (from the tool kit of one of the many Honda CBR's of my past) and a pair of muffin fan grills.

Works well enough on Oatmeal, instant coffee, and canned soup.

 

[no4mk1t]

Years ago, I had a bud who was into ultra light back packing. He showed me how to make an alcohol stove from a Pepsi can. I made two and have used them on several occasions when the power went out.
Now you can them on Amazon about $15, so it's not worth the effort unless you just like to tinker.
I use Denatured Alcohol. That is what sail boat stoves run on and can be bought by the quart or gallon at Home Depot/Lowes.

Pepsi Can Stove

Had a bud that was into ultra light back packing who showed me his stove. I made two of them and have used them several times when winter storms have knocked out the power. They will boil a cup of water in about the same amount of time a microwave will. Runs on denatured alcohol. Instructions...

www.patriotgunbuilders.com