Final touches to list – cooking and eating

[John Davis]

So I have a home made 'perfect' soda can stove that uses about 2/3 -3/4 ounce to boil a pint. I have the titanium lidded Evernew Cup to boil in. I made an aluminum wind shield with suitable holes to mount a coule of pegs on which to rest the pot. I have the pot cosy. BUT… what do I eat in! I have had great success at home adding my own dehydrated goods to the water before lighting up, boiling and eating from the pot. I have also tried making ready made zipplok bags to eat from – that works but my folding spork doesnt reach all the way in! What can we take along to eat and or drink from other than the pot. I'm thinking about the cleaning up aspect, spaghetti floating in tea not so good. are there any 'perfect size' inner or outer cups that fit inside/outside perhaps? What do YOU do?

[Troy Ammons]

You could get a longer spoon to get to the bottom of the bag.

If you dont mind washing dishes you can carry an insulated plastic container. Soup like healthy choice, Select choice, hormel chili comes in these. They weigh 1 ounce. Easy mac comes in a lighter, .6oz cup. I cut the metal ring off. It just traps food.

A nut or a coffee can lid will fit on these depending on which plastic container.

If you only need to boil 1.5 cups, you could use a 12 oz Heineken can just to boil in. About 3 oz total less the plastic container. If you need up to 3 cups, boil in a 24oz Heineken can. About 4 oz total less the container.

I have built probably about 50 beer can stoves of different designs and I fianlly have a pressurized jet stove that will boil 1 cup with 10ml, 1.5 cups with 15 ml, 2 cups with 17.5 ml, 2.5 cups with 20ml of DN alcohol. 3 cups I think is about 25ml. Thats at sealevel 65dF h20 and is a rolling boil.

If your total boil for a day is 2 cups in the morning (1 for coffee, 1 for oatmeal) and 1.5 cups at night or 3.5 total, your daily alcohol usage would be about 30-35ml of alcohol. 30-35ml = around 1-1.15 fl ounces per day. Weight wise about 1 oz per day

Link to my setups..

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=23237&skip_to_post=188028#188028

With this one you also have an extra 12oz Heineken can.
I have changed this a little.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=22860&skip_to_post=185544#185544

[John Davis]

I like the nesting – I'm a touch sensitive (blame the wife) of eating /using aluminum for health reasons – although I do have a heineken pot I could use. I'd love to replicate that system with the titanium I have…

AS for your burner, from what I can see it is two heineken pots, inverted with three jets only around the rim? Need priming?

[Troy Ammons]

These cans have a plastic coating so no direct contact with aluminum. Thats the old stove in the link. The one that is more efficient is made with a heiniken can outer, and a regular beer can inner. I dont know why it is more efficient, unless its partially due to the thinner burner can. I will post later on how it is put together. Part of it is also the height of the pot above the stove since it reflects a lot of heat. Too close and it will cook too hot. Too high up and it wont cook hot enough.

You prime the outer ring with about 3-5 ml of alcohol, but you are cooking while its priming.

I will post again later.

[Brad Groves]

John, I'll say this at my own risk, since I'm probably in the minority here… but this is why I use a bigger pot. I eat and cook in the same device. The pot itself might weigh a little more, but probably not as much as the addition of a bowl. Evernew 0.9L short, bail handle, weighs 3.55oz, less with foil lid. You could eat from bags and not have clean-up, but then you're carrying the extra weight of the food remnants in the bag (not to mention food-stink for critters).

EDIT: if you do want a bowl, Snowpeak's Ti Bowl is 1.6 oz IIRC…

[John Davis]

I have the 0.6l pot and I CAN eat out of it – just thought Id like to be boiling water for a drink/coffee/tea while eating! OR vice versa.. that was my thinking…

[Troy Ammons]

Probably a good idea anyway to carry an extra small alum or light metal cup. They come in handy. I have a mirro camping cup from the dark ages that holds 12 oz and weighs 1.2 oz.

All these years that has always been in my pack no matter what.

My old setup was a super light (back in the day) stainless steel cooking grill that weighs 3.4 oz, 12 oz alum cup, Sigg alum 2 L pot set (I think), fry pan lid and alum plate, with a pot lifter, plus all the extra stuff. Cooked on a fire. With all the down sizing that setup is too big now.

[John Davis]

I had a genius idea – I took a Peanut butter jar with lid and it nests perfectly, poured my boiled water and…it melted! Or changed shape significantly! Back to drawing board!

[Troy Ammons]

Those plastic cups I mentioned earlier will handle boiling water.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

A GSI ReHydrate spoon is the friend you need ;-) It is 1/2 an ounce and costs $1.95 – and reaches to the bottom of both freezer bags and commercial freeze dried meal bags. We sell a ton of them, they are not so easy to find (they should be!!)

[Troy Ammons]

Here you go.

Heineken can bottom. Cut the can so it leaves the fat ring. The cut line is right at the green label. That helps heat up the can.

The burner is made out of a normal beer can. Cut it off 1/2" from the bottom rim. Cut slits almost all the way up to the rim spaced at about at 1/2"

I drill a hole before I glue to let air escape. 2 in the middle, 6 in the top of the rim and 3 on the inside edge.

Hole are with a #40 drill bit in a pin vise.

Slip the burner can into the bottom and glue it at the joint with 24 hour JB weld. You can sit it on an elec burner on low to speed up the cure. With my stove set on 2 it will cure in about an hour well enough to test.

Thats it.

Prime with 3-4 ml of alcohol.

You can pour the alcohol in. No need for anything special.

The stand should be about 1.5" high for a 24 oz heineken can. That said a different pot probably wont boil as fast.

If it burns too hot or runs away, you probably have the burner too far into the outer can or the pot too close to the burner.

If you want it to burn slower then you could epoxy 2 or more of the burner holes on the rim and that should help, but it will fire off slower too. You could also eliminate the 3 inner holes, but I have found as you start reducing the number and size the pressure inside builds fast and they get touchy.

You can also trim the top of the ring, but this is very touchy. One stove I trimmed 1/8" and it was enough that it would not fire off at all. trim maybe 1/16" at a time if you go this route.

If you need it to burn hotter like at altitude or in cold weather you can,

wrap it tight with the windscreen or
use a cone or upside down cone like I showed before, although I have not tested it with this stove or
you could put a nickle on the 2 center holes and it will build more pressure or

You can experiment with a small piece of SS wire, like a loop sticking down into one of the holes. That will help heat the alcohol.

An insulated base would help to hold the heat in.

[John Davis]

thanks for the advice and pics! Appreciate it..

[Ike Mouser]

What about just burning the leftover packages from those space food meals?

[John Davis]

no fires where i go – not aloud. sometimes wwe cheat and build a small one on very still nights…

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