What do YOU use to carry alcohol?

[Packman Pete]

I don't mean rum or whisky. I'm talking about fuel for your stove. I sometimes use the HEET bottle itself. Some people claim to use a Platypus bottle, but they seem huge. I'd like to know what y'all use. And I want to know if it's OK to carry it in your cook pot. Also, is there a place to buy smallish red bottles with a leakproof spout? That seems ideal.

[Marko Botsaris]

Try one of these in the 0.5 l (8 oz) size:

http://www.amazon.com/Platypus-Soft-Bottle-Closure-1-Liter/dp/B00AZVN4NY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1405916519&sr=8-2&keywords=platypus+soft+bottle

You can also order any side plastic bottlerm from US Plastics for very cheap:http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?sku=66817

Search around there, there are many choices.

[Bob Gross]

It depends an awful lot on what quantity you want to carry, and the form factor that you want this container to fit. There are a few Platypus-style containers. I tend to use a flatish plastic 8-ounce bottle. Some use an 8-ounce flimsy plastic drink bottle. I've also used small 8-ounce plastic wide mouth jars, if they fit better.

The long neck on a HEET bottle is OK for pouring, but its tall form factor seems kind of awkward.

–B.G.–

[Steven Paris]

I use a Target 8 fl oz plastic pharmacy/medicine bottle.

Best of all, it was FREE. I just asked if I could have one.

[Paul Magnanti]

A small Mountain Dew bottle (or Sprite)

A 12 oz bottle is about the right size. It is green so you are less likely to accidentally drink it and comes with fizzy sugar water!

[Miner]

Any plastic bottle that won't leak if turned upside down. Make sure its different from what you use to carry water. People have tried drinking their fuel for some reason.

Since I normally only cook dinner, usually an 8oz container will last me for a long section (9-10 days) with my stove setup and the fact that I only look for bubbles in my pot and not a rolling boil to rehydrate my food. Occasionally I'll use the HEET bottle it came in but thats only if I don't think I'll find alcohol at the next resupply or two and need to carry a lot.

[Randy Welch]

Sriracha bottle….great nozzle. No leaks, no kidding.

[Kevin Babione]

For weekend trips I use one of these that I washed out:

It holds 90 ml of fuel (boils 5-6 pints using my Caldera Cone) and weighs just 5 grams empty.

I've never had one leak, but I do keep it in my pot for protection. I also empty it back into my main fuel can when I get home so I can't say how it does with long-term storage.

[spelt with a t]

FWIW I like a Sriracha bottle for olive oil at home. For alcohol, I had been using a 3 oz plastic bottle from the travel section of the drug store. I recently found a Capri Sun pouch with a replaceable lid and am going to try that next trip.

[Jerry Adams]

Does 95% alcohol dissolve PET bottle?

I'm thinking more about alcohol for drinking and whether it gets contaminated

[Zorg Zumo]

Alcohol doesn't dissolve PET. A small soda bottle works fine. But I recommend that you do something to make it obvious that it contains alcohol. Mr. Yeuck! stickers, spray paint, sharpee marker, something. I've seen it first-hand – somebody takes a swig from water bottle containing SLX. And I damn sure wouldn't have anything around that looked like a snack to kids.

[Packman Pete]

Charges ninety cents for a bottle and shnozzle cap and nine dollars for shipping.

Daaaaamnnn!

[Jerry Adams]

I use two identical PET bottles – one for alcohol, one for drinking water

Once, I rinsed off glasses with alcohol that I thought was water. Fortunately only a little bit wasted before I figured it out.

Another time I took a swig from what I thought was water. Definitely yuck.

Now I mark the alcohol bottle with a bunch of red.

[Bob Moulder]

The 2-oz and 4-oz flat ovals fit easily inside my pot along with stove and windscreen, cup, spoon and lighter.

I like the flip-top caps which squirt fuel without dripping. I tested by squeezing the bottles very hard and they do not leak.

.

.

[DGoggins]

That's interesting that the US plastic flip tops don't leak….I tried the REI flip top caps (boston rounds is what they call them) and they do leak…

[Jennifer Mitol]

I have the flip top bottles from REI and they haven't leaked at all. I do the same – shut them and squeeze hard to make sure they are solid…and they are.

So far so good anyway.

I like them because I can roll the caldera cone around mine, slap a thick rubber band around it (the kind that hold carrots together) and put it inside the pot. Super nice set up for up to 5 days (the 4oz bottle anyway).

Trying to figure out what to carry for alcohol tho on the last leg of the JMT. 12 oz or so should do me just fine…what to use, what to use….

[Joshua Abel]

I found the same of REI flip top bottles, that if i close them and squeeze a bunch of air leaks out thus leading me to believe they are not leak proof.

[Bob Gross]

Minimizing leaks will depend on the air bubble inside the bottle. Let's assume that you have an 8-ounce bottle with 7 ounces of liquid and 1 ounce of air bubble inside, and that you cap it at sea level. Then if you take it up to 10,000 feet elevation, the air pressure outside is reduced, so the air bubble tries to leak out of the cap. Taking it the other way around, assume that you have the same contents and that you cap it at 10,000 feet elevation. Then if you take it down to sea level, the air pressure outside is increased, and that squeezes on the bottle, trying to force the liquid out of the cap. You can minimize that problem by squeezing the air bubble out before you tighten the cap, but you can go only so far with that unless you use a Platypus-style container.

–B.G.–

[Bob Moulder]

I held them inverted with full fuel and pressed hard with both thumbs (conservatively, approx. 40 lbs of pressure, likely more) and no leaking.

[Jerry Adams]

Air pressure drops by about half if you go up 18,000 feet elevation, so squeeze out half the air bubble to start to avoid any pressure. Less elevation gain – proportionally less.

Elevation loss isn't a problem – bottle just collapses a little, and if it leaked, air would go into bottle.

Maybe it's "belt and suspenders", but sometimes bottles leak.

[Bob Gross]

I have a graphic that spells out the air pressure differences better.

Once the air pressure has gone below 40% or 50% of sea level pressure, all sorts of weird things start happening, sometimes worse than liquid leaks.

"Elevation loss isn't a problem – bottle just collapses a little, and if it leaked, air would go into bottle."

If the air pressure causes the bottle to collapse a lot, you can start to lose the structural integrity of the bottle. My caps don't leak, so the air pressure just keeps collapsing the bottle worse and worse when I return to sea level.

–B.G.–

[David Moreno]

It depends on the volume I need to carry for a trip.

I carry anything from 3ml dropper bottles for insect repellant / sunscreen to an 8 oz flip top bottle for fuel. This is for lengths varying from dayhikes to 5 day trips. All are clear bottles.

I generally get them from a mail order supplier.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/default.aspx?catid=530&parentcatid=469&clickid=topnavmenu

I have no affiliation with this company.

For anything over 8 oz capacity, I just use an empty soda bottle.

Edit: To keep from confusing it with drinking bottles, I put 1 drop of black food coloring to 1 quart of fuel. I buy 3 bottles of yellow HEET at a time and pour the contents into a 1 quart Gatoraide bottle. It makes the fuel a light grey color. This solves 4 issues for me.

1) I can buy the Heet in the summer when it's on sale.
2) I don't have to scrounge up fuel as often.
3) I can always tell when I'm running low on fuel at a glance.
4) I can see the fuel level better in the bottle and in the stove without having to break out my glasses.

I just use a syringe or small funnel to put the needed amount of fuel into an appropriate sized bottle for my trip.

One downside some might have with this method is that after the trip, the stove should be rinsed out with hot water to remove the residual green colored residue left in the bottom of the stove.

I carry various flavors of Gatoraide with me but don't worry about accidentally drinking the fuel because the containers are so different from my bladders. You can use any color of food coloring. Some might not leave as much residue in the stove. I use black because it takes less food coloring to enable me to see the fuel level without glasses.

[Bob Gross]

David, if you use black food coloring in the fuel, then what produces the residual green color in the bottom of the stove?

–B.G.–

[Eric Blumensaadt]

I carry a plastic hip flask with 150 proof Navy Rum. ;O)

But my ESBIT tabs go in a coffee bag.

[David Moreno]

David, if you use black food coloring in the fuel, then what produces the residual green color in the bottom of the stove?

–B.G.–

I would assume that it's the left over residue from part of the food coloring used to make the black coloring. It isn't present after the same number of burns without it.

I've never tried any other colors so I'm assuming since it's green, that the green food coloring might leave it as well.

Has anyone tried this and had similar residue in any other color? Not that it's hard to remove after each trip.

[Author]

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