Caldera Mini

The silicon egg ring is cute, and should last well. After al, the outside of the mug should never get much above 100 C.

Air inlets at the bottom of the Cone?

Hi Roger,
I have punched 8 holes in the bottom of the cone (you may be able to see a couple of them in the 2nd pic where the cone is inverted packed away.) I used the same hole set up as the full length cone, I may try making them into slots, but it is working well as is.

Brett you win…
We had that long thread about finding a way to make the cone shorter, this has to be the easiest most practical I have seen . Now can you please tell me where you can buy those "silicon egg rings ? "
Franco

Hi Franco,
You can get them at the silicon egg ring shop.
If you can't find them there have a look in a kitchen equipment store. Mine had small tabs used to lift the ring off of the frypan, I just cut them off, cost $3

Eggsactly.
Thanks Brett. I have had my eyes on those thin silicon squares to use as a cutting board and as a base for my cone but had not seen those egg things before.
Franco
BTW I have named your combination " the sillicone"

"Silicone" I like it, but can we call it the "Silicone 5000" sounds a bit more impressive for a pot with an egg ring around it.

Or the Silly Cone… just to be fun :) Not that it's silly. I think this is friggin' awesome. Thanks so much for the post. I see a trip to my local kitchenware store in my future!!!!

So what version of the cone did you use? I don't have a caldera but I've always thought it was a great idea. Do they have a titanium version I wonder that would fit the trapper?

Is this the cone you started with?

http://antigravitygear.com/proddetail.php?prod=TDCTRPR

Hi David,
Yes thats the model, it has quite a tight fit so you wouldn't need much to stop it sliding down the mug.I noticed silicon rubber bands that are used for cooking which would be much lighter, but not much use as a pot holder. They don't make a titanium version, but the standard version is really light and sturdy. I cut off 2 inches off the cone, you could cut more but the pot will start to stick above the top venting holes, plus mine still fits a short handled BPL Ti spoon. Also the stove is a little bit big to fit inside the mug, so I store it inverted

Cool. Anti-Gravity has one in the mail for me already :)

I love the dual use of the band (i.e. pot holder + holder-upper)

I think I will punch some holes in the bottom after cutting the 2" off (a good 3 hole push works well)

I guess with the shorter cone… you don't have enough space to allow for the cook fire option. But that's ok. I stick with Esbit on my short trips and wouldn't need the extra height.

BTW… concerning your lid… the inverted top of a small aluminum cat food can weights 3 grams and is a perfect fit. You'll need a side-cut opener to get it off. And a small piece of aluminum tape makes a nice lid handle.

One final thought too. Not to take away from your cool idea… but I guess if you cut too much off… you're someone defeating the "caldera" effect… the effect of funneling heat up around the sides of the pot.

Brett, thanks for the silicone egg holder idea! I've been using my Snow Peak mini solo pot in my Caldera, and it just sorta works out 'cause it wasn't designed for that… it doesn't sit level because it leans over over slightly in the cone. The ring should fix that!

I just ordered this system. Not sure I want to do any cutting to it yet, although the price is right for experimentation. If I add the egg ring at the top just as a pot holder to remove it when done boiling will it still fit in the supplied caddy without having to remove it each time?

Hi Jason,
It will just squeeze in, one end of the caddy is bigger and it fits in that end no problems.
Also,Russ at Trail Designs says he has the tooling to make shorter cones.