Alcohol STove

Read what traildad (Roy Robinson) says and also zenstoves.com
jason klass has a site with some good info as well.
Those sites will have a lot of good info. I use alc year round and would not change. Doubled foil lasts me about 6 trips and then the 'burn holes' are too big and I have to make another. I would say 24 ounces of fuel for the stated trip. Rain should not drastically affect it – to my knowledge. You will need a pot support.

You'd do plenty fine with an alcohol stove even during winter on the AT. Andrew Skurka has a great video on his website (http://www.andrewskurka.com/advice/technique/fancyfeaststove.php) which shows how to make an alcohol stove out of a cat food can. All it takes is one can and a hole punch. I gave it a shot after spending $1 on a hole punch at Walmart and borrowing a can from a neighbors trash. It worked great and the size is plenty for boiling 2-3 cups of water at a time. This design also allows you to skip bringing a pot stand because it does that too. Basically, make the can, bring a pot, and add a tin foil or titanium windscreen and you'll have a very lightweight, inexpensive, and functional system. I believe something like 2 oz of alcohol boils two cups of water. So do the math for the number of times you'll be cooking. With a good windscreen, you'll be surprised how little alcohol you need. If you're worried about bringing enough, bring a couple esbit tabs.

How much does 21 fluid ounces of denatured alcohol weigh?

21 ounces is a lot to carry in a pack. With something like the Litemax, I'd probably need a 4 ounce countainer.

Am I off base here, or is this pretty much the case?

I can't speak about how many ounces of alchol are needed in the winter time, but in the summer time in the high sierras, with a Trail Designs Caldera Cone Stove, such as available through http://www.antigravitygear.com, you should be able to just boil 2 cups of water using a little under 1 oz of alcohol in July or August. It's what I budgeted for and got by last summer on the JMT.

Okay,I looked it up on the site above.

It's about .77 ounces in weight for each 1 fluid ounce.

So, in April, at 4000 feet elevation, 50-60 degrees, I might need 20 fluid ounces to make 12 meals?

20 fluid ounces would weigh about 16 ounces? Ouch.

…and consider your other options. Esbit will be the lightest. A Bushbuddy might be a good option, although it takes a lot of work to keep the flame. Canister and gas stoves are a lot heavier. Alcohol stoves are very lightweight even carrying the fuel.

Canister stoves do not have to be heavy. The Snow Peak LiteMax is 1.9 oz. Throw in a small fuel canister (about 7 oz full) and you are less than 9 oz. If you can get by with one canister then this is lighter than carrying all that alcohol.

Pros: light and convenient
Cons: more expensive

Of course, Esbit is the lightest way to go …

Good points about some canister stoves being light and convenient. I'd add reasonably reliable too and good performers in colder temperatures (not necessarily altitude). Some maintain a higher profile, however, which may require more space in the pack, a taller windscreen, and better wind protection overall so your food doesn't topple over. Each also requires some maintanence and are suspectable to mechanical failure (although rare). Canisters also aren't very environmentally conscious and once used you still need to lug it everywhere you go and then figure out what to do with it. Efficiency of any stove depends on entirely too many factors to indicate which might be a smarter option for your circumstances. Obviously, to each his own, but canister stoves much like other options have merit depending on your personal choices and environment.

Here's a link to an analysis that AYCE did.

http://thru-hiker.com/articles/stoveweight_vs_time_14days.php

Read the assumptions carefully. If you only heat 2 cups of water a day (for dinner) and can resupply every 3-4 days then alchohol is lighter.

In the colder parts of the year, I heat water for instant oats for breakfast (1.5c water), like to break for lunch and have a hot cup of instant soup (1c water), typically use lipton side dishes as main meals for dinner (2 c water)(which unfortunately almost all require simmering due to the wide noodles or rice), and like a cup of cocoa in the morning and maybe 2 at dinner (3 c per day). For that much water (7.5 c per day) (which I only heat to a simmer rather than a rolling boil so it's maybe equivelant to boiling 4 cups per day considering the Lipton side dishes actually have to come to a boil for a few minutes), a cannister stove is much lighter.

Figure out how much water you want to heat per day and divide by 2 cups per day to get the number of days on thruhiker's chart. I'm typically on the 28 day chart for a 3-4 day trip… (link to the 28 day chart is in the left margin of the link above).

Also, see the analysis Alison Miller did regarding alchy stove fuel consumption at:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=10448

I suspect that duplicating AYCE's analysis with the fuel efficiencies being achieved with the Caldera cone might make a difference in the outcomes for many people heating (but not necessarily boiling) 4 cups of water per day and planning on 3-5 day's between resupply.

I see some Esbit on sale for $7 for 12 cubes. It says one cube burns for 12-15 minutes. 1 cup of water will boil in 8 minutes.

http://www.gofastandlight.com/prodinfo.asp?number=C-R-684&variation=

The titanium stove is 1.5 ounces. It doesn't say how much the esbit weighs though. Is it heavy?

Esbit Tabs weigh apx. 0.5 ounce each and will boil 2 cups water in about 8-15 min. depending on the temperature.

http://thru-hiker.com/articles/esbit_stove_height.php

the height from the Esbit to your pot is also important.

-Evan

That's good to know.

Will the little .4 ounce Pepsi stoves work with esbit? Or does the pot have to be higher from the flame?

You asked does it take 20 fluid ounces to make 12 meals.

You never said how much water you are boiling, or specifically what sort of stove you will be using. A lot of people hear boil 16oz. Some do a bit more. I will assume 16oz for now.

Given your conditions (50-60F degrees) the amount of fuel to boil 16oz of water varies between .3-2oz depending on the stove and how much wind wind there is which works out to between 3.6oz – 24oz.

With my efficient (but slow Ion stove), I would bring .5oz for each meal for a total of 6oz of fuel. I could most likely get away with 4oz, but I like a extra margin to be sure I have enough fuel.

–Mark

A good alcohol stove system should not use more than 1oz to boil 2C at 45F; otherwise the system needs some tweaking.

Anyway, a good lightweight efficient alcohol setup (1.5oz for stove, windscreen and pot stand) will always be lighter than a canister setup (when calculating average weight/day); be it 12 meals or 24 meals. I use an open jet burner and would probably take 9oz alcy for 12 meals. I’m impressed with Verber’s data.

And as noted in “Long Distance Hiking”, Roland Mueser found on the AT the alcy stove is “.. the only design with a zero percent failure rate” — another nice plus :).

-Barry

p.s. My ‘oz.’ always means weight like all commercial manufacturers use. If I mean ‘fl. oz.’, I will write it as thus like all commercial manufacturers use.