Beer can pot help

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

I have a 1L titanium pot and made my own lid for it to lighten it up. Then I thought maybe I should just make a beer can pot and really lighten it up. But I have two concerns that are stopping me:

1) How do you protect your beer can pot from being crushed in your pack?

2) What do you use for a handle? How do you lift the pot off the flames and hold it to eat out of without burning yourself?

[george carr]

If you use the heiney keg can they are pretty durable, and the beauty is if it gets crushed just bang it back out.

I can't speak for everyone, but I only boil water in beer can pots. Seems like they might be a little hard to clean stuck food out of….

[Dale South]

Check out this site to see how to chop or cut off the heiney keg to make a pot. I have a 2" band of exhaust wrap around mine that lets me grab the pot while hot.

http://www.bplite.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=590

[Troy Ammons]

Its a tough can. Much thicker than a Fosters can.

I have an ancient pot lifter from the 70s that works. Its the kind that clamps on the rim.

To cut the top off you need a deep cut top cutter. I could not find one so I drilled the stop rivet out of a regular top cut can opener and that worked.

If you are interested in a 12 oz heiniken can wood gas stove that weighs 1.8 go here.

http://www.hobohilton.com/hwgs1.html

Since building this page/stove I have done more testing and made some changes, and got it to work without insulation with a different starter. I also added some more holes to the middle of the inner sardine can. Also no need to trim 1/16 off the top. If you stretch the alum out it will have a better seal.
Fits inside of the big Heineken can. I still am wrking on the pot stand.

If interested I can post pictures of the new one.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Oops. I bought 2 Fosters beer cans.

I was hoping to cook food in it and eat from it. That's why I picked the Foster's. It looked a little wider and easier to eat from.

I have usually put my current pot in my pack and then pushed hard on it to stuff it deep down. I am not sure how to handle it if it's a really delicate thing.

[Denis Hazlewood]

If you want to go that small (two cups), the BPL Firelite SUL-550 is very light and quite a bit stronger than the Heine. You can eat out of it and it's easy to clean. It fits well on various stoves and has its own Caldera Cone.

[Taylor Ginther]

Once I got tired of lugging around the SS Sigg tourist, in an effort to lighten the load I did exactly what you're talking about. Actually that was the beginning of my switch to ultralight, (not there yet). I put up with it until I could afford a titanium, at which time I got a Snow Peak 700 and never looked back. I don't see any benefit to the can-pot, unless a guy can't go the cost of a Ti (and you don't mind eating the melted protective coating found in most food/beverage containers).

Hey you've already got a 1L Ti, just sell it and get a 700ml. Problem solved.

[Jeff Antig]

Many people wrap it with a heat insulating material such as kevlar wrap as a "handle".

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

I didn't realize there is a plastic coating on the inside. Yuk!

The beer's not that good, either.

[Troy Ammons]

Its durable but you can burn it, IE like if you leave it on a stove dry. You can scratch it too. I doubt the plastic is any worse for you than non-stick coatings.

I would rather have my food on plastic than on aluminum any day.

I think ideally the way to use a beer can pot is to boil water then mix your meals in another container.

I like the plastic bag or freeze dried bag myself for zero cleanup.

The microwave large plastic soup containers are very light and have a foam insul layer around them. If you cut off the top alum ring they weigh .6 oz. I carry 2. One for food if need be, and one for tea and coffee.

If I need to actually cook a meal in camp I would rather use a titanium non stick pot.

[Unknown abc]

Diane, beer can pots are not for real cooking. The only "cooking" you really can do in either Henieken or Fosters is thin soups, but making that in a bag or bowl is more conventional anyway.

hope that helps!

[Anonymous]

Denis,

What stove set-up do you use for your 550? Thanks, John

[Denis Hazlewood]

John,
I use a Snow-Peak Giga Stove, with a MYOG Snow-Peak Ti bowl, wind screen. I don't really use alchol any more but would like to get a Caldera Cone for it too. Mostly to keep pumpin' my gear habit. BTW, Ti Spoke bail handles and Reflectix cozies for all my Ti pots

I'd post photos of the "kids" but I'm on my Blackberry.

[Stephen Sherwood]

I believe the beer can pot can hold plenty of real food for one person, I cook 4 oz of pasta in mine all the time, I use 1.5 oz of alcohol (in cat can stove) & cook spaghetti in my Heiniken can boiling it at 9000 + feet & putting olive oil & parmesan on it after its drained into my aluminum bowl, makes a good diner after hiking in the mountains all day & a lot of time I eat this for lunch & dinner. I think you could cook almost anything that you could cook in a 0.9 L pot, Just my two cents
Stephen

[Michael Meiser]

Just discovered this it excites me greatly. I did a search and saw only one reference to it on backpacking light. Must share.

A 32oz Nalgene bottle with the top cut off makes the perfect companion for the Fosters can pot.

(Unforetuneatly the Heinken can is a tiny bit to large.)

Prior to this discovery I thougt the fosters can pot was to delicate in my pack but the Nalgene protects it perfectly plus there are tremendous other benifits.

Starting from the top.

1) combination packs extremely well

2) extremely light and yet also extremely durable when used in combination

3) Nalgene bottle has handy measures on the side and is clear

4) Nalgene bottle can handle boiling water / hot food without melting

5) Nalgene bottle is naturally well insulated so you can fill it with boiling fluids and pick it up without burning yourself.

6) Nalagene bottle and Fosters can pot can be cut to whatever size you like (12, 16, 24, 30+ oz etc) making the set perfectly customizeable to your personal needs

7) Nalgene bottle can possibly double as a pot cozy (I must admit I haven't tried this yet, I guess there is some small potential for it to melt, but I think it unlikely.

8) Nalgene and Fosters are the perfect width to be used as a cup or a bowl, a versatile size.

9) Even if you did destroy your fosters can they can be picked up nearly anywhere.

This may well be potentially the most compact and lightest cook kit short of a ziplock bag.

Negatives?

Note: I have yet to find some fiberglass, kevlar or other insulative wrap to make sure it can fit between the can and the nalgene, but the worst case scenario is I make a removeable insulative sleeve.

My only real problem is figuring out how to add a bead or a little rigidity to the Fosters can so I can more easily pick it up off the fire and hold it.

Lip Guard? I was also having a hard time finding a proper silicone band as a lip guard, but I've discovered a red silicone that is can handle heat up to 700 degrees.

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1295863

Provided it has no negative health issues (and I don't see why it would once dry) it should be perfect for making a lip guard of my liking on the pot.

[Joe Cangelosi]

"Provided it has no negative health issues (and I don't see why it would once dry) it should be perfect for making a lip guard of my liking on the pot."

You might want to reconsider that. Room temp vulcanizing silicones are generally used for gasket-making and high-temp/high air agitation environment adhesive. It's designed for thermal duty cycles, but not contact, really. I can say from experience it starts to flake and crumble a bit where exposed to regular abrasion, especially if it isn't PERFECTLY smooth after installation. A cursory look at the msds doesn't say much about post-vulcanization health affects (probably assuming you wouldn't be eating it :-) ) but I would be inclined not to regularly put my mouth on a non-food grade silicone product.

All silicone degrades, but the big question is how.

For a little less money you can buy a 2-pack of Hot Lips at REI. The hot lips are made of food grade cast silicone (not RTV).

http://www.rei.com/product/800044?preferredSku=8000440019&cm_mmc=cse_froogle-_-datafeed-_-product-_-8000440019&mr:trackingCode=EB6EADA3-C227-DF11-BAA3-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA

[Patricia Combee]

Some folks put a wire bail on their Hennie pot for lifting.
I am experimenting with a piece of a silicon cooking pad (600 Degree) cut to about 2.5 to 3 inches wide by about 11 inches long and wrap it around the Hennie pot and then secured with a beer band. Will be "field testing" this weekend. I expect it will work okay. I will be using Esbit/triox bars for fuel.

[Adan Lopez]

I carry mine and it's my only pot or bowl or cup. the only cooking i do is boiling water. i eat out of the bag and drink from my water bottle. i brew coffee right in the heini. I have never had problems with the heini getting crushed and if it's hot, then i just wear my gloves when I'm eating. I also put a little wire bail on mine but I havent used that for anything yet.

The only downside i have had so far is that if i need to cook over wood, a wider pot would be much more efficient and easier to balance on rocks. I dont see any reason to spend big bucks on titanium unless i suddenly become interested in washing dishes, in which case cooking directly in a titanium pot would be perfect! Actually, considering the luck I've had with FBC lately, maybe I need to reconsider my plan.

[Dale South]

I just used JRB Weld to glue a 2 inch wide strip of exhaust manifold tape around my pot. No problem handling it when hot.

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