What’s your favorite cooking setup for one?

My Caldera Cone ti Sidewinder in ESBIT mode or Inferno wood burning mode. It fits inside my matching 3 cup hard anodized aluminum pot or in my pack's side pocket.

This CC version is very efficient for burning wood due to its double wall Inferno conversion. In areas where wood burning is prohibited I use the even lighter ESBIT Gram Cracker setup. I've found it to be at least 40% more efficient than my previous Vargo Tri Ti ESBIT stove & windscreen in terms of fuel consumption.

I purchased a Zelph stove at the beginning of the summer – the Venom Super Stove. Very disappointed. Have not been able to achieve a boil with 2 ozs of alchol in near perfect conditions.

I recently changed to a Batchstovez 1.0 and using just under 1 oz (miscalculated) I was at a near boil in about 8 minutes. It's a kit that comes with the ziploc container, windscreen, heat shield and a KFC plastic spoon. The ziploc container comes with the large bottom and the top that screws on to protect the stove.

I ditched the bottom, cut down the top part for measuring. Total, including my ziploc baggie cozy I'm at about 5.7 ozs. If i make my own windscreen/heatshield it'll drop to about 5.2 ozs. This is with the mesh storage sack that I'm currently using and an empty fuel bottle that weighs .6 ozs.

Much happier with this stove thus far.

Seth, something sounds wrong about the Venom performance. What were you using for fuel?

–B.G.–

I've been using a similar Zelph stove called the "Super Stove" for quite some time and have found it to be the most efficient alcohol stove I've ever used and I have had a few.

The Zelph burns a little slower than the others and I think that may be part of the reason it is so efficient.

But if it isn't behind a wind screen and/or the lid is not on your pot, your results would be less than ideal.

I usually use something like 3/4 oz to make a 1 liter meal.

I like the slower cook time as it allows me to cook more foods without scorching. It works better in the cold than most stoves and doesn't spill burning alcohol when accidentally knocked over

Some of that will be different depending on the diameter of the cook pot.

–B.G.–

I am using the backcountry boiler (9oz) with a msr titan mug. Works great!

As Bob said "depending on the diameter of the cook pot"

I agree and I use a short wide pot. I find that a lot of energy gets wasted with with most alky stoves and tall skinny pots.
A high percentage of the heat goes up the side of a skinny pot instead of being focused on the bottom.

Steven, which short wide pot do you use?

I have large wide pots, tall skinny pots, medium pots, tiny pots, and teakettles.

–B.G.–

My pot is the Montbell Titanium Cooker #2, but I use a thick foil lid instead of the one that it came with
.
Click here for details

i use the old style heiny pot, (thank you thank you thank you Konrad) and the Zelph cobalt blue soloist, or the zelph super stove.
in perfect conditions, no wind and temps above 55°, 2 cups boil at 7 minutes time.

i wonder if your Voodoo stove is a fluke in mal-performance? i'm using yellow HEET.

iirc, mini bic, small cloth, gsi spork, pot/lid/wilson topper, windscreen, stove and empty fuel container is 5.4 oz.

I have used the zelph super stove with a variety of pots ranging from heiny pots up to Kmart grease pot size and have had excellent results with it. I have burned both yellow Heet and denatured alcohols with good result. The stove does best if the wind screen is a bit back from the stove. I have found that the stove is much more efficient if it burns slowly and does not overheat and flare up.

"wind screen is a bit back from the stove"

I like to have enough space there to be able to fit my fingers into. Any more, and there is a loss of too much heat. Any less, and it is too tight for the stove to breathe. Maybe 0.4-0.5"

–B.G.–

Yep, we all know shorter, wider pots are more efficient than taller, narrow pots.

What many don't know is that, size for size, shape for shape, aluminum pots heat faster and more evenly on the bottom than ti pots.

Thus > wide aluminum pot (hard anodized or non-stick) are the most efficient.

Eric, put your aluminum pot into a hot wood fire for a while, and then let's talk about it. If you never use a wood fire, then it makes sense.

–B.G.–

I'm using a heine pot and denatured alcohol. Conditions should be perfect as I tested in my cellar w/o wind. I had purchased two of them, gave one to a friend of mine thru-hiking the AT. He got rid of his because he said it took over 10 minutes to boil, if he could get it to boil. He was using a gsi pot and denatured. Maybe you guys are right in saying it's a bad batch, but I can't see how it could be?