Best alcohol stove for 2 people?

Chack out Tinny's site. He has several options for 2 people

http://www.minibulldesign.com/fs2.htm

At least give the Clikstand a look. (www.clikstand.com) It's a really stable windscreen, and got high performance marks in BPL's review of acohol stoves a while back. It's on the heavier side. My Clikstand, Trangia burner, .9L Evernew Ti pot, lexan spoon, and 1-pint Platy for fuel storage hit about 11 ounces; you can reduce that a little by using a different burner.

However, my Snow Peak Gigapower stove, Trek 700 Ti pot, spork, and empty fuel cylinder are at 10 ounces; throw in the Snow Peak windscreen (for comparability, since the Clikstand is a terrific windscreen) and the weight goes to 12 ounces.

If you're not a dyed-in-the-wool (or polypro) gram-counter, this might be a good choice for you. The windscreen is adjustable to perfectly fit either the .9L or the 1.3L Evernew pots (my wife and I use the 1.3L when I take her car camping.) Those pots are available at REI.

Ben, I own the Brasslite Turbo D and a Trangia. I would recommend the Trangia over the Brasslite. The B.L. is poorly made*, and fragile. Since you mentioned weight is not so critical, carry the 68 gram (stripped) Brasslite. It is durable and reliable, can simmer (not important to you as mentioned in your post), can be sealed to save remaining alcohol, can easily be snuffed, etc.., For my Trangia I ordered a Caldera Stove, which is a combination windscreen/pot holder. I choose the ones sizd for a Snowpeak 600 and Snowpeak 400.
I make a good pepsi-can stove, but they are really fragile; you did say you are doing some thru hiking, maybe a more durable stove is a good idea; these little hockey puck sized Trangias are strong.

*the sheet brass is wavy and poorly cut and soldered; too thin as to be weak, etc..

There are many pot supports you can buy or make if you dont want the Caldera..
See here
http://gearx.com/product_info.php?products_id=77

Caldera
http://www.antigravitygear.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=216&osCsid=dcbbbbd2fe71e31c3455b4ffa4fae7cd
(email him for the one you want, any Snowpeak except 900, and most other common Titanium pots.)

Brett, Thanks for the thoughtful tip. I'll look into the other unit(s) and check the make-your own site. Ben

Since a pepsi can stove, a foil windscreen, a nipper platypus, and a snowpeak 600 mug with homemade lid are SOOOO light…just take two cooksets! Go even lighter with a beer can pot.

…other advantages, you get your own pot to eat out of, and water will be boiling faster so dinner will be sooner!

Hi Ben,

I've used an AntiGravityGear alcohol stove for two people for years now. It works very well with a MSR Titan Kettle. Add a wind screen and a couple of mugs (we usually skip the mugs) and you're good to go. It boils a full Kettle in about 5.5 minutes.

Even better is the AntiGravityGear Caldera stove. I don't have one yet but from everything I've heard and read, this setup is approaching alcohol stove perfection. Based on my experience with their stove, I'd have to agree. Wind is your greatest enemy with an Alcohol setup and this system seems the best approach to solving the problem.

Best of luck!
Doug

I think it depends a lot on your cooking style. My wife and I have been using an alcohol stove for the last two years now with much success. We only cook "freezer bag" style, so the cook pot never holds food – only water.

We were using a pepsi-g stove I made and a 2L AGG pot. While this worked quite well, the pot was way bigger than we needed, so last year I made another pepsi-style stove using RedBull cans. I wanted the smaller diameter flame so I could use my Snow Peak Ti 700 Mug for the cook pot. It's been a great little system every since.

The RedBull stove is very small and only holds about 1.5 oz of alcohol. I can boil 2 cups of cold water on only 3/4 of an ounce, so I never fill it all the way up. My wife and I never boil more than about 20 oz of water at once, and that's just if we're having tea. Meals are usually only 2 cups of water to re-hydrate.

We never drink tea with dinner, so we never need to boil 2 cups for dinner and 2-3 cups for tea at the same time. If we needed to do that, we'd have to bring the pepsi-g stove and the AGG pot instead. So it really depends on how much water you need to boil at once. Get a pot to match that need, then get a stove to match that pot.

Dan,
My first Pepsi can stoves had the holes drilled between the raised ridge on the bottom and the edge of the can and, like you, wanting a smaller diameter, switched to the V8 can. The stoves I made did not seem to perform quite as well as the bigger Pepsi can and I wondered if the smaller side chamber may have accounted for less vapor pressure on the V8. Noticing that the diameter of the 5.5 oz V8 can is approximately the same as the ridge on the bottom of the Pepsi can, I have drilled the holes using a 1/16th drill bit on the side of the ridge rather than out closer to the edge. This provides a tighter flame diameter with the Pepsi can which closely matches that of the V8 can. It may not be an issue with you but there it is if you are interested. Additionally there is a ready supply of the bigger cans around our house and use of the smaller cans usually means a trip to the store.

Thanks for the post. I have considered two stoves but I am the cook, so it just does not match our philosophy of noursihment if you will. I'll chck out the antigravity gear. Any body taking the Sketti for two? thats on my short list as well. Thanks! Ben

Gearing up for the PCT and making the switch to an alcohol stove. Any comments on the Sketti stove and it's ability to boil about 24 ounces of water? I have it narrowed down to that or the Brasslite. Thanks! Ben

>Any comments on the Sketti stove and it’s ability to boil about 24 ounces of water?

I’m sure it’s a fine stove (I have Tinny’s SST, which is a hissy little dragon). However, it’s also easy to make your own stove (see zenstoves.net for everything you need to know about using or making an alcohol stove), especially one as simple as the SuperCat (all you need is a cat-food can and a paper hole punch). The SuperCat is a similar design and will have no problem boiling 24 oz of water. The main reason I suggest making your own is that if something happens, like crushing your stove, you will want to know how to make another quickly and easily. Lil’ Fuzzy’s stove can be made with a knife and a beer can (too readily available along many trails). I wouldn’t choose that stove for long-term use, though, as it has a tendency to consume itself if the pot is removed before it is done burning.

The Brasslite weighs 2.6 oz; the SuperCat weighs 0.3 oz.

My preference for heating a liter of water is a stubby Pepsi-G stove (0.4 oz) and a Vargo Triad XE stove stand (1.0 oz). It takes no more room than any of the pot-on-top stoves (the stand protects the stove), it’s not as tippy, and I think the performance is better since the entire pot bottom is exposed to the flame.

Hi Ben

> Any comments on the Sketti stove and it's ability to boil about 24 ounces of water? I have it narrowed down to that or the Brasslite.

Preface: personally, my wife and I use a canister stove! But for my sins as Stoves Editor, I have tried out a good few alcohol stoves.

Tinny's Minibull Designs pressurised stoves are pretty easy and very robust. You would have no trouble cooking for two on the Sketti. It's VERY powerful! For that matter, you MIGHT get away with the *extremely* light Elite II. Try them both?

The Caldera Cone from Trail Designs or AGG is also a very neat integrated wind-resistant idea, but make sure that you prop it up at the bottom to let a bit more air in, AND make sure it has lots of exhaust space at the top.

The Vargo titaniums are a real pain to get going imho. Clever designs, but …

The Brasslites are a bit heavy compared to the MBD stoves. Pity, as they look nice.