Esbit Burner

[rmeurant]

Maybe Esbit is available online here, but you would need Hangeul to access it. Korea is one of the most wired countries, and there are a variety of online outdoors equipment stores, but my Korean is minuscule, so I don't frequent them. As for opening a subsidiary here, most of the world's population is nearby – China, Japan, and SE Asia… We've just had a nasty yellow dust storm from China, with very high pm2.5 levels. Frightening.

[Dan Yeruski]

I volunteered to make one of these trays for a friend in Australia and they were so much fun to make I kept on making them :-)

One free with every purchase.

http://www.woodgaz-stove.com/mini-esbitmizer.php

[Dan Yeruski]

Just a reminder , the mini esbitmizer works well with the regular size tablets.

[Dan Yeruski]

I forgot to put the weight of the BGET….it's 1 gram.

I had to put 5 of them on my postal scale to get the scale to read 5 grams other wise they are not heavy enough to weigh as a single.

[Jameson Tisch]

Dan,

I already have one of your mini esbitmizers…any chance you'd sell me the BGET by itself?

Thanks

[Dan Yeruski]

Have you used the esbitmizer and what did you think of the introductory kit?

[Bob Shuff]

Hi Dan,

I have the introductory esbmitimizer, but haven't used it yet. I also just got a new Zia titanium stand that will work well with this and my Starlyte. Here it is with the Zia stand:

Here's another pic with my SP Mini Solo pot and my MYOG Ti windscreen to the side. I decided I'll elevate the esbitimizer to work with this stand, plus it is good to level it off the ground. This isn't the standoff I'll use (some staples), so I need to come up with something for that when needed.

I didn't take a pic with the Starlyte, and not to get too off-topic, but it fits without a standoff. If you want to use alcohol, with esbit as a backup, and have a small pot, this is pretty lightweight. A Foster's pot of course would save a few more ounces.

I wouldn't mind making one of those stands you showed below. I thought I saw a pattern for it on the web, and then here it is in your post! Is it easy enough to cut the pieces with a scissors or did you use something different to get the distances and angles right?

Thanks,
Bob (Slbear)

[Dan Yeruski]

(Slbear)

The esbit need to be 1-3/4" from the bottom of your pot.

The BGET cuts easily with a pair of scissors.

I used .002 stainless steel and may have stumbled onto something that only a small amount of soot remains in the tray. The tray is fragile but……it only weighs 1 gram. It serves the purpose of holding the esbit in place and contains the liquid esbit as it burns. If you use .002 stock be carefull….it's very sharp stuff. Sacrifices have to be made when we go SUL ;)

The photo of your pot support looks like it's the right height without raising the burner. What is the height?

[Bob Shuff]

1.75 from the top of the esbit tablet, or the bottom of the Esbitimizer? We're really talking a small distances, but I want to learn as much as I can about this without doing the trial and error thing in the field.

I'd be happy to not need another piece, but either way is fine since I had this built to work with the Esbitimizer and the Starlyte. Before I even new about the BGET.

Thanks again for your help.

[Dan Yeruski]

The rule of thumb distance is 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 from top of esbit so You're good to go. I'll send you a free BGET tomorrow.

Try the burner with it being on the ground and see how well it works. Use 70 degree starting water temp, calm conditions and keep the lid on.

Thanks for the photos and update. Let me know how your at home testing goes. Warm weather is on its way :-)

[Bob Gross]

"The rule of thumb distance is 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 from top of Esbit"

That quarter inch of slop, is that because the Esbit cube burns down to nothing? Or is it because different Esbit cubes have different dimensions?

What if you set the Esbit cube on its side, or on end? Oh, the mind boggles.

–B.G.–

[Dan Yeruski]

Never, ever, stand your esbit on end and light it….bad things will happen

[Jerry Adams]

video?

[Dan Yeruski]

Jerry, it'll be something like this ;-)

but it will smell worse:-)))

[Jerry Adams]

ha, ha, ha,….

I like how their kerchiefs are hanging down,… into the flames

[Bob Gross]

"bad things will happen"

You mean like the entire collapse of Western Civilization?

–B.G.–

[Bob Moulder]

Never, ever, stand your esbit on end and light it….bad things will happen

I did exactly this just yesterday afternoon and nothing happened. I'm a bit disappointed.

Testing various configurations with a TD Sidewinder/Caldera Cone w/1350 Toaks, I never even got close to coaxing a boil of 1 quart with a 14g tab. No matter what configuration, it ended up within a couple degrees of 180°F with 52°F tap water and 43°F ambient temperature in my laboratory.

Thus endeth my dalliance with Esbit. :^)

Although I must confess I am now tempted to try 14 + 4 to see if that would nudge it over the finish line, if I lowered the standard to 195°F…

[Jerry Adams]

if you want to kill bugs, and it's marginally warm enough (like 195 F) let it sit for 1 minute or a couple minutes with the lid on

[Dan Yeruski]

BG, worse than that…it will usher in the "Millenium"

Bob M, 14 + 4 will probably get the 195F Lay them flat, standing on end makes them burn too fast. Use a Bob/Brian Esbit tray (BGET) Did you use Trail Designs esbit tray?

[Bob Moulder]

I used the Gram Cracker that came with the combo.

[Bob Gross]

"BG, worse than that…it will usher in the "Millenium" "

Dan, I'm afraid that horse is already out of the barn.

I haven't tried this in a long time, but I always found that the more vertical surface area that was exposed, the quicker it burned. That's why we normally burn them from a horizontal position, to get a medium burn rate. Your gadgets work to get it burning slower than that.

The side pieces to a Gram Cracker cover some of the vertical surfaces, so you can slow down the burn rate.

Of course, when you burn the cube fast, you are probably burning it less efficiently.

–B.G.–

[Jameson Tisch]

Hey Dan,

Sorry for getting back to you so late – been real busy.

I haven't used the mini esbitmizer just yet. I've been waiting to get some additional 4g cubes which I got a box of 20 on Amazon for $5.50 shipped free so they're very easy to come by. I was going to use my larger cubes but I was told I can't stink up the house anymore :( hopefully this weekend brings some warmer weather for stove testing. I was surprised by the fact that the 4g cubes don't really smell at all out of the box. Can't wait to try them out.

I have loaded the mini esbitmizer up though with both cubes and I like how it will fit both perfectly. Either one large cube or two smaller cubes which seems to be the right amount for boiling 2 cups.

The sliding lid is very simple to use but works great. I don't simmer much but it would really make adjusting the flame very easy.

I like the fact you include some carbon felt to use with alcohol but I don't see myself using it personally. I'll probably test it out though just to see how it works.

The ground protector you include definitely isn't light for the people using aluminum foil or a small square of titanium foil. It weighed 8 grams on my scale. But as we were talking about safety this is definitely by far the safest option and worth the 8g in that regard. I especially like the lip around the edge which would catch anything.

As far as the weight goes it weighed in at 12g so relatively heavy compared to the BGET or the esbit wing stove (since that has the integrated pot support). But it is very easy to use it seems and if you're interested in controlling the flame this is the best option since it's not just a simmer ring but gives you full control over the size of the flame. Not to mention it is also a small, seemingly durable burner which you wouldn't have to worry about breaking such as the BGET.

With that said I look forward to trying it out, hopefully this weekend. I just ordered the esbit wing stove and tried making a BGET stove myself but it didn't turn out well. That's why I inquired about yours. I'd like to ultimately be able to test and compare all 3 against each other.

[Rex Sanders]

Bob,

For me, one 14 gram ESBIT tablet will reliably boil two cups of water in a Sidewinder + Gram Cracker, even in very windy conditions.

Three cups is barely boilable under near-ideal conditions. Many have tried to boil four cups or one liter of water on one tablet, and all have failed.

Wondering if your 1350 Toaks pot had more than three cups of water?

— Rex

[Mole J]

Bob M.

Don't give up.

I'd be very impressed if you could boil a quart with a 14g esbit block.

why end your dalliance with esbit based on it not fulfilling unreasonable expectations?

Most alcohol stoves would need a minimum of c30ml (c26g) of alcohol to boil a quart. So you were expecting esbit to be twice as good….

[Bob Moulder]

Rex,

As mentioned above, this test was done with 1 quart (4 cups — yikes!).

This is the volume I always use for testing because it is the volume I like have in the field for dinner, which includes a cup for coffee, a smidge more than 2 cups for freeze-dried dinner and a smidge less than 1 cup for my dog's dehydrated food. Actually, the water for the dog's food merely needs to be warm, and I dip it out long before reaching boiling, so maybe the 14+4 would work.

My only 'research' was watching the video linked on the TD website to see how to put the tab in the holder. I didn't realize how unrealistic my expectations were.

I was not bothered at all by the smell, ash, residue, etc that some folks complain about a bit. Although I probably wouldn't want to fire it up inside a tent.

@MJ yes, I've used the Starlyte many times with this set-up and it always achieves a rolling boil (and then some) with 30ml of Kleen Strip alcohol.

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