Gigapower flame diameter

Lachlan,

You can always turn down the stove which will give you a narrower flame spread. However, a 900ml wide pot is almost always going to be a more efficient set up than a narrow mug type pot. And the Evernew stuff is really light.

HJ
Adventures in Stoving

My usual stove/pot setup is the SP giga with a SP 600 pot (bottom diameter=3.5"). I turn the burner down pretty low for efficiency, and I've never had the flames shoot up the side of the pot.

"… however will the width of the flames wrap around these and waste heat?"

Funny, my first and only concern about the GG was that the flame diameter from the small burner head would be too narrow and burn the contents of the pot. However, this is not an issue when boiling water.

As other posters noted, the amount of the spread is easily controlled by the valve, to keep from wasting fuel.

For simmering, the flame is turned down very low, and so is no wider than the burner head, and will burn food mixes unless regularly stirred.

So, the solid items like pasta, rice or dried meat chunks are carried separately and simmered in preboiled water until soft. That phase requires no stirring. Then the spices and mixes are added, and those are simmered with stirring to keep the food from burning on the pot bottom. The second phase takes only a few minutes.

After years of eating crunchy pasta, rice and meat, this was the only way found to get the food totally rehydrated. After that, eating dinner on hikes became enjoyable for the first time. The portions of the hard items and mix are separately measured and prepackaged for each meal in small bags with a bag sealer.

If you make a windscreen for this stove, I'd recommend making a thicker (made out of basting pan or thin aluminum from hardware store)aluminum "base" piece with cutouts. This basically fits around the burner and below it with the pot supports sticking up through it. You can then use Al foil for the windshield. This increases the efficiency a lot more, in my experience, than just a windscreen, plus it keeps the heat away from your canister. This set up is very efficient with the snow peak 700 ml mug, the one I have the most experience with. I bet it would be killer with the wider evernew 0.9L

Thanks for the insights guys… sounds like I'd be fine with the narrow pots, but still slightly better served by the 900ml wide.

As an aside, for people building winscreens that sit on the burner, how do you store them without mashing them up?

and with simmering with this stove can that practically be done with bare titanium so long as the food is stirred enough? I've had some horrible sticking with my caldera cone with titanium, but it doesn't exactly simmer :)

Narrow pots are for the birds imho, but I am a retrograde radical.

> winscreens that sit on the burner
I don't like them. I prefer the extremely conventional sort which sits on the ground.

Simmering over a Gigapower stove with a Ti pot – we do it all the time. A good upright canister stove (the GigaP is) can simmer so low the pot will go off the boil.

Cheers

I haven’t seen them on the site yet, but Trail Designs does make a simmer ring. It works quite well.

HJ
Adventures in Stoving

Thinking about alternate approaches – if I buy the evernew companion cup I figure I can put the canister in that, and then put that inside the pot, but will I manage to also fit the stove?
http://www.traildesigns.com/cookware/evernew-titanium-companion-cup-eby265

this image implies it might be very tight in an evernew 900ml wide pot:
http://s862.photobucket.com/user/jayvelasco/media/hiking/hiking_gear/evernew_900ml/evernew_900ml_05.jpg.html

but maybe if I pick up a titan kettle before they're all gone? This video makes it look hopeful…

Are they discontinuing the Titan Kettle?

HJ
Adventures in Stoving

I assume so, based simply on the fact it's no longer on the MSR site… having said that, it's still widely available, so I'm not sure…

I still see it on their site:
MSR Website — Titan Kettle

Sometimes their site navigation can be a little obscure. It’s under rapid cooking but not simple cooking. Um, yeah, that makes sense???

HJ
Adventures in Stoving

I've used the Titan Kettle, it's OK. I normally use the larger pot from the Titan 2-pot set, but I am cooking for 2 people. The smaller pot would be good for 1 person – quite wide. The pot gripper from that set is very light and strong.

The web site says 'for melting snow and boil-only meals', but that is sheer waffle. I can COOK an excellent dinner in these Ti pots.

Cheers

Roger,

Do you feel the need for nonstick Titanium to do real cooking? And while we're at it, what kind of cooking do you do?

And what's your favorite cannister stove (top-mount) right now? I read your article on stoves, but I'm trying to recall which one you personally use. (I take it you aren't an alcohol or Esbit guy).

Hey, stop derailing my thread :D.. just kidding, I've already comfortably derailed it myself…

The Kettle would be for solo use Roger, so I think it would do – how do you nest the canister and stove in there? I think if the canister is vertical (be it upright or upside down) the mug should fit around it with the stove.. but if you need to angle it there could be some problems…

"As an aside, for people building winscreens that sit on the burner, how do you store them without mashing them up?"

I usually stow it in one of my ditty bags or perhaps in a map bag. I like to think of it as an UL frame for my ditty bag, for carrying heavy loads!

Mine is made from heavier – but still cut-able with dull scissors – Al sheeting. It does't get too mashed up. More worried about what it might do to my patagonia. You could also slide it in between the pack and an already stuffed interior, and so on.

I think the best shaped windscreen for this one, functionally, would be like a caldera cone that sits on top of the base but wraps around the top edge of the pot. But I still use my cylindrical one with about 1/2 inch clearance all around.

BTW, if you use this kind of tight reflective screen w/base the size of the flame with respect to the pot will matter less, thought perhaps if you use the right width pot the screen itself matters less, and you can get away with Roger's "sloppy" one :-P