Stove for 24 oz Heineken Keg Pot

This is the new system I have been working on. Whoud like you comments.
Boils 12oz in 8 min
Burns 12 min
Weighs 3.1 0z

The Kit

All set up with tealight under

Windscreen/heat collector

All packed up

The cozy holds it all together for travel and makes a good cup for the freezer bag. Just roll the top of the bag over the rim of the cozy and pull down to get closer to the bottom when using a short spoon.

yeah, I happened upon this video today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2fxemD8EuI

made one out of a lower weight aluminum, and now my pot holder and esbit stove weigh in at 3 grams, total weight of stove, screen, pot, pot stand, and pot holder 69 grams… I like using an old dish rag as my pot holder, because i can actually use it to do the dishes afterwards and not get my bandana or pack towel all nasty…

Haven't used this yet, and it's really just a novelty at this point, but I like the fact that it weighs 3 grams :P

And Jesse, yours looks much prettier than mine…

Jesse, your set-up appears to have the same heat trap and efficiency as a Caldera system. I have an old Heiny windscreen and some of the 12 oz cans as pictured in your post and am definitely going to give it a try. Thanks for the tip.

In all fairness it is impossible to determine the efficiency of Jesse's system with the information given. One would need both the amount an kind of alcohol used as well as the starting temp of the water.

As a reference my Fosters Caldera Keg can take 16oz of 60*F water to full boil in an average of 6:45min. using 95% ethanol.

-Mark

When doing my tests, all components were in the fridge for at least two hours including the alcohol. The water was ice water. The alcohol was the type from the home depot, I dont know what brand. While not the most accurate info for you all, I hope this helps. The idea was to imitate the caldera system with comps I could find at the store. Pretty cheap set up if you dont count all the beer I drank while in R&D.

Jesse,

Thanks for the info. I really like your design and the great form factor. For fun I thought I would try and figure out the efficiency of your rig- Here goes…

So here are some very rough calculations made with several assumptions. The result is not strictly accurate, but probably in the ball park.

12 oz=355 ml = 355 gm water and
32 F to 212 F is the same as 0 C to 100 C = 100 C degree change.
So 355 gms of water X 100 degrees C = 35.5 Kcals required

Assume the tealight holds 1 fl oz and 8 min to boil and 12 min total or 8/12 of the 1 fl oz used to boil (a lot of assumptions here, I know)

2/3 fl oz = 19.4 ml fuel used
The Home Depot sells S-L-X denatured alcohol which is roughly 50/50 mix of ethanol and methanol so half of the 19.4ml (19.4/2 = 9.7ml) is ethanol and half methanol
ethanol's density is 0.789 gm/ml
methanol's density is 0.7918 gm/ml
So 9.7 ml X 0.789 gm/ml = 7.65 gm of ethanol used
So 9.7 ml X 0.7918 gm/ml = 7.68 gm of methanol used

7.65 gm x 6.4 Kcal/gm of ethanol = 48.4K Kcal +
7.68 gm x 4.7 Kcal/gm of methanol = 36.1K Kcal = 84.5 total Kcal available in the alcohol used to get to a boil

35.5 Kcals required / 84.5 Kcals used = 0.420 or about 42% efficient.

In my experiments with the Caldera Keg-F, I got about 52% efficiency. So your setup is only 10% behind one of the more finely tuned systems available. Which is quite decent.

-Mark

I have just used the aluminum cap off of plastic flasks. Works good and still multi purposed.

Nice stoves guys. Cool designs, good craftsmanship, light weight, etc.

But have you tried ESBIT/FireLite fuel tabs? Less hassle, more heat (with two tabs at once) and no spillage problems. And usually two tablets are more than enough so I blow them out, leave them in the base of my Vargo Ti Triad EX stove base and just add one new tab for morning cooking. I've cooked spaghetti, fried meat, and made pudding from scratch on just two fuel tabs.

I have three alky stoves but have graduated to fuel tablets. I buy FireLite tabs by the carton at this site and like them better than ESBIT. Seems they are a bit hotter.

ERic

Eric

Nice work. While I find myself handy with a beer can, the calculations are best done by someone else. Thank you. The tealight I am using holds 1/4 oz, not one. You were right on the brand of alcohol. Is there a better one that I could be using? In addition, I think that I can tweak the distance between stove and pot for more efficiency. I have also thought about some sort of sleeve around the windscreen to retain lost heat to the environment and make it able to pick up while hot. Any ideas?

Jesse,

Most tealights hold almost an ounce. If yours only holds 1/4 oz then you got a boil on 2/3's of 1/4 oz = 1/6 of an ounce of eth/meth.

That works out to 161% efficiency! You have apparently defied the basic Laws of Thermodynamics.:-)

You may want to remeasure your tealight, or get a patent on your stove as it makes more energy than it uses.:-D

(You're not using radioactive alcohol are you?):-o

-Mark

Eric,

I have used ESBIT/FireLite tabs and you are right. No spill, maybe less hassle. But for me the fishy smell and the black gunk on the pot is a deal breaker. I have ended up with black smudgies all over the inside of my pack. I know I should have wrapped the pot in something. Anyway, I tried various brands, but they all had the same problem. I know a lot of people love fuel tabs, but I just can't seem to get over the smell. To each his own.

-Mark

Your right Mark, the tealite holds 16 ml or .54 oz. I dont know where I got 1/4 from. They are some cheap candles I have had migrating around the house for years. Don't know where I got em. They weigh 0.6 grams.

As to the esbit. I keep trying because the idea seems so perfect but always wind up not liking them. Its the black soot and the smell of them burning that always turns me off. I know there are ways to deal with the soot but I just cant get into them. I always turn back to alcohol.

One piece aluminum beer bottle stove made for Heinekn Pots and small diameter mugs/pots/pans.

Starting water temp was 70F, air temp was the same.

Boiled 2 cups/500ml in 8.5 min. and flame out occured at 10 min using 1/2 oz/15ml of HEET. 9 tests were performed.

Fuel capacity is 7/8 oz/25ml

Weight of stove is 24 grams/.846 oz.

A unique feature of the stove is the hole in the center. The hole just sits there and does nothing =o)

A flexible medicine cup is used to fill the stove. It’s placed against the pot support section, fuel flows down the side of the support.

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The numbers on zelph's "hole in the center" stove.

500 ml = 500 gm water and
70 F to 212 F is the same as 21 C to 100 C = 79 C degree change.
So 500 gms of water X 79 degrees C = 39.5 Kcals required to boil

Stove use 15ml and 8.5 min to boil and 10 min total or 8.5/10 of the 15ml used to boil

0.85 x 15 = 12.75 ml fuel used

HEET is roughly 95% methanol. I'll assume 100%
So 12.75 ml X 0.7918 gm/ml = 10.1 gm of methanol used

10.1 gm x 4.7 Kcal/gm of methanol = 47.47K Kcal in the alcohol used to get to a boil

39.5 Kcals required / 47.47 Kcals used = 0.832 or about 83.2% efficient!!!!

Dan, This is truly amazing and beats out even Tony's Volcano stove if the numbers and my calculations are right. Any chance I could purchase one of these from you? (PM me)

Nice work,
-Mark

Dan's stove is a real winner, imo, although a tad heavy. An alternative is the soda can or V-8 can stove using the chimney as a substitute for the inner wall.

The "Hole In One" stove. 1 piece stove with hole =)
Hi Mark, PM has been sent and thanks for the compliment and runnibg up the figures on the stove.

Hi John, thanks for the compliment. Your stove turned out really nice. Looks much lighter than the original "Cobalt Blue" prototype sitting next to it.

It's amazing how stoves evolve. John took the basic popcan stove and made it into a 1 piece, integrated pot/pan stand stove.

This stove is "Work In Process" Don't have any for sale.