Anybody tried Sterno for dry baking?

If you've never tried them how can you say they are worthless as tits on a boar?

You should be able to boil at least 6 cups of water with one can.

It's just jellied denatured alcohol. Should put out close to the same amount of heat as liquid denatured alcohol, if it can burn properly in a regular alcohol stove. Please try it out and report back to us.

Sterno-Inferno!

> If you've never tried them how can you say they are worthless
> as tits on a boar?

I'm not sure why you're asking me this. Did I not answer this question in the very sentence you reference?

> …I've heard enough old timers tell tales of misery involving
> disgruntled Boy Scouts eating lukewarm beans and hot cocoa
> "cooked" over a Sterno can to not need to try it myself.

These sentiments are echoed in threads right here on BPL:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=57174
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=64537

So, yeah. There you go.

> …if it can burn properly in a regular alcohol stove.

Hmm. Taking the fuel out of the can and putting it in a "proper" alcohol-burning stove never occurred to me, but it sounds like a pain in the ass given the stove I use [and original FeatherFire].

I was thinking about using a piece of wire mesh to make a pot stand and simply using the can as intended. I'd hypothesize that the problem with Sterno cans as cooking stoves — and this is purely a guess, so don't quote me here — is the lack of airflow into the, uhh, "combustion chamber." After my original post, it occurred to me that if I drilled a couple of holes near the top of the can, it might function more like a "chimney" stove and, thus, have a greater heat output. Given the fuel has a very high viscosity, small ventilation holes could probably be sufficiently sealed with a wide rubber or silicone band to keep the stuff from leaking out during transport. Such a seal wouldn't be vapor-tight, but I suspect it'd be good enough for a weekend trip.

Hmm. I'll run down to the dollar store tomorrow and pick up a 10 and a 12 cm Imusa mug and see what I can do with this setup. I'm not holding my breath, though.