Alcohol Stove Reccomendations?

So many good choices. Commercially available Trangia or Evernew won’t disappoint.  FlatCat Gear and Trail Designs have great kits that also include superlight stoves and awesome stand/windscreens.

I haven’t tried Whitebox, but I do have a BATCHSTOVEZ burner that’s similar. For wider pots the basic cat food can with holes punched in it takes minutes to make, but I prefer the Fancee Feest Zelph used to make and sell. You can probably find one on eBay or pretty easy DIY instructions.

I had a TD Caldera Cone…worked great and hard to imagine something being easier or more efficient but kinda expensive if you are just “experimenting”.  Jon Fong’s designs have really intrigued me…were I to be in an experimenting mood, I’d likely look into his FlatCat Gear offerings.

I agree that the Caldera Cone setup is super easy and stable to use, especially with the Kojin stove.

My recommendation is to not buy an alcohol stove; buy an alcohol cooking system.  Something that has been validated at system level: stove, windscreen and pot.  My 2 cents.

What Jon said!

IMO, “experimenting” is best done DIY.  If you decide alcohol is for you, then get a validated system. I made probably a half dozen penny/coke can stoves and aluminum foil windscreens packing them on trips along with my canister setup, before buying the TD cone.

Agree with Jon.  Get a system from Trail Designs or Flat Cat Gear.

I see that youtube content creator “Darwin” is planning to take a Toaks alcohol stove on his upcoming trip to the Brooks Range.   It’s an interesting and somewhat unexpected choice.  I look forward to seeing how that gear choice unfolds for him.

My recommendation is to not buy an alcohol stove; buy an alcohol cooking system. Something that has been validated at system level: stove, windscreen and pot.

I think I can guess why a “system” is better than a stand alone stove. Thanks.

The other thing I’ll add to this is to suggest using EverClear 190 as your fuel rather than denatured alcohol.  I never liked all of the “nasties” that are in the denatured stuff.  Just make sure you get the 190 proof rather than the 150 proof.

I’ve been using alcohol stoves for most of my trips for the past 15 years.  With a group I’m often the last to eat as they fire up their canister stoves and I have to wait 7-8 minutes for my water to boil, but it’s okay.  I’m not in a hurry when it comes to the end of the day when I’m doing meal prep.  I can also start heating my water while I do other camp chores.

I agree, the Trail Designs Sidewinder is my favorite, here is a 2015 article from Andrew Skurka

. Premium & ultralight backpacking alcohol stove system .

As Jon notes, buy a system.  I’ve tried mixing and matching components and nothing works better than elements that have been “tuned” to work together.  My go to for the last dozen or so years is the Trail Designs Sidewinder, everything fits into a 500ml pot.

Note that Trail Designs are looking to retire and may not exist by the end of the year. It seems they want to sell the company… but may need to buy up cones by the end of the year!

I just did a five day trail trip with my daughter in South Australia. There was a guy there on the same route, he had a Wildside Adventurers cone kit, comes with a Toaks 700ml, and a nice burner similar to a Kojin etc but perhaps a smidge better (has a ceramic wool rather than a graphite one and seems to be better at not spilling fuel/leaking etc…). About 10ml fuel / 500ml water boiled consistently, quite impressive kit. Cone fits in Toaks 700ml, the cone is two piece and very well made how it fits together. I was super impressed! Thinking of getting one myself… (even for just using that burner with larger Trail designs stoves and other pots I already have).

I’ve used two Trail Design systems, and prefer the Sidewinder I have with an Evernew 1.3L pot.  The other one I have is a 2-piece cone for a Snow Peak Mini-solo kit. For thinner pots like this the FlatCat Gear Snow Leopard packs down smaller and works with a number of pots (each TD cone is designed for a particular pots).  FlatCat Gear also has their BobCat system for wider pots, and it’s multi-use since you can use it as a windscreen with a remote canister stove.

as I said, so many good choices!

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Like many here, I’ve tried a bunch. Nothing beats using a cone. Some stoves work better with a cone than others.  I did find that stove 1.25 – 1.5″ between bottom of pot worked best w cone setup for me. That said as mentioned, you can never go wrong with a Trangia. Heavier, but worth consistency and durability. There is a reason Scot and Brit crag hikers, as well as Nordic hikers/skiers, still use Trangia. Personally I take a UL stove setup offset by weight of double wall Ti insulated cup.</p>

I started 10 years ago with a Trangia counterfeit I bought at Campmor and I now have at least six alcohol stoves. I do have a canister stove now, but I’ve yet to take one on a hike.

Wow. Just heard the news about TD retirement. I’ve had the same caldera cone + toaks kit for 15 years. Only stove I’ve ever used since going UL. I can’t recommend it enough.

I have a question for the hive mind. Has anyone figured out a pot/mug combo that nest together with the caldera cone and kojin all together?

Hi Jon

I’m guessing a fissure cone could work, in a wide pot? Not sure how most people usually store these but could put the two pieces inside the pot so that they expand to the inner sides (if that makes sense). So if you had a squat wide mug that fits inside the pot, either the cone pieces go inside that as well or between the main pot and the mug?

You could pick Toaks perhaps, eg one of the 130mm wide pots, then go for a narrower pot to go inside?

The Snow Peak mini solo nests the cup outside of the pot, and it is the TD Fissure set that I got for that cook kit.  Evernew has a similar setup.  The Flat Cat Gear Snow Leopard I think is lighter and would work the same way. Note that these are not insulated cups, but you can make a cozie for them.

otherwise you can usually fit a Wildo folding cup or something like a Sea to summit collapsible cup, but I often just take a home made cozy to use with the pot/mug or outside nesting cup of if I want two vessels.

I use an alcohol stove 90% of the time, but most of my trips are east coast with low fire risk. I probably have a half dozen that I’ve made including a penny soda can model with tri jets that is tiny and fun to use but requires a separate pot stand and priming tray. You can easily make one in a weekend afternoon but appreciate your comment about time constraints. The only one I’ve purchased over the years was Zelph’s cat can. I’d recommend this design simply due to low cost, low weight, the built-in pot stand, and no need to prime or wait for it to bloom before putting your pot down on it. I pair it with an Imusa cup and aluminum windscreen made from a heavy duty turkey pan. It’s an inexpensive system, works reasonably well in winter if you keep your fuel bottle warm, and I simply do other camp chores while I wait for the water to boil. I don’t notice any significant difference with my boil times vs my hiking partner with his sidewinder, albeit I agree that the cones are more efficient in wind if you’re not using other natural wind breaks for your kitchen set-up. I typically use 10-15ml fuel for a 2 cup boil in non-winter temps with a wind break. The time difference for alcohol vs a canister isn’t very meaningful to me unless you’re putting in long miles over multiple days and need to trim down meal times, plus I appreciate the silent burn.

There is Caldera Cone and then there is everything else.  Or maybe I’m out of the loop – I’ve used the same Caldera Cone for the past 15+ years.

I just did a five day trail trip with my daughter in South Australia. There was a guy there on the same route, he had a Wildside Adventurers cone kit, comes with a Toaks 700ml, and a nice burner similar to a Kojin etc but perhaps a smidge better (has a ceramic wool rather than a graphite one and seems to be better at not spilling fuel/leaking etc…). About 10ml fuel / 500ml water boiled consistently, quite impressive kit. Cone fits in Toaks 700ml, the cone is two piece and very well made how it fits together. I was super impressed! Thinking of getting one myself… (even for just using that burner with larger Trail designs stoves and other pots I already have).

That’s a super-impressive bit of kit. Really, an “improved” Caldera Cone, though one’s restricted to the Toaks 700 light (not a bad place to be “stuck” IMO). I say “improved Caldera Cone” because the windscreen can be broken into two halves for packing in the pot.

After I posted the OP I ordered and fiddled around with the Evernew Ti wind screen, burner, and cross stand (didn’t fire it up, just played with it). The combo didn’t fit the Evernew 570 mug/pot I have, even though it’s advertised using it – the pot handles bottomed out on the Ti windscreen cutout and made the pot un-centered and unstable… a surprisingly crap design flaw. I sent it all back to Amazon.

I keep looking at the Caldera Cone, but my one big hesitation is how it packs down? Anyone care to comment on that?

Anyone have an opinion on what’s the “best” pot to order a Caldera Cone sized to?

May just order the Wildside from Scotland…

Caldera cone sidewinder with an Evernew 1.3l or 900ml is a great combo with room for some stove and fuel, lighter, even a spork and/or a few small items. It’s light and simple.  Bonus is the cone is a good size for a twig fire.

With a narrow pot you need to do a 2-pc Fusion cone to get the full pot coverage. It weighs more and you have less room for other cook kit stuff. When I’m taking a small mug I use the FlatCat Gear snow leopard screen and their UL stove and pack a long handled spoon and/or chop sticks separately

I keep looking at the Caldera Cone, but my one big hesitation is how it packs down? Anyone care to comment on that?

If you use a small pot/mug, you just roll the cone up and put it into the pot vertically, along with the Kojin, fuel bottle, spoon, etc. It sticks out the top, but so what, I’ve used it that way for years with no problems. Sure you could get the two-piece, but it’s heavier and more fiddly. I don’t see the need.

If you use a big wide pot, get the sidewinder.

I ordered the complete Wildside kit from Scotland. The price on the Toaks couldn’t be beat, so I ordered the pot with the entire kit. Should be fun to play with.

I ordered the complete Wildside kit from Scotland. The price on the Toaks couldn’t be beat, so I ordered the pot with the entire kit. Should be fun to play with.

That looks really nice.