Help with cook kit – trying to move to alcohol

[Richard Cullip]

Zack – this may be a bit late for you, as the thread has seemed to die,  but I dug out my 600ml Evernew Ultralight wide pot, Fancee Feest stove and Caldera Cone setup and ran a few test boils to refresh my memory of how it performs. I set it up in my Poway Ca backyard (elev 540ft) and the ambient air/water temperature was 65 degF. I put in 15ml (0.5fl oz) of alcohol (90% ethanol) and was able to bring 2 cups of water to a roiling boil in 5 mins 45secs. The stove continued to burn and the flame died after a total burn time of 7mins 30secs. Ran the test burn twice and the numbers were consistent. Not quite a sub 5 min boil but not bad for ~12g of fuel……

[Zack Freije]

Wow, Richard, that is impressive.

[Matthew / BPL]

Richard – Just curious if you mean like a Zelph Fancee Feast (with the wick) or a Skurka Fancy Feast with the holepunch.

[Richard Cullip]

Matthew – Zelph’s Fancee Feest stove. The one with the wick. It’s my go to alcohol stove.

[Pedestrian]

I actually cook my dinner – which requires that I bring water to a boil, add my dehyrated meal to pot, then let it boil for a minute or longer before turning down the heat to a low simmer and letting the meal rehydrate for up to 20 minutes on the stove top.

I’ve done this both with a canister stove with an inverted caldera cone and on a recent trip with a standard Caldera cone with the 12-10 alcohol stove. The recent trip was mostly above 10500+ in the Sierra along the High Route. One night it dropped low enough to freeze the water in all of my bottles – maybe down to 20 F?

Just before my recent trip I got the Adjustable simmer ring (for the 12-10 stove) from Traildesigns and played around with it for a bit before my trip.

I was amazed at how effective the simmer ring is at getting my meal ready with no intervention on my part. My steps are:

• get water into pot, cover pot, measure and add 1 oz fuel to 12-10 stove, set pot on Caldera cone, light stove (no simmer ring)
• go get bear canister from pack, get food packet out, other chores
• after about 6 minutes, the water is now boiling. Add food to water and allow the pot to boil for a minute or so. Pick up Caldera cone with pot off stove, carefully insert adjustable simmer ring on stove (while lit) and set pot and cone back on stove
• Go about setting up shelter, any other chores, take pictures
• Twenty or so minutes later, get pot off stove. At this point the stove is STILL simmering depending on weather conditions
• Sit down and enjoy hot meal straight from the pot; if too hot, allow to sit uncovered for a couple minutes.
• No need for any cozy etc.  The meals I prepare and pack take about fifteen to twenty minutes to soften and be fully rehydrated.

I *love* this setup for *my* style of cooking. I’m not simply boiling water and adding to a pouch; my meals require significant time to rehydrate.

I could do the exact same thing with a BRS3000T (or any other stove) and canister and in fact I have.

My sense is that the alcohol setup is more efficient than a canister for a one-person situation. The 1 oz of fuel can keep going for almost 30 minutes (with the simmer ring) AFTER the water has boiled (without the simmer ring).

The pot I use is the small pot (500 ml?) from the aluminum Snowpeak multi-compact cook set.

Some mornings I’ll use 0.5 oz of alcohol to heat water for tea and to add some to my protein powder breakfast.

Note: I boil the water first before I add my meal since I usually use unfiltered water straight from a creek, lake etc. –  the boiling purifies the water.

Of course YMMV based on your use case.

 

 

 

[DAN-Y/FANCEE FEEST]

Caldera Cones – My Adventures In Improving The ULC System

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/57721/page/5/#comments
Pedestrian, has your 12-10 wrinkled up as seen in the photo?

[Pedestrian]

Dan – not yet ;). But I don’t do any fancy baking etc with my set up either.

I should try a Starlyte some time.

[DAN-Y/FANCEE FEEST]

I’m going to try using the fancee feest under a Toaks 900. I’ll be testing the titanium straight walled windscree/potsupport. In the beginning of all my stove designing I used a 2.5 cup capacity aluminum pot for testing. It is a scout type pot, 5.5 inches in diameter. The Toaks comes close to those dimensions. I’m thinking I should get 2 cups to boil with 1/2 ounce of denatured alcohol and for sure 1 large cube of esbit using the BGET Brian Green Esbit Tray. Testing will start soon.

[Zack Freije]

What would you say is the difference between BGET and Gram Cracker? Are they for different types of cooking?

[Matthew / BPL]

The BGET is a tray design that collects liquid Esbit which is supposed to help it burn more efficiently or something.

The Gram Cracker doesn’t collect the liquid. Instead the juice seems to run down into the base and get stuck a little

They both slow the burn rate by limiting oxygen to the long sides of the Esbit.

BGET is made out of very lightweight stainless foil. Gram Cracker is more robust Ti foil.

I like the BGET stove more although I’m using a diy stove for the 4gram tablets these days.

[Zack Freije]

4g tablets…interesting. What can you get a 4g tablet to do for you? the BGET and Gram Cracker are for 15g tablets?

[Matthew / BPL]

This blog post influenced me to try them and it turns out I like them better too.

[DAN-Y/FANCEE FEEST]

3 four gram esbits can boil 2 cups of water in a cone.

[Richard Cullip]

I too have migrated over to 4g Esbit tablets. I downsized the BGET template to make a stove that holds 2 4g tablets. This, combined with a 500ml Evernew Ultralight mug/pot (ECA266) and a home made titanium cone allows me to bring 1.5 cups of water to a strong simmer/almost boil. This is the amount of water most of my dehydrated meals require. I like the fact that I have a small and very compact cook setup that lets me get a hot meal for 8g of fuel.

[Zack Freije]

Here are some photos

[Matthew / BPL]

I believe I linked to this post previously in this conversation. I’m using this exact setup with a burner copied from Chad’s design and I’m getting identical results. I’m able to consistently get 1.5–1.75 cups boiled or near boiled with 1.5–2 four gram tablets.

[Matthew / BPL]

I think the general rule of thumb is you want 1/4–3/8″ of gap between the pot and windscreen. Yours looks quite tight. I’ve never tested it but I suspect you are slowing down the burn resulting in less than total combustion with it that tight.

[Link .]

.Titanium Foil Esbit ‘Tray’ Stove a.k.a ‘BGET’ .

[Zack Freije]

Matthew, actually there is almost 3/4″ around the stove to the edge of the pot.

[James L]

Zack

The only critique I can add to your current system with the Starlight and QIWiZ screen is to use a bigger square of Aluminium foil that FULLY spans the bottom. Not only is it more effiecient but it is safer, preventing scortchinguthe ground under the stove. It will also help catch any fuel spills.

I would make it at least a 5″ square so there is a bit of overage along the sides

The corners are useful to put a few small rocks on the upwind ends to keep it from blowing away in the wind ;)

One last thing here the gets lost in the talk anout $100++ Cone systems etc(sigh)..is USING A GOOD FUEL BOTTLE.

Your efficiency ,safety and speed of use will increase  with alcohol if you use a good flip top squeeze bottle with volume markings like the 8oz Vargo bottle. Its a fraction of an oz heavier than a repurposed water or juice bottle and much more precise when filling your stove. It is the least “sexy” part of an alcohol setup ,but no matter what stove design you are using, perhaps the most important.

[Matthew / BPL]

James, I think bettix bottles are another sexy option.

[Zack Freije]

I can’t tell how big they are…looks kind of large and heavy?

Yeah I need to put a full baseplate in there, I just haven’t done it yet.

What’s the best way to dry bake with the Starylyte stove or similar?

Can you boil water or dry bake with the Reflectix lid on?

[James L]

Yep, I am aware of the dual chambered bottles, but in any given capacity they are about twice the weight of a light single chambered flip top bottle.

They are great for group use where a lot of fuel is used and the added weight can be aportioned over a larger quantity of fuel, like in say the 16 or 32 oz sizes..

Can’t think of a better bottle to use with one of the larger Trangia sets..

It was good of you to mention them, though since they certainly have useful applications :)

 

 

[Zack Freije]

Does Vargo make a smaller 5.5 oz bottle?

[HiLight]

Nalgene has a good 4oz bottle in their Medium set. I’d check its resistance to your fuel before counting on it.

http://www.nalgene.com/product/9941-0001-12/

I’ve also seen bug repellent in similar bottles. If DEET doesn’t dissolve it, stove fuel probably won’t.

[Author]

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