Ultralight Outfitters – Ultralight “Beercan” Cook Pot & Stove (Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2005)

1st – The way I understood the availability of this stove from the first announcement was that Ryan had a few and they would go to the first so many that ordered them. Say 25, if you were part of that first 25 those are now on the way to you and you got an email notice today.

Second – Ryan was able to get more at the show and those would go to the next “so many” on the list until they are gone. The second group would be shipped starting next Monday or what ever the day was I don’t remember.

So, I and Paul and some other I guess were faster ordering and will get a stove from the first group of stoves to be shipped.

If you did not get an email today then you have to wait till ?? day the stoves from the show ship.

Bill,
I’ve got that trangia pot holder, I didn’t think to try it out on the Foster’s can.

I checked out the Ultralight Outfitters website in a little more detail and it appears like maybe a pot holder might not be necessary, they say you can grab the pot by the silicone rubber lip guard.

Another thing I learned is that the ESBIT tab holder on this stove slides up and kind of stows on the bottom of the Fosters can, which they say will snuff out a burning ESBIT tab which seems clever to me.

Playing around I made a small kettle out of my Fosters can. Punched two small holes at the top just below the rim and made a wire bale from a stainless 15/16 gage bicycle spoke and a cover with a pour spout opening out of a piece of aluminum baking sheet which holds the bail upright. Total weight was 1.1 oz.

OK, I’ll admit to being old-fashioned and un-hip (and my wife and kids will enthusiastically agree!) What I’m wondering is, will a titanium pot such as the one from the Snow Peak Solo kit work with this stove? My own preference is a for-real pot rather than a recycled can; it’s strictly that, a preference, totally unsupported by objective reasoning. (That preference mostly centers on “fiddling.” It seems like getting a beer can, buying a can opener, trimming the top, and procuring a pot lifter is a lot more fiddly than using a Snow Peak pot with built-in handles. Of course, emptying the beer can could be enjoyable…)

Hajime Kawasaki Asked:
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“Hi Ryan
1- I like the concept of this simple stove system like Jetboil.
I ordered several Beer can stove systems through this site. for me and my friends.
However,,, I can not find 750ml Beer can in Japan !
Would you sell 750ml Beer cans ?

2 – And why will not anyone make kinda universal heat sink atachment like Frux ring as used in Jetboil ?
Maybe it will be effective for low output stove system like this.”
==============================
Konnichi wa Hajime-san. Watakushi wa Biru desu. Doozo yoroshiku.

1- Your first question about a 750ml Beer Can. Since this is an Australian Beer have you thought about contacting the Australian Embassy and asking them if they know of a place in Japan where you could buy Fosters Beer in the 25oz size. If NO, next ask if any of their staff ever gets it sent to them or ever bring it back from Australia. I would explain why you are asking and that you are looking for a few empty cans for a backpacking cook pot. Maybe show them a picture or send them the web site showing how the empty can is being used. They might be able to help you.

I also found that the Snow Peak Titanium French Press is very close to the width of the Fosters Beer Can.

The Snow Peak item is 3.25″ wide and the Beer Can is about the same size. The Snow Peak French Press costs a lot compared to a beer can but it also can make coffee. Snow Peak also has many small cups and mugs but I can’t find a size for them.

2- When the JetBoil was first shown last year I called them and asked if they would privide or sell just the Flex Ring part to someone for research. I explained I would like to see if it could be adapted to other stoves types. They said NO. So without having seen one yet I made my own version of a Flex Ring. I really made two. The first one had Aluminum Fins with a Stainless Steel top part.

The second one had thin Brass Fins and a Titanium Top part. The Brass/Ti one was much lighter.

I wanted to see if the my Flex Ring version would work with my Brasslite alcohol stove. It didn’t.

(Added) I should have said I wanted to see if the Flex Ring would make my Brasslite Stove boil water faster – it didn’t.

The alcohol stove didn’t generate enough flame velocity to drawl the flame up and through all the fins. It did work a little but did not boil water any faster than without the Flex Ring thing. I though about adding a small computer fan to help blow the flame but the added weight didn’t seem to be worth it.

I had to decide at what point the stove got to heavy for me to carry vs other light stoves that will boil water as fast or about as fast. When I care less about weight I carry a light canister stove.

The kettle looks pretty slick, and 0.03oz lighter than mine.

How do you get the bale to stay up? Is it just a friction fit?

Thanks!
Dan

Bill,

Looking good – as always. I’ve got to get a Foster’s can myself before the “Beer Can” Stove arrives from BPL. I don’t drink Alc. so I don’t even know if I have to purchase a six-pack? Have you used Esbit fuel before? I’ve been getting away from it (moving to Alc), due to the odor in my pack and to a much lesser degree, the blackening of the pots. I guess Hexamine is bit better than Trioxane. This stove will prob. get me back to it, or give me some ideas for trying to make an Alc stove of similar design.

Hope you didn’t mind my comment (a compliment really) in that other thread? You know,…the one about Tyvek and Duct Tape. I do think that you prob. could make all of the non-rigid items in your kit just from Tyvek and Duct Tape – whould be interesting at least.

BTW, when you get near CT on your AT Thru-Hike, we could rendezvous and I’ll be happy to accompany you into MA and up to Mt. GreyLock in the Berkshire Mtns. That is if you want the company. If not, no worries.

Take care,
pj

I’m Australian and as far as I know Fosters, which no-one in Australia drinks these days, isn’t available in Australia in the big beer cans. The only place I’ve seen the big cans is in the Northern Territory and that was the local beer brand. The Embassy staff in Tokyo won’t help you with the things they’re supposed to do, so the odds of them locating empty beer-cans for Hajime-san are poor.

Hajime-san: go to your nearest Asahi beer-vending machine and you will find big cans.

Bill – you are a beer?? :) Tabun, “boku wa biru daisuki-desu.”

Hi Damian, The Beer vending machines were one of the more interesting things I remember from a couple trips to Japan. I don’t drink so I don’t remember the size of the cans. I do remember the small soda (Coke) cans and Milk Tea. I got hooked on the Milk Tea.

Fosters Beer must be to Australian’s like Lone Star Beer was at one time to Texan’s. It was exported to Louisiana where it sold really cheap.

Sounds like we need to start a “Friendship Beer Can Exchange” program.

Bill – Biru
Beer – Bi-ru

I got my Stove this afternoon. Weights and pictures follow:

1 – Wire Stove Part – 34.7gr/1.22oz
2 – SS Windscreen – 39.4gr/1.39oz
3 – Lip Guard – 8gr/0.28oz

Add the empty Fosters Can Cook Pot – 0.91oz.

Total Stove 3.8 as advertised.

I just came form the liquor store and was looking at the 710 mL Heineken can. Looks like a keg. I compared it to the big Fosters can and the Fosters can is a slightly smaller diameter. Also, the diameter of the Heineken can varies… it bumps out at point… so I don’t know if it would work.

I also went can opener shopping. No one in Canada carries good cook can openers and to order one from the states would cost me $50… $10 for the can opener… $40 for shipping :P Oh well, it’ll be a nice addition to my kitchen I guess.

I received mine today and tested it out. It works great and is quite clever. 3.8 oz on the money. I really like how it packs up “clean” without any of the sooty areas exposed.

Speaking of Fosters beer cans, check out the gossamer gear website and click on the link below the picture on the right. It’s about a sub 5 lb extreme ultralight trip. On page 2 there is an ESBIT setup that uses a cut down fosters can for a pot and another fosters can for a windscreen/tab holder. It uses two titanium stakes to hold the pot. Weight is 0.4 oz for the stove/windscreen and 0.7oz for the pot, for a 1.1 total system weight with a foil lid it would end up around 1.2 oz.

Bill,
I agree with lots of your comments.
1. Pot height to stove: It’s kind of hard to estimate how high the pot is from the tablet but I would guess it is about 1 inch or so (from the bottom where the tablet sits to the pot bottom). I’ve played a bit with home made ESBIT stoves and in determining how high the pot should sit I’ve tried to use the same distance that the commercial ESBIT stove uses. The little square clamshell esbit stove puts the pot 1.5 inches up from the base where the tab sits. However I also have the wing stove and on that stove the bottom of the pot sits about 1 inch from the base, and even less than that, about 3/4 inches if you use a small pot like a SP600 which sits on the inner (lower) pot support. As far as I can tell even at that height the stove works good, and I can’t really tell much of a difference in performance when you vary the height from about 1 inch up to 2 inches. I think I measured the Ultralight outfitter stove as using a distance of 2 inches, but of course you can vary the distance. The thru-hiker website confirms my findings:
http://www.thru-hiker.com/articles.asp?subcat=2&cid=58

They don’t show much of a difference in boil time till you get up at 2.75 inches.

Based on this I think the pot height might be OK, but it is hard to tell from a photo.
2. I agree that the pot is weakened significantly. The pot is probably being treated as a weekend disposable.Probably a better choice if durability is a factor would be a Heineken pot that has ridges along the middle.
5. I totally agree the “windscreen” will not work. It’s kind of analogous to the ESBIT stove, I find that stove to work horribly even in calm conditions without a windscreen. I’m curious how well the foam pad windscreen works.

Another thing that is curious is the omission of a pot cover (gear list states “none”). Could be that for the amount of water boiled the loss in efficiency is not a factor.

Cheers