I like simple things that work and are extra lightweight, so I retired my gas pack stoves for a homemade alcohol stove.

I made and used the Cat Stove with good success but the below design looks even better.

Plus it requires drinking two beers to make one

Penny Alcohol backpacking Stove

Scroll down to the links for instructions on making one.

You can also go to a restaurant supply place and get sterno. Get the one with the wick it burns better. That way it's self contained and you don't have to carry alcohol. The fuel in the wick sterno is actually kind of a syrup and doesn't evaporate too badly. Be aware that alcohol stoves are almost useless at high altitudes.

the chef

The best high altitude stove I have used is the MSG-X. I always burn Coleman fuel as it is easy to get here in the US but it will burn almost anything.

Skinner
Guess you enjoyed the beers, or`?

Multi-fuel burner would be alright at higher altitudes or winter time at low temperatures. http://www.trangia.se/
http://www.optimus.se/
http://www.primus.se/
http://www.msrcorp.com/stoves/

Cheers
/JOHAN

Been using a Coleman peak 11 stove with the butanne-propanne cyl works great lites everytime no mess with leaking fuel in you pack boils water real quick nice and lite works for this old time sheep hunter

Skinner,

Thanks for posting this, it looks like an interesting stove. I'm a big fan of the simple pepsi can stove, this one looks neater though, so I'll have to root up some heinies soon.

I keep my alcohol in a brown hydrogen peroxide bottle, the top of a bottled water bottle fits on it, the pull to pour type of top.

The rest of you guys, these stoves are bad-ass! You can make them for nothing and they not only look great but they boil water like crazy, mine can boil a quart in about 5 1/2 minutes from stove lighting to boiling. They take up no space as well. Well worth the money!

I've been using a Pepsi can stove exclusively for the past three years. I have also done extensive, controlled, testing at altitudes as high as 12600', where I regularly camp at. I don't know how high one has to go before the alcohol stove doesn't work well, but it is higher than 12600.

This is pretty cool! I may have to try this out.

On short trips I have been using a "Ridley's Idiot Stove". Its basically a combo of a soup can and a small salmon/tuna can. I got the idea from the book "Principles of Lightweight Long Distance Power Packing". Works great and is real light. I only use it on weekend type trips when the weather is warm. Otherwise I use an MSR WhisperLight or equivalent.

Cheers,
Canuck

I used a whisperlight for several years, and it was a real good stove, but after I tried the alcohol stove I never used anything else. Mine weighs about 1.5 oz., has no moving parts to break or clog, and I can heat a 16 oz. cup of tea to boiling in 7 minutes. The guys here at the local mountaineering shop told me alcohol stoves were no good at our altitudes, but it seems obvious to me that they are only repeating something they have heard and have not actually used one. Oh, I paid $12 for mine on the internet. I have rigged a stove stand out of 1/4" mesh steel fabric, and a wind screen from alumiinum flashing that fits around my 3 oz. aluminum pot just enough to let it breathe while directing the heat onto the pot. The stove, pot stand, aluminum pot pliers, lighter, and a few small food items all fit into the pot, and the screen wraps around it. In all it is a very efficient little package. The only drawback is the amount of alcohol one has to carry. It seems to be less fuel efficient than a preasurized white gas unit, but in all it does save weight and can't break. It's also completely quiet. Did I say I like alcohol stoves?

Dear Cobrad,

Who did you order your stuff from on the Internet?

Thanks,
Washougal Chris

quote:

Who did you order your stuff from on the Internet?

Try looking on Ebay for a Trangia alcohol stove.


Alcohol stoves on Ebay

WChris, I do a lot of my shopping on the internet. A lot of specialty items like pepsi can stove can't be found here locally. Online I can usually find just what I want, and often I have found really good sales.

I got into making alcohol can stoves a few years back when the superlight weight backpacking craze hit. There are so many designs out there it will boggle your mind. One of the best backpacking sites, where the webmaster keeps building, testing and reporting on the different stoves is Sgt.Rock's website.
SGT.ROCK's Hicking HQ

After I made about 6 or 7 of the different designs I developed my own design from what was around my house.
I have a cat so I have cat food cans- they work great for a priming cup and to support bent pieces of coathanger wire for the pot support. I use a simple old hand paper hole punch to punch the holes in the catfood can and the wind screen. Then I just use DietCoke cans for the simple burner unit- known as a 'Cobra' stove after the guy who first made it- You just cut the two ends off of two cans and press them together- then you punch 32 holes along the edge with a push pin. I've made hundreds of these stoves over the last few years and give them away to fellow hikers, my nephews scout unit, &the local kayak fisherman I hang out with on the Texas coast.

the basic 'Cobra' soda can burner


the catfood can made into the primer cup / pot support


I make my wind screens out of the cheap disposable cookie sheets you can pick up at the grocery store- they're just the right weight and I can make two by cutting down the length of the sheet. I hold them together with a large paper clip.






using a small stainless mixing bowl for a wok

Capt Jack,

Thanks for sharing that. Great pics!

Thanks for the link too...that is a great website. I am going to put it on the Links thread.

Cheers,
Canuck

Capt Jack, I want to second that thanks for your post and link. Hey, thats a nice looking unit you have built there. I have on similar, but bigger one that is great if I backpack with someone else, which is almost never.

I use a pepsi can stove and my mainstay meal is 1/3cup orzo pasta boiled in 1/2 litre water.Then add a walmart pouch of tuna,lots of carbs and protein.The stove cooks this on 1oz of methyl hydrate.I eat this twice a day.RB

The cat stove works well, but the Super Cat requires no stand, the pot sets directly on the stove.......and is simple to make. My Web Page
I have some stove designs and Links that may help.

Great sites, I gotta ask...what's a swamp box for???

the chef

Rust Browning.

I finished the penny stove. Tried Coleman fuel with no luck. Rubbing alcohol with no luck. What fuel do I use? Thanks, Mike

fondue fuel (methyl alcohol)

Use this stuff:


Buy it at a hardware store in the paint section.

quote:

Originally posted by FourTails:
I finished the penny stove. Tried Coleman fuel with no luck. Rubbing alcohol with no luck. What fuel do I use? Thanks, Mike

Rubbing alcohol has water in it and will not work very well in these stoves. Denatured alcohol is a very efficient fuel to use. If the stove was made correctly it should produce a nice blue flame.

Thanks all. I'll post my results. Mike

quote:

finished the penny stove. Tried Coleman fuel with no luck.

Allright, any of you missing your eyebrows after reading this thread and 'experimenting' it's your own damn fault.

The thread title says alcohol stove.