I did another test of my alcohol stove this weekend. If you recall, earlier tests in my garage and outdoors with no wind at around 15-18*F were excellent, bringing about 14oz of 33*F water to a rapid boil in 6 minutes using less than 1 oz of Everclear.

This time it was 11*F with a constant 5-10MPH wind and gusts to 40MPH. Also, instead of starting with nearly freezing water I started with chunks of frozen snow that I mashed down as much as possible in the cup, and added a piece of HD aluminum foil as a lid. I made a 3-sided wind screen from a HD aluminum foil and also wrapped a scrap of cardboard in foil to insulate the stove from the frozen ground.

I started the stove using 1 oz Everclear and held the cup over the flame until the alcohol was heated. Then I put the cup directly on the stove. The stove burned low and unevenly, I think because of the wind. As the gusts increased the stove must have cooled down and lost pressurization, as I had to lift the cup off the stove repeatedly to get it burning properly again.

After 6 minutes I had less than 8 oz of warm water, so I added enough snow to yield 14oz of liquid. After 15min the stove ran out of fuel and the water was only warm. I added another 1 oz of alcohol and resumed. This lasted another 10 minutes and the water was bubbling but still not boiling.

Result: Fail. While I could have got the water to boil if I used another oz of alcohol, the amount of fuel and time just don't make sense. I will work on a better wind screen and try again.