Thanks for your entire post, but for this in particular:

These days, that's a really practical consideration.

Add to that the fact that alcohol can be pretty easily obtained even in towns without a "mountain shop" type store.

HJ

Now, who would go and do such a thing?

Everclear is at least a dual use item. Triple use if you use it as a wound cleaner although some people have said that one should not use Everclear for cleaning a wound. I'm not sure about this last application.

HJ

The way I keep them straight is by comparing them to traffic signal lights:

Red = Stop! (Do not use at all!)
Yellow = Proceed with caution. (Don't spill it on your hands or breath the fumes, but it's a decent stove fuel.)

HJ

It would probably be safe to use it as a disinfectant for swabbing the area where you intend to lance a boil, blister or abscess, and use an antibiotic afterward, not the alcohol. That high of an alcohol content might do damage to raw tissue.

And it could be used to disinfect contaminated tools. If an 80% isopropyl alcohol soak will do it, 190-proof certainly should!

Sue

Great review.

When you come to Australia you will find "metho" readily available from supermarkets, camping shops, and in small country towns, so its an easy source of fuel. However you can pay between $5 to $10 per litre ! But if you shop around you can buy a bulk (4 or 5 litre) containers for about $15 (on special); that's when I pounce.

I use the metho “neat”, ie undiluted and straight from the bottle, but a few folk swear by adding a small amount of water to thin it down a bit before using. They claim a “cleaner” and hotter burn. I can’t say I’ve really tried.
Any comments Hikin_Jim ?

Water it down and add some sort of powdered drink mix. As for a hangover, don't drink that much.

Generally adding a bit of water will result in a bit less soot; you'll generally get a bluer flame. But hotter? I doubt it. The water acts to cool (slow down) the combustion process, resulting in a cleaner but not hotter burn.

I haven't experimented with the exact proportions. Generally the alcohol I'm using for fuel already has about 5% water in it, and that alcohol burns pretty cleanly.

HJ

Yellow Heet is the cleanest burning alcohol fuel I've found in my Trangia burners. It is also easy to pour the fuel into the burners from the Heet bottles. Considering it's easy availability from the auto parts store near my house, it's my fuel of choice, unless I just wanna hear the roar from one of my old Svea white gas stoves.

Nothing wrong per se with methanol (yellow HEET) as a fuel. Works pretty well.

Two possible considerations:
For someone who is an ounce or gram counter, ethanol has about 25% more heat content by weight than methanol, so you can carry less ethanol for the same result.

For someone who has to cook in his tent or a shelter due to weather considerations, methanol fumes are toxic whereas ethanol fumes are not. High ethanol content denatured alcohol (check the MSDS) will be far less toxic than methanol.

HJ

wow. I NEVER use my alcohol stove in my tent. I set it up in vesty or under a covered area. If there's a chance of getting socked in, I'll bring my jetboil.