Have you considered an Esbit stove? Not alcohol although I have heard of people making an insert, it works great for the application you mention (hunters pack). Keep a couple of fuel cubes with you and augment with twigs. I have been playing with the stove frame and small chunks of Fastfire cubes to start a fire and add twigs on.

Here is a blog post I did on the Esbit:

http://austereprovisions.blogspot.com/2009/12/esbit-stove-on-shelves-now.html

At first I carried my alcohol fuel in a smaller aluminum MSR type fuel bottle with a special cap made to be used as a fuel spigot. (from rei.com) When reaching in my bag i could feel the fuel bottle by the top of the cap. By comparison I also carried my field brandy in a 1L aluminum flask with a normal cap.

However i found I don't use crinkly plastic bottles in the field. So a 16oz water bottle will be used for nothing else but Denatured alcohol. Unless someone is reaching into my ruck for water and bypassing the drink tube or Nalgene bottle both on the outside and somehow missing the giant warning signs and 1 oz dash marks on the modified water bottle, no one will mistake it for potable water.

Here is a previous thread on alcohol stoves for alcohol stove cold weather use.

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=192706&page=1

with a field test review of the Vargo Triad stove

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=187706

Ah, I meant to add to that thread. I usually do what I say I will do, however, after offering to test the Trangia in -11 degrees C weather I'm afraid the weather warmed up. It hovered around -4 degrees C for a while and now it's spring. Sorry chaps.

A

One of the virtues of the mini-Trangia is that it can contain its own somewhat limited fuel supply, about enough to boil two nice cups of tea. Just unscrew the cap and ignite. Just be sure that the O-ring is not cracked and allowing fuel to leak into your pot. Learned that the hard way....

Don't EVER put out the flame by putting the lid on. The heat destroys the O-rings (or so I'm told, I haven't used brass burners for years - the alternatives gives so much more pyromanic fun... ).

Luckily, alcohol is not poisonous the same way as paraffin or white gas, or fuel tabs. I would never drink from a pot that just had some paraffin sloshing inside it (the effect is immediate, highly embarrasing and inconvenient). But I would just rinse and use a pot after alcohol spill.

Tell me - does the additives in de-naturated alcohol (supposed to make you NOT wanna drink it) flavor the food and water made from that pot?

I've never had an issue with denatured alcohol tinting the taste of the water I boil.

The only major trade off I will concede is that you cannot turn (at least) a WhiteBox stove off. Once the waters boiled you take the container off and it has to flame out. Makes for a interesting few seconds for that fuel to cook off.

I used alcohol stoves fairly regularly for a few years, and no go between that & canister stoves. The fuel has never tainted food-it vaporizes before touching anything you would put in your mouth, and I ALWAYS cook with a lid on, due to the relatively low heat output, as mentioned. So, to set your mind at ease-it only smells bad before you burn it

As to using the brass lid on a trangia stove to put the flame out-remove the oring. Simple enough. I do this all the time with my trangia. Just make sure you put it in a pocket or something, so you dont lose it.

Actually it was a question for Hikermor or anybody else who has spilled trangia alcohol inside his pot. Is a simple rinse & repeat of the pot enough to get rid of of any taste issues? I certainly would not want the taste of our local alcohol de-naturalization chemicals in my tea.


I am not at all concerned about food in a pot tasting weird or being dangerous because of the fuels in use, being alcohol or any other fuel. I will not roast my hot dog on any flame, though...

So, does anyone have a good, affordable source for a trangia stove?

Blake
www.outdoorquest.biz