I'm looking hard at an alcohol stove, but rather than building my own, I'm thinking about going uptown a bit and getting a
brasslite alcohol stove I've heard some good things about them, light, good flame control. Nice thing about alcohol stoves, pretty much every gas station / auto parts place has fuel, it's the gas dryer additive. You have to make sure that you get the Methanol version, not the Iso version, but it always says on the label. That way you can get a small quantity of fuel, not have to buy a gallon at at time. Down side to alcohol stoves, they aren't the best bet if you are doing real cold weather camping, just don't have the performance needed. Check out brasslite and read some of the links to reviews on other sites.
Down side to the soda can stoves, and yes, I've used them, most of them don't allow much, if any, flame control. Great if all you are doing is boiling, but not so great for other things. Plus side is that they don't weigh anything to speak of. Stoves always seem to be a tradeoff, weight vs. convience vs. features. If I had somebody to carry it for me, I'd have a double burner propane stove with a grill and rotissary (sp) attachment, but since that's not likely to happen, I'm sticking with light and easy.
Steve W.
Who sometimes gets into hot water without a stove