Touring - Homemade alcohol stove

I'm new to the homemade alcohol stove scene. I'm looking forward to trying this stove on my next tour coming up in a week. My buddies and I use snacks, meals in restaurants, and grocery store convenience foods so this will just be a new experience for me. I'll use it for heating water for coffee and an occasional freeze dry meal. Anyone want to share their homemade stove pics/ experiences?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOG2MDEzp9E

Those things work good. I just use a cat-can for my stove and it works great. I use 91 percent rubbing alcohol for my fuel. I just about a dozen holes on it, and I am able to bring water to a boil very quickly.

Please don't burn those in an unventilated building. the fumes can be a serious problem.

Mine is a store-bought Trangia but it is the same principle. I love mine. I use denatured alcohol. One word of advice: If you are putting your alcohol into some type of container, mark it well or put a couple of drops of food color into it so you can, at a glance, know it isn't water.
Lightweight, quick, simple--what's not to like?

Please don't burn those in an unventilated building. the fumes can be a serious problem.

+1 - and of course not inside your tent and make sure the can can't tip over. One disadvantage is the heat is often invisible to the eye, thus sometimes hard to tell when it's actually out. Denatured alcohol burns cleaner then 91 percent rubbing alcohol but usually it's bought in a much larger container then a pint of rubbing alcohol. Cheers.

And have a bottle of water handy in case it does spill.

Handy little things.Have fun.

I really like my pop-can stoves.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m44/countrydirt/popcan%20stove/GEDC0315Copy.jpg

I would caution against trying to use water to put out a burning spill. A spreading puddle of blue flame can be quite exciting!

I really like my pop-can stoves.
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m44/countrydirt/popcan%20stove/GEDC0315Copy.jpg

I would caution against trying to use water to put out a burning spill. A spreading puddle of blue flame can be quite exciting!

Yep:thumb: - you got to snuff it out by putting an empty pot over the stove. Water just flushes the fuel out and about - still burning as it flows.

I'm careful to use mine outside. Anyone make the mistake of of using one indoors? What were the consequences? It's too bad they denature the alcohol! There no way I'm going to spend the extra money for Everclear for stove fuel.

Don't make the same mistake I did with my homemade penny can stove. I was inexperienced with alcohol stoves and the invisible daytime flames. You have to prime a penny can stove to light it, I thought the flames had gone out and it didn't light. I went to add more priming fuel and you guessed it . . . poof no eyebrows and I was patting out my burning face!

Don't make the same mistake I did with my homemade penny can stove. I was inexperienced with alcohol stoves and the invisible daytime flames. You have to prime a penny can stove to light it, I thought the flames had gone out and it didn't light. I went to add more priming fuel and you guessed it . . . poof no eyebrows and I was patting out my burning face!


Ouch! I've always wondered what the flash point of alcohol is and if the stove was still hot if that would ignite the fuel too.

I've done lots of tests of different designs and never realized how invisible those flames are until I tried mine this spring to make some coffee while on a ski tour. In the bright mid day sun, those flames were completely invisible. Always in my trail runs, I could at least see the flames a little.

Ouch! I've always wondered what the flash point of alcohol is and if the stove was still hot if that would ignite the fuel too.

I've done lots of tests of different designs and never realized how invisible those flames are until I tried mine this spring to make some coffee while on a ski tour. In the bright mid day sun, those flames were completely invisible. Always in my trail runs, I could at least see the flames a little.

In bright sunlight you can use a blade of grass held near the burner to indicate flame.