How much (cooking) alcohol to carry ?

[PR Man]

I've been using canister stoves a long time - but next month I am hiking a section just north of Damascus and want to try an alcohol stove.

Does anyone have a good rule of thumb for how much alcohol to carry (For example __ OZ to boil 2 cups).

Obviously, it depends on the weather - and the stove, just trying to get an idea.

Also - when you consider the weight of the fuel, is it really much lighter than a stove and a canister?

Thanks to all!

[STICK]

As you said, there are a lot of variables to consider, so my suggestion is to use it as much as you can at home before heading out on the trail with it to get an idea of how it does.

To make it fun, grab a box fan and turn it on low and then sit in front of it and get the stove going...and of course, with any alcohol stove, make sure you have a good windscreen! A windscreen is a very important thing when using an alcohol stove, even in what seems to be perfectly calm weather...

For me, as a rule of thumb I generally allow 1 oz of fuel per meal, although I know that I can get by with less than this...

[Drybones]

I used a homemade stove and 24 oz beer can for a pot with wind screen. It took 1 oz to boil 2 cups of water. I always took more than I needed for safety sake, fire starting, and for others if needed. I used a 16 oz Listerene bottle to carry it in and except for times I gave alcohol to others it was never more than half empy...I'll use a 12 oz bottle next time.

[Franco]

all things being equal in weight you use about twice as much alcohol as you do fuel from a canister .
In my case I boil 2 cups with about 14g (18ml/0.61 fl oz) of Ethanol in about 7 min.
(using a Caldera Cone /550ml pot)
Most other set ups are either faster and use more fuel or slower and use a bit less.
Franco

[garlic08]

My last alky stove would heat enough water for one meal for my wife and I, about a liter, with just under an ounce of fuel. We never carried more than six or eight ounces of fuel, so for us it was considerable weight savings over other stoves. If you like to boil much more water than that, say you cook two meals a day including coffee or tea, or have to melt snow for an extended trip, alcohol probably isn't best.

I once heard the break-even point is 12 oz--if you find yourself carrying that much fuel consistently, you'd be better off with a different fuel. That sounds about right, though I've never studied it myself.

[Leanthree]

1 fluid oz per 2c boil is my rule of thumb, and it is nearly always too much. The extra generally goes to good use as a fire starter or for some hot tea.

[Grinder]

home made stove from a 3 oz V8 can here. I now carry a 16 oz bottle of alcohol. This covers a week of hiking (6 nites) with perhaps 3 oz remaining at the end.

I used to carry 8 and/0r 10 oz ( because it would fit inside the pot), but that "felt" too close for comfort. I cook dinner and an occasional cup of tea. Cold lunch (eh?? Occasional ramen) and breakfast.

In reality, 10 oz. should be enough.

[Spokes]

.75- 1 oz. of fuel for dinners. Less for breakfasts.

The key is to saving fuel is to measure, measure, measure! I carried a white plastic (translucent) 35mm film canister in my cook kit which held exactly 1 oz.

I cringed watching some hikers just slosh fuel around only to waste it when their water/food boiled.

A 15 oz. Tropicana OJ bottle worked great for me.

[Franco]

The key is to saving fuel is to measure, measure, measure!

That is one way of doing it, the other is to snuff the flame and recover.
For me the letter is easier to do.

[Franco]

That is the latter, no mail from me...

[bear bag hanger]

I used about one oz of fuel for each meal, which was usually just boiling a couple cups of water. One thing I've found is I use a lot less in my house experimenting with it than out in the wild with the wind blowing, etc. During my thru hike, I carried a 16 oz bottle, but it was never less than half full. In the future I'll carry less - maybe. Somewhat unrelated, but I saw a canister blow up once and if it had been on the top of a picnic table, a whole lot of people would have been hurt. Won't carry one of those anymore!

[msupple]

3/4 to 1oz per meal. It's why I now generally burn wood in an Emberlit....endless supply and burn as long and often as you need. It even makes a nice mini campfire.

[Spokes]

The key is to saving fuel is to measure, measure, measure!

That is one way of doing it, the other is to snuff the flame and recover.
For me the letter is easier to do.

Great point Franco.

So now I've amended my advice to:
"Measure, measure, measure, Snuff, snuff, snuff!"

[Franco]

I have mentioned before that somehow the Caldera Cone stove (12-10) seems to use less fuel if you start with more than you need.
Sounds kind of weird but the other day it popped into my mind that it may be because the extra fuel keeps the burner cooler .
This may apply more to Ethanol (burns hotter than Methanol or a mix) and could be related to the better results I had adding a few drops of water using the White Box stove.
Franco

[MuddyWaters]

you simply need to know how much fuel your stove setup uses, and how much you want to boil. it is all different, and depends highly on wind conditions. You have to figure this out for yourself. A supercat is a horribly innefficient setup, so using that you will use at least 1.5x the fuel of efficient setups.

My setup boils 2 cups reliably on about 0.6 floz.

Recent 5 day trip, I used about 4 floz (3.2 oz wt) . thats 4 dinners, and about 5 cups coffee I recall. I dont always do coffee, sometimes in morn, sometimes in evening, sometimes both.

When re-hydrating meals, whether lipton, mac and cheese, or mountain house, plan to use 2/3 -3/4 the amt of water the directions call for. The pasta, rice, etc doesnt absorb as much when re-hydrating in a cozy as when boiling for 10 min.

[MuddyWaters]

No, its not really that much lighter. It is a bit lighter. My gnat (1.7 oz) and a small cannister (7.5 oz) would be 9.2 oz and suit me for a few days. My stove setup and alcohol would be ~5 oz for 5 days , so I am saving max of about 1/4 lb. A heavier or innefficient alcohol setup saves even less, if at all. Of course, some would carry a large cannister and a heavier 3 oz burner for about 15 oz wt.

But the alcohol is quiet, and doesnt sound like a jet engine. . you can also carry exactly the fuel you need, and no extra.


Basically, for one person the break even point is somewhere in the 4-7 day range depending on how light you are with the alcohol setup. Above that the cannister gets lighter due to fuel wt. It all depends on how much fuel you use, how much your stove, windscreen weigh.

[BFI]

16 Ozs. My mini trangi would use 16oz over a 5 day period which would boil enough water for my oatmeal in the morning , boil water for my Mt. House dinner and boil water for a cup of coco.

[swjohnsey]

I "cook" three times a day. I plan on 2 oz/day using Zelph's Super Venom, a very efficient stove.

[SunnyWalker]

Yep, 1 oz or less. Thanks Franco, that Caldera is a terrific stove set up.

[Franco]

Set Up
That is the key and the reason why the Caldera Cone works well (for me)
It is a full kit (burner/stand/windscreen/pot) not individual bits put together.
The 550ml pot would be very inefficient with many stoves having such a narrow bottom, however it works inside the cone.
Typically in a moderate to good wind most stoves need about twice as much fuel as they do out of it, the CC works about the same in or out of wind exposure.
And as you can see on my video , beign able to quickly put out the flame and recover the leftover fuel is a big bonus, no need to estimate/guess the fuel required .