alcohol container for stove & volume [Archive]

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markellag

07-29-2004, 10:26

What makes a good alcohol container for alcohol stove & how many ounces does it hold ??

orangebug

07-29-2004, 10:55

Almost anything works, but it is a good idea to use something that identifies it as non-potable. My favorite is to use a small rubbing alcohol bottle, or a carberator cleaner / fuel line dryer bottle. I carry about 12 ounces on my sections. I usually decant the alcohol into a smaller dropper bottle, about 1-2 oz., and squirt that into my stove. I have a nightmare of spilling fuel, and like to keep the main supply away from my stove.

Bill...

rgarling

07-29-2004, 10:55

I use about 1/2 oz per day, so a 4 oz bottle easily lasts for a week. Currently, I'm using an old "camp-soap" bottle.

markellag

07-29-2004, 11:01

I think it would be better to use Everclear grain alcohol around my food since it does not cause blindness or death.

tlbj6142

07-29-2004, 11:12

orangebug

07-29-2004, 11:13

I think it would be better to use Everclear grain alcohol around my food since it does not cause blindness or death.
Denatured alcohol causes nausea and vomiting. Methanol can cause blindness and other problems, but only if consumed orally. All alcohol can cause death, directly or indirectly.

If you can afford to purchase Everclear and burn it, HYOH.

Bill....

SGT Rock

07-29-2004, 11:27

I have an 8.8 ounce plastic soda bottle that weighs about 0.8 ounces. It really holds 9 fluid ounces, and I can do a week to two weeks depending on cunsumption. The bottle, stove, cozy, windscreen, and flint wheel all fit inside my .72 liter pot, so no extra bulk at all past the confines of the pot I already carry. I do like the idea of that soft side bottle though.

07-29-2004, 12:26

I leave it in the origional bottle for just a weekend. I'm to afraid of accidently poisening my grandkids to put it in a soda botle. If your just with Army its probably OK in a soda bottle, but if there are any Marines around make sure its well labled.

Lilred

07-29-2004, 12:37

In Walmart's camping section they sell a 16oz plastic flask. It has a screw on cap plus a one ounce shotglass over that. This is what i use and can measure exactly what I'm burning, so I know exactly how much fuel I have left. It's very lightweight and very cheap.

Alligator

07-29-2004, 13:40

Is that the Coghlan's flask ($2.99) Lilredmg? I had one of those, but it used to leak. It held a more consumable alcohol though ;) . Maybe too much use.

Footslogger

07-29-2004, 14:03

I second the motion for the flask as an alcohol container. Prior to my thru last year I found them in 10 and 16 oz sized. As already pointed out, they have a airtight top and a 1 oz jigger top for measuring out the alcohol. In addition they are semi-transparent so you can easily tell how much fuel is left. I went ahead before my hike and marked off 2 oz levels so that I knew well in advance how many days worth of fuel I had left.

But for me, the 2 most important features are that they are oval shaped and the backside (at least of mine) was somewhat concave. I fit well in the outside pouch on my pack. Secondly, they are made of a heavier plastic than a soda bottle and are not easily compressed or crushed. I carried the same one from Springer to Katahdin and it's still going strong. It has never leaked a drop to my knowledge.

'Slogger
AT 2003

prozac

07-29-2004, 14:20

I prefer to use a 8 oz plastic water bottle with a pop open top. Cheap, lightweight and damn near indestructible. Just label the bottle well and keep it sealed in a ziplock when stowed in your pack as an extra precaution. I'm more worried about mixing up my pee bottle with drinking bottle while winter hiking.

MDSHiker

07-29-2004, 14:24

I have a red 16oz naglene bottle specifically made for carrying fuel. It has the word "fuel" stamped on the bottle in two places. It also has a spout on the top for pouring fuel. It has never leaked to my knowledge. It's an awesome bottle...but a soda pop bottle would do just fine. :)

hiker5

07-29-2004, 14:35

I have recently relegated a lysterene bottle to fuel bottle duty. It is sort of flask shaped. I believe it was marked as 500mL, which would be approx. 16 ounces. I like the fact that it has a very distinct shape, making it very difficult to get it mixed up with a water bottle -- even in the dark.

ATSeamstress

07-29-2004, 17:40

Drug stores will give you (or sell you for about 35 cents)
empty cough syrup bottles, and they come in various sizes.
I have everything from 2 oz to 8 oz depending the length
of my trip. Your fuel will not be mistaken for water, but I did
use a labelmaker and made a big "FUEL" label for it.

The best part is, the ounces are marked on the side, so
you can tell at first glance how much fuel you have left,
and easily dispense the correct amount.

minnesotasmith

07-29-2004, 17:55

orangebug

07-29-2004, 18:04

What type of alcohol is usually used by those stoves, methanol, ethanol, or isopropyl? Also, what is the maximum practical percentage water considered acceptable in alcohol used as fuel in alcohol stoves hikers carry?
Typically, denatured ethanol or methanol is used for alcohol stoves. Rubbing alcohol (isopropyl) has a great deal of water, soots up, and isn't a very hot flame. Denatured and Grain Alcohol (Everclear and other brands) max out at 95% alcohol.

I like the sound of the plastic flask and shot glass, other than the risk of getting it confused with "medicinal" alcohol. Cough syrup bottles are an attractive option, also, perhaps an empty Nyquil bottle with its jigger.

Bill...

SGT Rock

07-29-2004, 18:17

Types of alcohol:

Isopropyl. This is the type used in rubbing alcohol. There are concentrations of 70%, 90%, and over 99%+. Regular rubbing alcohol is 70% and makes lousy stove fuel because the rest is water. 90% has a lot of BTUs and can also be purchased where medical supplies are sold. 99%+ can be found as gas line de-icer and dryer like Iso-HEET and other brands. Isopropyl has more BTUs per ounce than other alcohols, but it leaves a lot of soot and can cause funny burning times or properties in stoves tweaked for other alcohols.

Methyl alcohol is corn whiskey in it's purest form. Everclear is the cleanest you can get, and it is 95% pure. It is very expensive, so it doesn't make good stove fuel. Methyl Alcohol is the second highest for BTU content.

Ethyl Alcohol is wood grain alcohol and is deadly to drink. It burns clean, but has the lowest BTU content per ounce. You can get this in yellow bottles of HEET as gas line de-icer and dryer.

Denatured alcohol is a mixture of Ethyl and Methyl alcohol. It depends on the brand and what the company that makes it is doing at the time as to the mixture. You can usually find the MDS (Material Data Safety Sheets) for download on the Internet because to meet OSHA requirements, any company that has these, must label the place containers are stored to be legal. As a service to customers, manufacturers provide these labels free on the Internet. This is important because you can find the mixture for a denatured alcohol in this information. What I have found is that some alcohol comes in at about 50% Methyl and 50% Ethyl, and some comes in at 90% Methyl and 10% Ethyl. Higher Methyl content is desirable. The reason they cut it, is because if they make pure, or close to pure alcohol (like Everclear) then they have to pay liquor tax and pass that on. but if they make it poisonous to drink (denature it), then they don't have to pay.

minnesotasmith

07-29-2004, 18:26

I remember that any alcohol/water mixture above 50% alcohol will burn. The isopropyl alcohol in my cabinet (costs about 43 cents a pint at Wal-Mart) is 70% alcohol. I also have some 91% isopropyl from the same source that cost around 4x as much (I use it for my ears after swimming). The former I can understand not being worth carrying, but the latter is still not that expensive and is fairly widely available at nonspecialty pharmacies and large grocery stores. Is there any reason why the 91% stuff would be unacceptable for stove fuel on a thru-hike that you are aware of, such as cold-weather performance or purity issues causing stoves to gum up?

SGT Rock

07-29-2004, 19:01

Depending on the stove, the soot may clog it. It will make a sooty mess on everything in contact with the flame - worse than cooking over an open fire if I remember right. For an experiment you can take a small tuna can and fill it with about an ounce of Isopropyl and use three or four tent stakes as a pot stand to lift the pot off the burner by about 3/4". Put a pint of water in the pot and light your ultralight simple stove and watch it burn. There should be a sooty flame and it should boil the water with plenty of fuel to spare.

jlb2012

07-29-2004, 19:11

Methyl alcohol is corn whiskey in it's purest form. Everclear is the cleanest you can get, and it is 95% pure. It is very expensive, so it doesn't make good stove fuel. Methyl Alcohol is the second highest for BTU content.

Ethyl Alcohol is wood grain alcohol and is deadly to drink. It burns clean, but has the lowest BTU content per ounce. You can get this in yellow bottles of HEET as gas line de-icer and dryer.

I think you got these two backwards SGT Rock - Ethyl alcohol aka ethanol is your drinking whisky and metyl alcohol aka methanol is the poisonious wood alcohol.

SGT Rock

07-29-2004, 19:15

Doh, you are right. I have that backwards. Ethyl alcohol is Grain Alcohol and Methyl is Wood Alcohol. Ethyl has more BTUs the Ethyl. Where ever you see those terms in my post, just reverse them. It was a long day at work today :datz

smokymtnsteve

07-29-2004, 19:45

Fiddleback

07-29-2004, 20:32

I haven't weighed it yet but I'm planning on using a cleaned up Stabil bottle. It holds 8oz and has a graduated neck/spout (imagine the shape of the state of Idaho). Squeeze the bottle and the neck/spout begins to fill. Stop squeezing when you have the amount you want -- then dump the measured amount into the stove. Similar, new bottles are available on the internet (but seem to be out of stock everytime I'm ready to order one...)

FB

orangebug

07-29-2004, 22:03

... Squeeze the bottle and the neck/spout begins to fill. Stop squeezing when you have the amount you want -- then dump the measured amount into the stove. Similar, new bottles are available on the internet (but seem to be out of stock everytime I'm ready to order one...) I use an octane booster, lead substitue in my VW bug, adding an ounce or two each tankful. The bottle is just as you described, and I can't believe I haven't seen the obvious second use. :clap

You can find it in most Auto Supply Stores, especially Pep Boys.

<BTW, there is not great reason not to use high percentage isopropanol, other than the fact that ethanol is higher calorie/BTU per volume. If you cook with alcohol stoves with the plan to burn and boil until flame out, then place your pot in a cozy, you are going to succeed no matter which fuel you choose. Your pot cozy will contain the soot that will accumulate.>

Bill...

tlbj6142

07-30-2004, 08:56

It holds 8oz and has a graduated neck/spoutBrasslite (http://www.brasslite.com/products.html) sells the same thing for $5 including a nozzle spout. They also carry a 4oz and a 16oz version.

Jeff T

07-31-2004, 16:24

I recently bought the plastic red nalgene bottle, but unlike MDSHiker's, mine leaks. Plus I've gotten squirted in the eye trying to yank the spout out of the bottle. (the spout is stored invert in the bottle).

hiker5

07-31-2004, 20:56

Plus I've gotten squirted in the eye trying to yank the spout out of the bottle.

With denatured alcohol? I bet that didn't feel to good. :-?

Mr. Clean

08-01-2004, 06:42

You mentioned a spark wheel or something to light your stove with? I carry a lighter and usually jump a little when the stove catches. What do you use to light your stove?

SGT Rock

08-01-2004, 09:21

jlb2012

08-01-2004, 10:23

HOI sent me a Spark Lite (just the flint part) while I was in Iraq. Just hold the wheel close to the alcohol and hit it a time or two and it lights. The thing weighs about 0.2 ounces and never runs out of fuel. Here is a link, the only difference in the one HOI sent me is that the color, mine is OD green.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/spark_lite_fire_starter_basic.html

The ones I get are from Brigade Quartermasters - they seem to have the best price that I have found on the net. Spark-lite in OD (http://www.actiongear.com/cgi-bin/tame.exe/agcatalog/level4s.tam?xax=14253&pagenumber%2Eptx=1&M5COPY%2Ectx=8291&M5%2Ectx=8291&M2%5FDESC%2Ectx=Compact%20Stoves%2C%20Fire%20Start ers%2C%20Fuels%2C%20Candles&level3%2Ectx=results%2Etam&query%2Ectx=spark&backto=%2Fagcatalog%2Fresults%2Etam)

The only problem I have had with them was accidently dipping them in the alcohol (my hands aren't the steadiest anymore and you do need to get the sparks _close_ to the alcohol) - have to dry it out to get it to spark after that.

foodbag

08-01-2004, 11:35

16 oz. plastic coke bottle with STOVE FUEL written on it seems to do the trick for me.

Nightwalker

08-02-2004, 13:36

I've been told that 16oz bottle nozzle that www.brasslite.com sells fits this container. I haven't bothered to find out yet. As I have the 8oz bottle from Brasslite.

I use the BrassLite bottle as well. It makes measuring your alcohol very easy. If I take any more than the BL bottle, I use a spring-water bottle with "Mr. Yuk" and 911 all over it. It's also the only bottle of that size that I use, so as not to get any bad surprises.

dougmeredith

08-02-2004, 19:45

Methyl alcohol is corn whiskey in it's purest form. Everclear is the cleanest you can get, and it is 95% pure. It is very expensive, so it doesn't make good stove fuel. Methyl Alcohol is the second highest for BTU content.

Ethyl Alcohol is wood grain alcohol and is deadly to drink. It burns clean, but has the lowest BTU content per ounce. You can get this in yellow bottles of HEET as gas line de-icer and dryer.
I think you have a typo there. Ethyl alcohol is corn whiskey and methyl alcohol is wood grain alcohol. Don't drink methyl alcohol!

Doug

smokymtnsteve

08-02-2004, 19:48

tlbj6142

08-12-2004, 22:41

Platypus' Little Nipper (http://www.platypushydration.com/bottles_carriers.asp?Action=Bar) (the bottle shown in the link) holds 12oz, weighs 0.7oz.

I've been told that 16oz bottle nozzle that www.brasslite.com (http://www.brasslite.com/) sells fits this container.OK. The brasslite nozzle arrived. Seems as though Aaron now sells a flip top instead of the pointed mustard bottle style top.

The flip top doesn't quite seal on the Little Nipper bottle all that well. You have to squeeze the bottle quite hard to make it leak, but it does leak.

From my EX5 digital scale...

Little nipper with stock lid 16g (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=16+grams+in+ounces&btnG=Google+Search)
Little nipper with Brasslite flip-top 22g (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=22+grams+in+ounces&btnG=Google+Search)
Little nipper with Platty pull-top lid 19g (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=19+grams+in+ounces&btnG=Google+Search)

The later two make filling my Turbo I quite easy. I think I'll go witht he pull-top.

bailcor

08-13-2004, 00:29

I use a 8 oz & a 2 oz MOUNTAIN SUDS containers. They are flat and packable, have a flip up dispenser for precise measuring. I use the 2 oz for this since I use 1 oz to boil water and only have to remember to use halve.
Also if it gets cold you can put the 2 oz close to your body to keep the fuel warm.

The Will

08-13-2004, 15:45

The storage bottles used in university chemistry programs are almost exclusively produced by Nalgene. They come in convenient sizes (8 and 4 oz. among others) and you can use a screw on cap or a small dispensing top that has an attached snap-on cap covering the spout. Since these dispensing tops are used for the precise transfer and measurement of chemicals, their flow rate is very low. This is easily remedied by straightening and heating a paper clip and melting/enlarging the opening.

As an example, the 4 oz bottle of camp suds comes in such a bottle.

Streamweaver

08-13-2004, 16:01

For day hikes I use a Cohglans 4oz campsoap bottle with the little flip out nozzle/spout . I also use a 10 oz nail polish remover bottle sometimes for overnighters or weekends its flat and has a smallish opening (about 1/2" diam)which makes pouring easier and with it I use one of those little clear plastic cups that they gave me pills in, in the hospitol.It has the measurments on the side like the ones that come with Nyquill .Streamweaver