View Full Version : GSI Kettle
I know that this little kettle has been around for at least a little while, and I finally got around to getting it. I have the White Box Solo Stove that will go nice with it. This should make for a nice light-weight set up for two, and even light enough for one. So, I just ordered it today, and hopefully it will be here by next week.
Anyone have one of these?
I have the GSI Halulite Ketalist.
I like it. Inside are two bowls, one has a neoprene sleeve and one had a "sipper" lid (just a small opening for using it as a mug).
The orange on the bail handle and on the lid are not silicone, and so, high flames on a wood fire will melt the orange on the handle. I saw that on YouYube.
I don't have high flames for a wood fire, so I don't have that problem.
I clean it up with chafing fuel, from a restaurant supply. I read about that here in the forum. It clean up so it looks like new.
If you use it with a stove and a windscreen, the aluminum windscreen will scratch the surface. I found that out on my GSI Halulite Minimalist, with my titanium spork. So I know it will scratch.
I like it. Did I say that?
It is just comfortable for hiking and camping. It pours cleanly from the spout. It has no sharp places to snag clothing or gear (mine didn't) and it has a little bag for keeping it all together (I don't know that is important to me - I use Opsak(s) for anything food related).
Not my most minimalist gear, but fun to use.
Connie, thanks for the in-depth info. Much appreciated.
I actually did not get the kit though. I have no intrest in the bowl's or cups. I actually bought the GSI Dualist Cookset as my first backpacking kitchen set, and soon after I figured out about FBC so I stopped using the bowls and cups. They are good for car camping trips though! I do however, wish that the kettle by itself came with the stuff sack. It would make sense, but oh well, I guess I can look at it as a weight savings and just use a rubber band to hold it together!
I have also read about the handle melting. I saw one video where a guy actually replaced the handle with a homemade wire coat hanger handle. He also made it longer because he said he had a little trouble getting the lid off with the lid and the handle being so close together. He says it works better with fires. And, I don't really have plans to use it over a fire, I am not kicking it out.....it sounds like a cool thing to do, and saves some fuel......
That's funny that it actually scratches, especially from a windscreen. After all, "Halulite says goodbye to scratches, burn circles and ounces........Plus, every piece is Hard Anodized to create a surface that withstands scratches and abrasions like nothing else." I have not used any "metal" on my Dualist cook pot, so, I don't have any scratches. But, I have burnt some red beans n rice in it one time, not to bad, but well enough to leave little rice burns in the bottom. I have scrubbed that thing, and they will not come out. It even has a slight burnt red beans n rice to it, even after all this time. But like I said, it's no big deal. And who cares if it does scratch, as long as it can boil water! (I have recently upgraded my light my fire spork to a Ti spork, so watch out Halulite!)
The kettle does give the appearance of comfort. I am excited about using this with my alky stove for 2. It will be a weight reduction from my current set-up. And, if I like it as well as I think I am it will be hard not to want to take it with me for my solo trips. However, to alleviate this, I just ordered the Gram Pro Weenie stove to use with my 700 ml Ti pot, so I kinda have 2 new set-ups to play with for a while! I also got the 10 cm Imusa mug; it only weighs 2.4 oz (listed) and will also work well with the Gram Weenie Pro. As well, it will make a nice cup to carry when using the kettle.
Getting gear is so much fun.
I am using Zelph's "Super Stove" with it: I love it.
I won't have a problem with wood fires, because I don't build up a big "campfire". I make a small "cooking fire". I cook on blue flames and ash-covered coals, if I use wood.
Did you see the high yellow flames on that fire he had!
I saw that YouTube: that was the one I was referring to.
It is possible the "scratches" are colored marks made by the aluminum and made by the titanium.
I looked much more closely: they do not appear to cut into the anodization.
I am looking forward to the GWP to get here, so that I can try it out with my 700 ml Ti pot. I think that it will turn out pretty good. The only thing I am a little concerned about is the small diameter of the GWP, and wondering about stability issues. However, I am always very cautious when using my stoves.
After this one I will be looking into some other style stoves. All of my alky stoves are essentially the same thing, just different sizes. I really wanted to get the Etowah stove to try it out with my 700 ml pot, but went with the GWP due to it's weight advantages over the Etowah. However, I think that I will still eventually go ahead nad get the Etowah stove eventually, just to try it out.
I would like to try and learn and build some other designs of the alcohol stove also. They are just alot of fun to build, and then to watch it work is pretty cool too.
I would also like to try out some other liquid fuel stoves. I only have the 1 canister stove, so it wouldn't hurt to try out a few other canister stoves as well.
I have never really considered the cooking over a fire thing too much until I decided on the kettle, and came across the videos. I think the issue of soot all over the cookware has been a turn off, but now that I think about it, I wouldn't mind trying it sometime. Probably starting off during a car camping trip though.
I would like to try the eggs and bacon inside a brown paper bag over a fire like I saw on a backpacker.com video one time. Rub the bag down with the bacon to keep it from burning up, then throw the bacon in the bag, crack some egss, roll the top down and shove a stick through the bag to hold it over the fire for a few minutes. Then just roll down the bag, and enjoy. I don't know, it just looked neat.
I also use a "twiggy fire' using small twigs directly under the pan, lift pan bottom at the edge and shove in a twig. That small a fire will boil water.
The issue of soot has been discussed in the forum.
Restaurant supply "chafing fuel" dissolves soot: put some on a pie-pan, maybe with paper towels around the sides of the cooking pot to wick up, and wait, and rinse off.
I saw that paper bag cooking YouTube video. I would need bacon grease for it.
It would have to be car camping, for me.
You don't have to get all the soot off so much as keep it from building up and getting too messy. If you had a small tight fitting tin you could save the tissue and alcohol you used to clean off the soot and use it for a firestarter for your next fire. You want to be mindful of spontanious combustion, but if it was airtight that should do it. You could use the same tin for making char, except then it would need a pinhole, or maybe just leave the lid loose somehow.
For very small pots, mugs, kettles, you don't need a very big fire but the smaller it is the harder it is to get to burn well. You can make up for this by being more choosey about your fuel, using a wind screen and platform, and improving the quality of the fuel with a little char and a drop or two of vegetable oil. Birchbark and vegetable oil makes a really thick and sticky soot though. Dry sticks burn cleanest, especially once they turn to charcoal. It is worth saving the charcoals for the next fire, and even making charcoals once your small fire is burning well. That's where the small tin comes in handy. It is easier to just make the fire a bit larger, but microfires can be alot of fun to try and master.
Well my kettle came in today. It is a pretty sweet little kettle. However, I have come to find some little things about it that are so-so, most of which have already been mentioned about the kettle in one place or another. But I think it is going to work out. I plan on using it on a 3-day hike my son and I will be going on over Memorial Day weekend. We are excited about that.
I did write up some initial impressions on it, and to keep from retyping it I have posted it on my blog. If you would like to read it it can be found here:
http://stick13.wordpress.com/
Again, I would appreciate any comments or suggestions, either here or on the blog.
Thanks.
Stick, I also have this kettle. I bought it at a scratch and dent sale at rei for four dollars. The coating on the handle was melted so I just cut off the rest and use it bare. There are two things you can do to make this more user friendly. First, use a windscreen and make sure that it vents on the sides of the kettle instead of at the attachment points for the handle. I also use a homemade version of the white box with the kettle. Second, make sure that the handle stands up and does not drop into the venting flame. I use two very small clips from the office supply store to hold it upright. Just heating water to boiling point, the handle will still be cool enough to touch. Longer cook times may heat the handle and require a pot holder, bandana.
If there is a lot of heat escaping around your windscreen, you can tape off a couple of holes in the stove, escaping heat is just wasted fuel.
I do not store my stove inside the kettle. I put the next food to be used inside the pot. A sturdy rubberband, from asparagus, holds the lid on but also a small close-fitting stuff bag holds it together and keeps soot from occasional fireside use from migrating to other equipment. I carry the stove upside down over the fuel bottle and put it in a small stuff sack along with all things needed to cook on the trail.
Hope this is useful.
Enjoyed your blog--enjoy the outdoors with your kids as much as you can while you are young. Save some easy walks for when you get old. IMHO, do it now because God has a way of changing our long term plans without notice.
Greyfox,
Good point! I made my smaller scale adaption of the Nimblewill "Little Dandy" wood stove, having the openings on one side only so the flames, if they come up high, come out on two sides only. That's why.
The Super Stove alcohol stove flame pattern is just right.
+1 Nice Blog!
I actually decided to make a stuff sack from the 1.1 ripstop I got from Walmart. I used a small piece of Liteline from MLD to cinch it closed with. The stuff sack completely encloses the kettle, so it is all safe inside. The stuff sack weighs in at 0.2 oz on my scales.
I will be going on a trip Memorial Day weekend, and I decided to pull out all my stuff for it today. Inside my kettle I packed the Original WBS wrapped in a hanky, the heat reflector and windscreen, and then inside a ziploc I have a small Bic, 1 package of WetFire, I box of REI strom proof matches and a firesteel. I also remove the handle form the kettle and it easily fits inside the kettle as well. All of this comes to just over 11 oz.
I am planning on making a video to go over some stuff I recently got, and this will be included. I will post it to my blog, and leave the link here.
SunnyWalker
05-15-2010, 21:46
I got the Soloist. I use it with a Pocket Rocket stove. I too leave the bowl at home. Fun, fun. Teflon is nice.
Rocket Jones
05-15-2010, 21:53
...inside a ziploc I have a small Bic, 1 package of WetFire, I box of REI strom proof matches and a firesteel.
Why in the world would you carry a lighter, matches *and* a firesteel, and all in the same place?
I would stash another mini-bic somewhere like in the first aid kit, and lose the matches. I also carry a steel in my emergency bag.
Why in the world would you carry a lighter, matches *and* a firesteel, and all in the same place?
I would stash another mini-bic somewhere like in the first aid kit, and lose the matches. I also carry a steel in my emergency bag.
Actually that is all together right now because it is being stored that way. I just kind of threw everything together today. When I head out on a trip I will sort it out more, and probably leave the matches, or the Bic. I don't know.
Rocket Jones
05-16-2010, 08:05
Actually that is all together right now because it is being stored that way. I just kind of threw everything together today. When I head out on a trip I will sort it out more, and probably leave the matches, or the Bic. I don't know.
Ahhhh, there ya go. Makes sense now.
For the money, size and weight, I believe a Bic is a way better piece of kit than matches. And if you're in a situation where the lighter just won't work, you have the firesteel. Just my opinion.
Oh, and thanks for the review of the kettle! I've been eyeing one of those for a while now and I think I'm going to go ahead and get it.
Yeah, I just like those matches so much though. They are pretty cool, won't even go out after submerging under water.
Thanks for checking out my blog and reading the reviews. So far, I do believe it is a worthy little piece of gear. I haven't used it in the field yet, but I have made tea and coffee with it a few times at home!
a little late but i have this pot too and use it with a homemade wood stove. the plastic on the handle is stained black a little bit, but it is still functional. i like it a lot as the bottom of it is big enough to catch plenty of flame both on my coffee can wood stove and on a homemade alky if need be. a good and underrated choice at $20
a good and underrated choice at $20
Well said. Compared to the price of some of the other kettles out there, I will carry the extra oz for the difference in price. This kettle seems to be pretty durable so far, so I suspect it will last as long as I need it to, as long as I take care of it. (I would imagine it could sustain a little abuse though if it happened to come its way.)
I don't think anyone would go wrong with this stove. It's a good weight, durable, and would work well with almost any type of stove. And $20.
STICK - thanks for the idea about removing the handle of the Kettle and storing it inside the Kettle. It is a quick and easy process and makes the Kettle overall more packable and less snagable. I need to make a t-shirt that says, "More Packable & Less Snagable." Anyway, good idea.
SMSP
No problem! And nice shirt idea. Post us a picture... haha... :)
As far as the kettle, I have really been happy with it.
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu88/STICK13/P1000411.jpg
hikingshoes
01-08-2011, 00:18
No problem! And nice shirt idea. Post us a picture... haha... :)
As far as the kettle, I have really been happy with it.
http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu88/STICK13/P1000411.jpg
LOL,I like that wood looking cup!!!HS :banana
The Cleaner
01-08-2011, 00:31
I do know one thing for sure,learned about 25 years ago. I sometimes use my pots on a fire and NEVER clean the outside.Pots which are blackened heat faster than clean ones.You just have to have some kind of sack or bag to carry them so the soot doesn't get on everything in your pack...
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I NEVER clean the outside.
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So your user name is an oxymoron? ;)
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/files/1/6/1/9/5/img_1301_thumb.jpg (http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=44780&c=516)
I do know one thing for sure,learned about 25 years ago. I sometimes use my pots on a fire and NEVER clean the outside.Pots which are blackened heat faster than clean ones.You just have to have some kind of sack or bag to carry them so the soot doesn't get on everything in your pack...
same.i keep my in a gallon ziploc bag and just make sure it cools off before stowing it...