Adjustable,COMMERCIAL,ultralight alcohol stove

“http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=25682&highlight=featherfire

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“Seems like a cool concept but the reviewer didn't seem to find it very favorable...”

“I just bought one of those, and it seems to work fine. The air cut off with a worm gear is really cool. It boils water great, the lid shuts it off easily, and the simmer control really works. I cooked some blueberry muffin mix in a bag last night, using the summer feature, and it was fine, although softer and more moist than in an oven. For $30 bucks its a deal.”

“Stoves that work at 75 degrees don't always work at 25 degrees.”

“Looks like a great stove to use for hiking the AT.”

“I def would not use this stove in the winter, but for summer it would work. I don't think these little stoves will do some of my favorite food jobs, like cook steak, fry fish, and toast bagels. For cooking water, they should do just fine, and for baking they should be better than other stoves.”

“I fry fish with my trangia all the time. Takes longer than other stoves but gets the job done.”

“Why not use it in the winter? I use my (homemade) alky stoke year-round. This past February I used it when it was 0F. As in 32 degrees below freezing.”

“I have one. Works for me!”

“Did a hole in the ground, or pile up something around the alky stove for insulation in the winter.

I haven't had any problems.”

“I've been winter camping when gasoline stoves were hard to get going, and compressed gas stoves were useless. An alcohol stove would be hard to get the fuel to vaporize and get started. Plus for melting snow for water you need more BTUs than the alcohol stove can put out. The blowtorches win for winter camping, hands down. If an alcohol stove worked, I get you were babying it a lot, being very patient, and not melting snow, and had lots of time to fool around with it.”

“"An alcohol stove would be hard to get the fuel to vaporize and get started. Plus for melting snow for water you need more BTUs than the alcohol stove can put out."

No. I poured the fuel in, added a little more in the outer primer-pot-stand, and lit the primer fuel. Took slightly more fuel in the primer (full cap instead of half a cap), but it lit up just fine, no tending or fooling around. KEY is getting it off the frozen ground or snow, even better if you put a sheet of tin foil under it too. I also put a sheet around the whole thing, close-fitting to the pot, to keep wind out and heat in to get it to cook better. I do that year-round.

For weekend trips the BTU/weight argument is about even between alcohol and other gas stoves. They are so popular on the AT because the weight is about the same (fuel + stove) for a few days out, with easy resupply every few days. There are few places where you must pack fuel in to last you 4 or more days. Plus the alky stove has almost zero down-time compared to the rest of the gas stoves. It might clog (fixed with a knife point) if you get burned food on the burner holes, but that's the only field repair needed. Nice on a 2000+ mile trip.

My trip in February we had running water, but even if I had to melt snow the alky would have been fine for those 2 days. At the 3 day point gas might take the advantage for snow melting, four days is the cutoff if you don't have to melt.
last edited: 7/13/07 1:43:42 PM”

“So SuperTroll, did you get one?”

“How do you guys simmer with a beer can stove? Do you do the metal muffin tin thing?”

“The penny stove I built uses a "simmer ring". Seems to work good.”

“Nope...I already have three gas and three alcohol, oh, and an esbit....I just thought others who hadn't seen the stove would like to know it's there...”

“brasslite has been making "Adjustable,COMMERCIAL,ultralight alcohol stoves" for ages. it's not the next big thing.”

“Actually, it works superb in cold weather. I boiled 16 oz. of water in less than 7 minutes in 11 degree weather. However, it doesn't do well without a wind screen even in low winds this is to be expected though. great stove, great price. Buy the wind screen.”