Alcohol Stoves

OzJacko · Aug 11th 2015, 8:19am

I have only made 2 or 3 meals in the bag ever before.
In a pot was my preferred way but with the minimalist setup I use the bag so I can make a hot drink in the mug.

odd man out · Aug 11th 2015, 11:10am

so far I have been cooking in my pot. That is if you call putting dehydrated food in two cups of water, boiling it, and letting it set in a pot cozy "cooking". I could do that in a freezer bag I feel that being able to boil the food for a minute before putting it in the cozy gives more options than what I could use with FBC. Of course I haven't tested that theory so I could be wrong about that, so for now, ignorance is bliss. I agree that being able to boil water once for both food and a hot beverage would be nice. I can do that by boiling 3 cups of water and pouring out one into my coffee cup and then adding food to the rest in the pot. More often I cook supper at 5 PM ish, hike some more, then make tea after setting up camp. At dawn I boil water for coffee and eat a cold breakfast, cheese and sausage. I don't use my pot for a mug. When I go to a coffee shop with better than average Styrofoam cups, I keep one to use for hiking. The are not durable enough for a long hike, but for a few days they are fine.

wlb007 · Aug 11th 2015, 11:55am

odd man out wrote:

so far I have been cooking in my pot. That is if you call putting dehydrated food in two cups of water, boiling it, and letting it set in a pot cozy "cooking". I could do that in a freezer bag I feel that being able to boil the food for a minute before putting it in the cozy gives more options than what I could use with FBC. Of course I haven't tested that theory so I could be wrong about that, so for now, ignorance is bliss. I agree that being able to boil water once for both food and a hot beverage would be nice. I can do that by boiling 3 cups of water and pouring out one into my coffee cup and then adding food to the rest in the pot. More often I cook supper at 5 PM ish, hike some more, then make tea after setting up camp. At dawn I boil water for coffee and eat a cold breakfast, cheese and sausage. I don't use my pot for a mug. When I go to a coffee shop with better than average Styrofoam cups, I keep one to use for hiking. The are not durable enough for a long hike, but for a few days they are fine.

The styrofoam cups are my choice too. I take a couple of empty large plastic peanut butter jars and cut the top couple inches off of them, then push them together with a styrofoam cup or two inside. This keeps from crushing the cups and only weighs a few grams. I got the idea from looking at the Trail Designs cone caddies that screw together but are much heavier. The styrofoam with the two plastic jars are still lighter than the plastic mug I had carried.

Wise Old Owl · Aug 16th 2015, 10:18pm

Foresight wrote:

[IMG:https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-QU5eE2BwWiw/Vcl9RPAGGYI/AAAAAAAAGHc/-3lCeOgWXHU/s512-Ic42/IMG_7155.JPG]

This was 5 minutes ago in the adjoining office, they keep there's too neat so I make coffee over there instead near all my well organized clutter. Didn't time this one, but I brought 2 cups of cold water straight from the fountain to a rolling boil with one ounce of 80/20 ethanol/methanol (I make my own mixture here in house and the 80/20 seems to perform well :D) and had exactly 2 mins of burn time left over.

I like to make my alchy stoves such that they act as their own pot stand. This one is from a diet dew can. I have a drawer full of them because I'll get bored in here and start making them every now and then.

Well I am sure you are happy and we have different opinions. Not a big deal. side burners do not outpace burners that have a true burner on the bottom... yup recommend a pot stand....

Foresight · Aug 17th 2015, 12:08am

Thank God you got that off you're chest before going to bed.

Drybones · Aug 17th 2015, 7:16am

I never have understood the importance of saving 30 seconds on boil time when you're on a trail killing time 24 hours a day.

OzJacko · Aug 17th 2015, 8:14am

Drybones wrote:

I never have understood the importance of saving 30 seconds on boil time when you're on a trail killing time 24 hours a day.

Me either but my comments re the narrow pot and wide bloom have nothing to do with time.
There are two problems.
The first and lesser one is a red hot handle.
The second is the inefficiency of the boil would equate to wasted fuel. This would require the carrying of more fuel with weight and space penalties.

OzJacko · Aug 17th 2015, 8:24am

Not going to do a burn pic at the moment but here are the components of my minimalist system. Total weight including dish cloth and lighter is 266 grams. Fuel not included although lighter pretty full. Cozie is aged and needs replacing but is still functional. The BB stove has a nice central flame and the windbreak/stand is part of an Evernew DX stove set.

OzJacko · Aug 17th 2015, 8:27am

Mug and lid alone weigh 148 grams and lighter 36 grams.

Drybones · Aug 17th 2015, 11:01am

OzJacko wrote:

Drybones wrote:

I never have understood the importance of saving 30 seconds on boil time when you're on a trail killing time 24 hours a day.

Me either but my comments re the narrow pot and wide bloom have nothing to do with time.There are two problems.
The first and lesser one is a red hot handle.
The second is the inefficiency of the boil would equate to wasted fuel. This would require the carrying of more fuel with weight and space penalties.

I used to be hung up on grams but came to realize if I'm carrying 8 lbs of food, two of which I'll probably never eat and I always have more fuel than I need anyway, what's a few ml of extra fuel per burn going to make, the 8 oz Listerine bottle will take up the same amount of room whether full or empty.

Wise Old Owl · Aug 18th 2015, 8:32pm

Foresight wrote:

Thank God you got that off you're chest before going to bed.

Thank's had a ripping woo woo after reading that... Owls are nocturnal ya know... sort of water off a ducks back, even when bad things happen...

Wise Old Owl · Aug 18th 2015, 8:34pm

Drybones wrote:

I never have understood the importance of saving 30 seconds on boil time when you're on a trail killing time 24 hours a day.

everyone want to be efficient. least amount of fuel vs miles etc.

LittleBitWorks · Aug 19th 2015, 11:46am

Please check this.

wlb007 · Aug 22nd 2015, 11:25am

Here is the easiest, lightest, fastest and cheapest way I could figure to get a sub 5 min boil with 15 ml of alcohol.
Stove 5 grams, wind screen 19 grams including safety pins.

I made the stove and wind screen in less than half an hour.

Only tools were a pair of scissors a ruler a fine point sharpie and a small nail.

I took a large aluminum cooking pan I bought at dollar store for $1

Cut a strip of aluminum from the bottom that is 1.75" longer than the diameter of my pot and the same width as the height of my pot all other measurements are approx.

Made two 3/4" cuts 5" apart on one long side of the aluminum. Then folded the strip up and cut most of it away then folded the remaining 1/8" the rest of the way back and rubbed it flat with the edge of the ruler.

Folded about 3/16" of rest of the bottom with the cut out up against the ruler and rubbed it flat then did the same with the top.

Poked holes with the nail on both ends of the wind screen. On one side the holes need to be slightly closer together than the other to feed the safety pins through. Then put the nail through the matching hole and formed them with the ruler. These holes are used to attach the ends of the wind screen together with safety pins.

Took bottom of two red bull cans and cut one about an inch tall and the other can 1 and 1/4 inch tall. Cut the bottom center out of the taller one. Made 16 folds into the taller piece and cut slits on the bottom of each fold. I just used the sharp edge of the scissors to make the folds. Pushed the taller piece into the shorter one. They fit very loose and the dented piece is easily removed from the smooth one to recover any unused alcohol. Stove done maybe 10 minutes.

2 cups of water boiled in about 4 and a half minutes with two tablespoons of fuel and there was almost a full tablespoon recovered from the stove. Burned maybe 17 ml of fuel.

Used the pot stand from my Bushbuddy. The wind screen fits inside pot wrapped around Bushbuddy or other gear. Didn't seem to matter that there were no air holes in top of windscreen the approx 1/4 gap around the pot seemed sufficient.

Might boil slightly faster in an aluminum pot but I have read too much about aluminum cookware possibly causing old age dementia to take the risk.

odd man out · Aug 29th 2015, 5:57pm

Today I worked on a slight improvement on my current eCHS system:

My system includes an Olicamp XTS pot with lid, eCHS stove, wire pot stand, aluminum flashing windscreen, and square of Al foil base for cooking. The kitchen also includes a pot cozy, a stove snuffer, a plastic net scrubber, Bic lighter, coffee/tea cup, and net bag to hold everything.

Previously, I have put the pot on a wire pot stand and used the wind screen to go up the side of the pot. The new system has an integrated pot stand/wind screen. The new wind screen is the same size as the old pot stand. With the new system, all air flow is now forced to go up through the heat exchanger. In the attached picture you see the old system parts and assembled in the top panels. In the bottom are the new system part and assembled.

In the boil tests (using 16 oz of water), I found that the efficiency of the old system heated the water 11.0 deg F per mL of fuel which come out to 12.9 mL of fuel to boil 16 oz of 70 degree water. I found that the efficiency of the new system heated the water 10.8 deg F per mL of fuel which come out to 13.1 mL of fuel to boil 16 oz of 70 degree water.

The power of the old system heated water at 34.8 deg F/min which comes out to 4.1 min to boil 16 oz of 70 degree water. The power of the new system heated water at 36.8 deg F/min which comes out to 3.9 min to boil 16 oz of 70 degree water.

for 16 oz water	deg F/mL fuel	mL fuel to boil	deg F/min	min to boil
old system	11.0	12.9	34.8	4.1
new system	10.8	13.1	36.8	3.9

I measure a 1.5% decrease in efficiency. This may be within the margin of error and not significant (to enough data to know for sure). There is a more substantial increase in power of 5.9%. I am more confident that this is significant (but again, not enough data to do the statistics).

Another advantage is that the new system is lighter by about 25 g or 0.88 oz. Also it is simpler in that I have one less piece to worry about (no longer with separate pot stands and wind screens). Also I don't have to assemble the wind screen each time. It's size allows it to pack inside the pot fully assembled.

LittleBitWorks · Aug 30th 2015, 9:59am

The answer video.

odd man out · Sep 12th 2015, 2:49pm

Some test results from today.

I have wondered how effective the heat exchanges are on my Olicamp XTS pot. To test this I did a comparison between the Olicamp and a Kmart Grease Pot. Both tests used an open wire pot stand and a short wind screen. The wind screen shielded the stove, but did not come up the side of the pot. A taller wind screen (such as a cone) would facilitate efficiency, but I didn't want to test the effect of the wind screen. Since the wind screen was a bit shorter than the pot stand, I could use the same one for both tests. I boiled two cups of water (from 70 deg F) with 15 mL of denatured alcohol in my eCHS stove. Tests were done in my garage (70 deg, no wind).

In the test, the Grease Pot got got to 203 deg F but never boiled (stove out around 4:30). The XTS pot boiled at 4:15, so clearly the exchangers are effective. The Grease Pot heated at a rate of 29.5 deg/min. The XTS heated at 37.9 deg/min which is 13% more. Using my solid pot stand (last post) that forces all the heat from the stove through the heat exchangers, I heat at about 37.9 deg/min, almost 25% faster than the Grease Pot in an open system.

odd man out · Sep 12th 2015, 2:52pm

The one downside of the XTS pot is the weight. I have already trimmed a but by swapping the heavy chrome steel handles with rubber grips for diy handles made from clothes hanger wire. I could probably do without the mesh bag it comes in (0.6 oz) since I store the pot inside my Reflectix pot cozy.

The other source of weight saving could be the lid. The XTS pot lid is a rubber that seals tight around the lip. Nice lide but it weighs 1 oz. Anyone have luck with ultralight DIY lids? I though about maybe just using Reflectix disk that is the top of my cosy as a lid (weight doesn't register on my scale). Any other ideas?

Flarionice · Sep 13th 2015, 9:33pm

After painstakingly reading through every page of this thread, here I am, first post!

I've been amazed at all the ideas and innovations that have come up in this thread. I've also spent many hours watching Tetkoba's videos as well as others.

I also come here in need of help:

I've been attempting (mostly unsuccessfully) to build a decent alcohol stove. The two 'best' results I've gotten are the ones attached.
With the flame patterns as follows in the same order.

With the first, I noticed that the tornado starts quickly, also causing a noisy flame, with the fuel starting to boil and causing flickers in the flame. How can I improve the performance of this?

With the second, the tornado did not form, is this due to jet hole pattern/shape or a leak between the two sections.

The first stove is based off of LittleBitWorks Ultra Easy Tornado stove, the second is based off the CHP from Tetkoba. To make it however, I used the top section of the can for the ribbed piece as well as the top hoop, and the bottom of the can for, well, the bottom. Also, I realize that the cuts on the second are not great. I'm still working on refining my techniques.

Any help would be appreciated, you guys seem to know what you're doing, so I'll ask your help instead of me just wasting my cans.

Post edited for pictures

jimmyjam · Sep 13th 2015, 9:38pm

I can't help with those stoves as I use a simple cat can stove made with a hole punch, but Welcome to the Cafe.

Rasty · Sep 14th 2015, 12:16am

Flarionice wrote:

After painstakingly reading through every page of this thread, here I am, first post!

I've been amazed at all the ideas and innovations that have come up in this thread. I've also spent many hours watching Tetkoba's videos as well as others.

I also come here in need of help:

I've been attempting (mostly unsuccessfully) to build a decent alcohol stove. The two 'best' results I've gotten are the ones attached.
With the flame patterns as follows in the same order.

With the first, I noticed that the tornado starts quickly, also causing a noisy flame, with the fuel starting to boil and causing flickers in the flame. How can I improve the performance of this?

With the second, the tornado did not form, is this due to jet hole pattern/shape or a leak between the two sections.

The first stove is based off of LittleBitWorks Ultra Easy Tornado stove, the second is based off the CHP from Tetkoba. To make it however, I used the top section of the can for the ribbed piece as well as the top hoop, and the bottom of the can for, well, the bottom. Also, I realize that the cuts on the second are not great. I'm still working on refining my techniques.

Any help would be appreciated, you guys seem to know what you're doing, so I'll ask your help instead of me just wasting my cans.

Post edited for pictures

keep trying. Some of the cutting jigs really make a huge difference.

odd man out · Sep 14th 2015, 12:54am

Great start Flarionice. Kudos for reading the whole thread. I've been making the easy capillary hoop stoves with good luck. Not only is it easier than the CHS, I also think its a better design. You just have to buy some JB Weld. I agree that you probably have leaks around the rim. I've considered making a video of the process. Tetkoba is a genius with stove building, but his eCHS video is pretty short. Here are the steps (without video) I use with some tips I've learned:

Draw a line 1.5 inches from the top. I lay a Sharpie on books or boards so the pen tip is 1.5" off the table. Then rotate the can to make a line around the perimeter. The exact distance in this case is not too critical.
Draw a line around the bottom using the stack of books/board as in step 1 put a CD or DVD disk under the pen so the line is the thickness of the CD higher up. You want the bottom (outer) piece to be just slightly taller than the top (inner piece)
Mark 8 spots around the upper rim where you will drill the holes. Then mark 20 lines around the perimeter just below the rim where you will put the ridges. I made a marking template with a hoop of paper that just fits around the can. Take the paper off and cut it once to make it linear. Make the 8 marks evenly spaced across the top edge and 20 marks across the bottom edge. Then tape it back together into a hoop that you can slide over the can. The marking template is reusable.
Next I drill the holes - one of the tricky steps. I have an 0.8 mm drill bit which fits in my full sized electric drill. I start by holding the bit perpendicular to the side of the can, angled up at a 45 deg angle. In other words, if you are looking down on the top of the can the bit is perpendicular to the can. If you look from the side of the can, the bit is at a 45 deg angle with the tip underneath the rim of the can (see first two pictures below). I drill very slowly (it's a variable speed drill) until I just start to see a bit of shavings come from the tip of the bit - but don't drill all the way through. At this point your are just making a pilot hole (or divot) so when you drill the final hole, the bit doesn't wander around on you. Do drill the final hole, you angle the bit in the direction you want the final hole to go. When looking down from the top, the bit will be angled to the side a bit (the radial angle). This gives you the vortex flame pattern. It doesn't matter which direction you angle (clockwise or counter clockwise), but all 8 holes have to go in the same direction. When looking from the side, you want the bit to be pointing upward as far as possible. See the next two pics below. I think I get better flame patterns when I try to get the upward angle as steep as possible. I don't think getting a sharp radial angle is as necessary.

drilling the pilot divot

drilling the final hole
The next tricky part is cutting the hole in the top. You can see in the last picture above that the narrowest part of the rim by the drinking hole is about 5 mm wide. There is also a dent in the top on the opposite side (where the pull tab rests) about the same distance from the edge. I try to cut my rim about the same distance all the way around. What I do is to use an Exacto Knife to score a circular cut around the rim. You can see that score mark in the last picture above. You have to hold the can very firmly (but take care not to dent it) and press the knife tip into the surface as you draw it across. I suppose there is a real risk of cutting yourself at this point (proceed at your own risk). I only score a few mm at a time and go slowly around the can about three or four times. Then I take a needle nose pliers and grab the waste piece where it is narrowest by the drinking hold and twist. Taking care not to bend or dent the can, if you have a good score mark, the lid will rip along the score mark. Then just keep twisting the pliers, keeping the tip just inside the score mark. It's like opening a sardine can with a metal key, if you know what I mean. After you get the waste piece out, I will smooth it out with a file or sand paper, or just scrape the nose of the pliers around the inside of the cut rim.
Now you are ready to cut the two pieces. I do this last because steps 4 and 5 are easier if you still have the can in one piece. I just use a pair of scissors. Make a rough cut down the middle of the can to get the top and bottom separated. Then take the bottom and make a better cut about 5 mm from the line you marked. Then make the final cut, cutting right down the middle of the line. It is easier to make a nice straight cut if you trim all but 5 mm of before you make your final cut. Repeat to cut the top piece to size.
This is a good time to clean the can. It doesn't matter how much I clean it, when you cut it in half, you find there's still crud on the inside. It's easy to clean when cut in half. Also I will clean out the holes that you drilled for the flame jets. Take the drill bit out of the dill and insert the base of the bit (the end without the cutting edge) through each hole to ream out any fragments from the drilling process. Be careful not to apply any sideways pressure on the bit so as to stretch the hole. You should feel the bit follow the hole and when it's in you will be able to visualize the direction of the hole by the direction of the bit. This will give you an idea of how consistent your drilling was. Wipe of waste bits from both the inside and outside of the holes after cleaning them. Repeat if necessary.
The last tricky part is making the dents. I use a triangular engineer's scale.

I hold the can in my left hand with my index finger sticking through the hole you cut in the top. The finger lies on the inside surface of the can along the line where the dent is going to be made. I then put the edge of the ruler on the outside of the can opposite of the finger. The end of the ruler should be at the top of the flat edge of the can, just below the indentation below the rim that make the hoop. Put your right thumb on top of the ruler and your right index finger underneath your left index finger and pinch with your right hand to dent the can. I find it works better to make a slow steady squeeze rather than to do it fast and hard. If you have a rough or sharp edge where you cut the top off you are very likely to cut your left index finger (ouch). Do this 20 times around the perimeter of the can. After making the first dents I will go around and re-dent ones that look smaller than the rest to get the corrugation around the bottom edge fairly even.
Now you cut the notches for the tabs around the bottom of the inner piece. I just use a scissors and snip about 1 cm up from the bottom along each dent. You can mark 1 cm up with your sharpie if you want a cutting guide, or just do it by eye and by feel. I sometimes break off one tab to give you a place to recover unburned fuel. Bend the tabs inward slightly to facilitate assembly.
Before final assembly, I will give the two pieces one last cleaning. Rinsing them with alcohol will remove the ink from lines you drew at the beginning. If you don't do this, you will probably notice the ink in your alcohol when you do your first few burn tests. I don't think it hurts, but if you don't want colored alcohol, clean it now.
You are now ready for the assembly. Don't rush this. It sucks to ruin all this work by bending or ripping your can when putting it together. Insert the inner part gradually taking care to keep the two parts aligned. If one is crooked it will bend or rip the other. I find twisting a bit helps. Once it gets started, they should go together pretty easily. Push the inner piece down until the tabs just reach the bottom, then use your finger to push the tabs down so they rest in the bottom of the ridge around the base. Once all tabs are aligned, push the inner piece all the way down.
At this point you should observe that the top of the outer piece extends about a mm above the top of the inner piece (by the thickness of the CD you used when marking your pieces in step 2). This is going to give you a ledge to apply the JB Weld. Put equal amounts of the two JB Weld components on a piece of scrap aluminum foil. You don't need much - each dab about the size of a navy bean. Mix them together. I use the pointy tip of a disposable bamboo skewer from the kitchen. When mixed to homogeneous grey color, dab a tiny bit in the gap between the inner and outer piece. I try to get a bead that goes from the top of the outer piece to just covering the top edge of the inner piece. But obviously you don't want any weld on the jet holes. Also avoid stuffing weld down into the gap where the hoop is.
Let the JB Weld cure for 24 hours. I know you are anxious, but I have never rushed the curing process. you don't want leaks.
Test the stove.

Let me know if you need clarifications or more pictures.

Drybones · Sep 14th 2015, 8:45am

Flarionice wrote:

After painstakingly reading through every page of this thread, here I am, first post!

I've been amazed at all the ideas and innovations that have come up in this thread. I've also spent many hours watching Tetkoba's videos as well as others.

I also come here in need of help:

I've been attempting (mostly unsuccessfully) to build a decent alcohol stove. The two 'best' results I've gotten are the ones attached.
With the flame patterns as follows in the same order.

With the first, I noticed that the tornado starts quickly, also causing a noisy flame, with the fuel starting to boil and causing flickers in the flame. How can I improve the performance of this?

With the second, the tornado did not form, is this due to jet hole pattern/shape or a leak between the two sections.

The first stove is based off of LittleBitWorks Ultra Easy Tornado stove, the second is based off the CHP from Tetkoba. To make it however, I used the top section of the can for the ribbed piece as well as the top hoop, and the bottom of the can for, well, the bottom. Also, I realize that the cuts on the second are not great. I'm still working on refining my techniques.

Any help would be appreciated, you guys seem to know what you're doing, so I'll ask your help instead of me just wasting my cans.

Post edited for pictures

Welcome!...........if you haven't already, you might want to check out zenstoves.com..............

Flarionice · Sep 14th 2015, 10:46am

Thanks for the help, guys. ODO, that process is basically how I went about making mine. The major difference being my cutting method for the top, which had about as much finesse as a caveman. The engineer's triangle scale definitely works the best for making the indents.

Also, might be a small detail, but for my CHS, I used 7 jets and 18 creases, this should not make a huge different, correct?

I'll probably run off to Home Depot today to pick up some JB Weld and see if that makes a difference. Either way, I'm probably going to end up trying to make another, probably today or tomorrow. So after letting the JB Weld cure and the next stove being built, I shall return with more test results.

odd man out · Sep 14th 2015, 12:20pm

I've never done a systematic test of the number of creases or jets. I have just now gotten to the point where I can consistently make stoves with reproducible performance. Now that I can, I could do some of those tests. I would guess that the number of jets may have more effect than the number of creases, but that is just a gut feeling. But because I'm really happy with the way my current stove performs, I'm not feeling a need to do too much fiddling. I don't necessarily want it to be more powerful as this might induce more scorching of food on the bottom of the pot. The way it works no I light up my stove and then start digging through my pack for the day's meal bag. By the time I get it out, the water is just about to boil, so for me, faster boils doesn't really help. Also I will boil my food in the pot for maybe a minute to get it to rehydrate faster. A more powerful stove is likely to just boil over at this point. It takes less than 2 min to boil water for coffee or tea - about the time I might take getting the coffee or tea out of the food bag. At 13 mL of fuel to boil 2 cups of water, I doubt I can gain any efficiency. I could use a lighter pot, but then efficiency would suffer unless I went to a more sophisticated wind screen. I like the durability, anodized surface, dimensions and handle on the Olicamp Pot. Would hate to give those up to save an oz or two.

Wise Old Owl · Oct 11th 2015, 8:56pm

Good to know

minus1psi · Feb 2nd 2016, 7:35pm

Hello!

I am brand new to this forum and to alcohol stoves; research led here from one or more of Tetkoba's videos.

After some trial-and-error I made a stove that basically has no superlatives, not that it sucks either. It is a fun little stove that does not take a ton of skill to make.

It is made from a V8 Energy can and a Milo can. Birdbrain wrote about making a stove from these exact cans, so this may be old hat to you guys.

I happened across the combination while seeking something to stretch out the bottom of a V8 Energy can. The Milo fit tightly but did not stretch the V8. That is the reason I thought it might be of interest to others. The outside of the Milo can is a near perfect zero tolerance fit for the inside of the V8 Energy can. It is a snug fit but does not require any modification to either can. Just line the cans up and ta-da. I am sure that you talented makers can/have done more with this than I ever will.

The stove is basically a run-of-the-mill soda can stove design with a wall in the middle and jets on top. Unlike traditional soda can stoves the wall is close to the outer edge - about 2mm on average and that space is stuffed with wicking. The narrow spacing is because of the design of the V8 Energy can. I stuffed it with tufts of carbon felt because a regular piece of the felt was too thick. Between the wicking of the felt and the narrow space, the burner blooms quickly. With the extra wall and the wicking it is still under 10 grams on our kitchen scale.

The inner cylinder is made from two pieces of aluminum. One piece came from a Coke can with a name on it -- only this time the name was "Bro", which just seemed like fun. I cut and stapled another piece of some can to complete the cylinder.

The Bro Stove seems to put out a lot of heat but goes through fuel quickly, burning only 6 to 7 mins on an ounce of denatured alcohol. That has been plenty of time to boil two cups of water.

Performance data:
This is not exactly ultralight territory but its what I have. The pot stand was a titanium stove from Firebox Stoves . The boil took place indoors in our basement. An ordinary kitchen kettle containing two cups of 62-degree-F water was placed above the flame 15 seconds after lighting the burner. The burner bloomed in 10 seconds and burned for 5 additional seconds before the kettle was placed on the Firebox. The water reached a rolling boil right at 4:30 after lighting (roughly 4:15 after the kettle was placed above the stove). The ounce of fuel burned out 6:45 after lighting. The flame burns yellow at first then turns blue near the end. My guess is that has something to do with the carbon felt.

Astro · Feb 2nd 2016, 11:14pm

Glad to have you in the Cafe Minus1psi ! :thumbup:

Hang around, share a little, learn a little, and have a great time.

WanderingStovie · Feb 3rd 2016, 1:30pm

Welcome Minus1psi. Thanks for sharing. That is a great first stove.

If you reduce the gap between the stove and the pot, does it burn slower? Your design might be somewhat adjustable if you put a spacer under the burner.

Tell us more please. 16 holes? 1/32" holes?

Socks · Feb 3rd 2016, 3:08pm

minus1psi wrote:

Hello!

I am brand new to this forum and to alcohol stoves; research led here from one or more of Tetkoba's videos.

After some trial-and-error I made a stove that basically has no superlatives, not that it sucks either. It is a fun little stove that does not take a ton of skill to make.

It is made from a V8 Energy can and a Milo can. Birdbrain wrote about making a stove from these exact cans, so this may be old hat to you guys.

I happened across the combination while seeking something to stretch out the bottom of a V8 Energy can. The Milo fit tightly but did not stretch the V8. That is the reason I thought it might be of interest to others. The outside of the Milo can is a near perfect zero tolerance fit for the inside of the V8 Energy can. It is a snug fit but does not require any modification to either can. Just line the cans up and ta-da. I am sure that you talented makers can/have done more with this than I ever will.

The stove is basically a run-of-the-mill soda can stove design with a wall in the middle and jets on top. Unlike traditional soda can stoves the wall is close to the outer edge - about 2mm on average and that space is stuffed with wicking. The narrow spacing is because of the design of the V8 Energy can. I stuffed it with tufts of carbon felt because a regular piece of the felt was too thick. Between the wicking of the felt and the narrow space, the burner blooms quickly. With the extra wall and the wicking it is still under 10 grams on our kitchen scale.

The inner cylinder is made from two pieces of aluminum. One piece came from a Coke can with a name on it -- only this time the name was "Bro", which just seemed like fun. I cut and stapled another piece of some can to complete the cylinder.

The Bro Stove seems to put out a lot of heat but goes through fuel quickly, burning only 6 to 7 mins on an ounce of denatured alcohol. That has been plenty of time to boil two cups of water.

Performance data:
This is not exactly ultralight territory but its what I have. The pot stand was a titanium stove from Firebox Stoves . The boil took place indoors in our basement. An ordinary kitchen kettle containing two cups of 62-degree-F water was placed above the flame 15 seconds after lighting the burner. The burner bloomed in 10 seconds and burned for 5 additional seconds before the kettle was placed on the Firebox. The water reached a rolling boil right at 4:30 after lighting (roughly 4:15 after the kettle was placed above the stove). The ounce of fuel burned out 6:45 after lighting. The flame burns yellow at first then turns blue near the end. My guess is that has something to do with the carbon felt.

Nice job "Bro" :thumbup:

minus1psi · Feb 6th 2016, 12:41am

Astro, WanderingStovie, and Socks, et al,

Thank you for the welcome; I didn't realize anyone had replied!

@WanderingStovie I'll run a couple of tests over the weekend to get a sense of the change in performance that comes with varying the distance between the burner and the bottom of the pot.

Here is a pic of the set-up used for the initial test. I love the flexibility of the Firebox woodstove and plan to keep using it as a pot stand. I can scare up a different pot for the water.

Although not very experienced the little bro stove is not my first. In addition to it I've built a run-of-mill double wall soda can stove that takes a long time to bloom, two or three eFrevo's, and Hiram Cook's variant of the Fancy Feast stove.

This particular stove has holes that were made with a bit that is about .4mm in diameter. If my math is correct that is very close to 1/64 inch. The bit was chosen more-or-less randomly from some small bits that came with a pin vise. These holes were drilled using a Dremel tool not the pin vise. There are 18 of them. The holes are spaced 1cm apart with the last hole (visible near the 6:00 position) having different spacing. I wasn't too lazy to do the math to make the spacing perfectly even, but I was too lazy to count millimeters all of the way around. I just taped a paper measuring tape from Ikea to the can and marked 1cm divisions. Maybe for the next one I'll up my game and try for perfectly even spacing. At the bottom of the inner wallthere are 3 holes of the same size plus a small slot about 1mm wide and 2mm long to allow the fuel to migrate into the wicking.

--

Almost 2 years ago Birdbrain asked if the top rims touch on the Milo cans.
(Alcohol Stoves)

I discovered Milo cans by accident at a local Asian grocery store and brought some home to see how they compared to RedBull cans. I am sure BB figured at the spacing at the top but for anyone who might be interested here is a pic. The Milo is the can that fits perfectly inside of the V8 Energy - at least it does if the paint is sanded off.

minus1psi · Feb 6th 2016, 12:49am

More details...

It is hard to get a sense of the spacing from this pic but the inner wall is very close to the outer wall. I had to cut up little bits of carbon felt and poke them in using a letter opener.

The pic below shows the plan that didn't work. The piece of felt was too thick to fit even with stretching and compression.

Traffic Jam · Feb 6th 2016, 7:54am

minus1psi wrote:

Astro, WanderingStovie, and Socks, et al,

Thank you for the welcome; I didn't realize anyone had replied!

@WanderingStovie I'll run a couple of tests over the weekend to get a sense of the change in performance that comes with varying the distance between the burner and the bottom of the pot.

Here is a pic of the set-up used for the initial test. I love the flexibility of the Firebox woodstove and plan to keep using it as a pot stand. I can scare up a different pot for the water.

Although not very experienced the little bro stove is not my first. In addition to it I've built a run-of-mill double wall soda can stove that takes a long time to bloom, two or three eFrevo's, and Hiram Cook's variant of the Fancy Feast stove.

This particular stove has holes that were made with a bit that is about .4mm in diameter. If my math is correct that is very close to 1/64 inch. The bit was chosen more-or-less randomly from some small bits that came with a pin vise. These holes were drilled using a Dremel tool not the pin vise. There are 18 of them. The holes are spaced 1cm apart with the last hole (visible near the 6:00 position) having different spacing. I wasn't too lazy to do the math to make the spacing perfectly even, but I was too lazy to count millimeters all of the way around. I just taped a paper measuring tape from Ikea to the can and marked 1cm divisions. Maybe for the next one I'll up my game and try for perfectly even spacing. At the bottom of the inner wallthere are 3 holes of the same size plus a small slot about 1mm wide and 2mm long to allow the fuel to migrate into the wicking.

--

That is a very pretty bloom.

Drybones · Mar 6th 2016, 1:09pm

Here are two stoves I made, they are upside down to show the numbers on the bottom, lower number is rolling boil time, larger number is total burn time for two cups of water from the tap using one ounce of fuel...the pots look much larger than they are due to the way the photo was taken.

WanderingStovie · Mar 6th 2016, 2:46pm

Drybones wrote:

Here are two stoves I made, they are upside down to show the numbers on the bottom, lower number is rolling boil time, larger number is total burn time for two cups of water from the tap using one ounce of fuel...the pots look much larger than they are due to the way the photo was taken.

Looks simple and light.

WanderingStovie · Apr 20th 2016, 2:13pm

I found a good can for making the CHS - Jose Cuervo Margarita in 200 ml cans.

shop.iowaabd.com/jose-cuervo-a…c-lime-margarita-4pk-cans

WanderingStovie · Apr 30th 2016, 9:22pm

Wise Old Owl wrote:

BirdBrain wrote:

stoviewander wrote:

Here is the latest version of the CHS-Unorthodox.

The burner is now 1 11/16" tall. The outer can bottom was about 45 mm before I folded down the edge, vs. 50 mm for the previous version. The can top has 13 grooves instead of 8, and the tabs are smaller. I cut 10 mm from the bottom of a second can, drilled eight holes 1/32" in diameter, and filed it according to the video instructions.

I have not tested it yet.

I like the CHS-U better than the CHS-easy because I do not need high temperature epoxy.

I have a prediction: This one will be slower to bloom, will run better once bloomed and have long defined jets. The wider the rim, the slower the bloom and better the jets. I think there will be a point where it will not bloom as you make the opening narrower, but I am not sure where that is. I found the wider the opening, the faster the bloom, but at the cost of a defined jet. The positioning of the jets looks very good. I am not seeing much tilt in them though.

Yea I have a prediction - its unsafe... pressure can build up and blow the top as it did mine. I was covered in burning fuel... CONTINUE TO USE THE EPOXY!

I hope your finberts were OK. If not, I know what it feels like to burn my thumb and make the skin white and crisp.

Wise Old Owl · Apr 30th 2016, 10:49pm

WanderingStovie wrote:

Wise Old Owl wrote:

BirdBrain wrote:

stoviewander wrote:

Here is the latest version of the CHS-Unorthodox.

The burner is now 1 11/16" tall. The outer can bottom was about 45 mm before I folded down the edge, vs. 50 mm for the previous version. The can top has 13 grooves instead of 8, and the tabs are smaller. I cut 10 mm from the bottom of a second can, drilled eight holes 1/32" in diameter, and filed it according to the video instructions.

I have not tested it yet.

I like the CHS-U better than the CHS-easy because I do not need high temperature epoxy.

I have a prediction: This one will be slower to bloom, will run better once bloomed and have long defined jets. The wider the rim, the slower the bloom and better the jets. I think there will be a point where it will not bloom as you make the opening narrower, but I am not sure where that is. I found the wider the opening, the faster the bloom, but at the cost of a defined jet. The positioning of the jets looks very good. I am not seeing much tilt in them though.

Yea I have a prediction - its unsafe... pressure can build up and blow the top as it did mine. I was covered in burning fuel... CONTINUE TO USE THE EPOXY!

I hope your finberts were OK. If not, I know what it feels like to burn my thumb and make the skin white and crisp.

Silent deadly alcohol burning on both shoulders.... Lost a shirt, I had a hat and safety goggles...First degree burns.

WanderingStovie · May 6th 2016, 3:00pm

Wise Old Owl wrote:

WanderingStovie wrote:

Wise Old Owl wrote:

BirdBrain wrote:

stoviewander wrote:

Here is the latest version of the CHS-Unorthodox.

The burner is now 1 11/16" tall. The outer can bottom was about 45 mm before I folded down the edge, vs. 50 mm for the previous version. The can top has 13 grooves instead of 8, and the tabs are smaller. I cut 10 mm from the bottom of a second can, drilled eight holes 1/32" in diameter, and filed it according to the video instructions.

I have not tested it yet.

I like the CHS-U better than the CHS-easy because I do not need high temperature epoxy.

I have a prediction: This one will be slower to bloom, will run better once bloomed and have long defined jets. The wider the rim, the slower the bloom and better the jets. I think there will be a point where it will not bloom as you make the opening narrower, but I am not sure where that is. I found the wider the opening, the faster the bloom, but at the cost of a defined jet. The positioning of the jets looks very good. I am not seeing much tilt in them though.

Yea I have a prediction - its unsafe... pressure can build up and blow the top as it did mine. I was covered in burning fuel... CONTINUE TO USE THE EPOXY!

I hope your finberts were OK. If not, I know what it feels like to burn my thumb and make the skin white and crisp.

Silent deadly alcohol burning on both shoulders.... Lost a shirt, I had a hat and safety goggles...First degree burns.

Sorry about that. You must have had just the right fuel/air mixture for the detonation, and the pop-tab hole was too small to relieve the pressure / there was too much of the top of the can catching the blast.

So - do I owe you a shirt?

Wise Old Owl · May 6th 2016, 8:23pm

WanderingStovie wrote:

Wise Old Owl wrote:

WanderingStovie wrote:

Wise Old Owl wrote:

BirdBrain wrote:

stoviewander wrote:

Here is the latest version of the CHS-Unorthodox.

The burner is now 1 11/16" tall. The outer can bottom was about 45 mm before I folded down the edge, vs. 50 mm for the previous version. The can top has 13 grooves instead of 8, and the tabs are smaller. I cut 10 mm from the bottom of a second can, drilled eight holes 1/32" in diameter, and filed it according to the video instructions.

I have not tested it yet.

I like the CHS-U better than the CHS-easy because I do not need high temperature epoxy.

I have a prediction: This one will be slower to bloom, will run better once bloomed and have long defined jets. The wider the rim, the slower the bloom and better the jets. I think there will be a point where it will not bloom as you make the opening narrower, but I am not sure where that is. I found the wider the opening, the faster the bloom, but at the cost of a defined jet. The positioning of the jets looks very good. I am not seeing much tilt in them though.

Yea I have a prediction - its unsafe... pressure can build up and blow the top as it did mine. I was covered in burning fuel... CONTINUE TO USE THE EPOXY!

I hope your finberts were OK. If not, I know what it feels like to burn my thumb and make the skin white and crisp.

Silent deadly alcohol burning on both shoulders.... Lost a shirt, I had a hat and safety goggles...First degree burns.

Sorry about that. You must have had just the right fuel/air mixture for the detonation, and the pop-tab hole was too small to relieve the pressure / there was too much of the top of the can catching the blast.
So - do I owe you a shirt?

Nope - its my bad- I made the mistake - long before the post - I was just sharing... For safety sake - make a solid stove.

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