Backup alcohol burner
A ~9g ‘whisky top’ backup alcohol burner is described. It can be used as an alternative ultralight way of cooking, on wood-burning stoves, when it must be used inside a tent in bad weather.
Introduction
This article is about a compact backup alcohol burners to use in my wood burning stoves. These are for situations where the weather is just too bad to cook outside using wood fuel. For example, on a wet morning where you want a quick coffee, pack up quickly and get on the move. “This is similar to the Aussie ‘dingo’s breakfast’, which is defined as, a quick psssss and sniff around.”
Trangia alcohol burner
A Trangia burner worked quite well in the blower stove, but the flame was too wide to be efficient and the burner would not easily fit inside the small cooking pot along with the other stove components.
An ideal burner should have a small flame that is focused on the centre of the pot. It should be able to easily fit inside my smallest stove along with all the other stove components Solo- a small stove in a big coffee mug. So the Trangia burner was just too big.
Whisky top burner
I found out about this very light simple whisky top burner from Patrick’s Bushcraft Youtube
This is an aluminium whisky bottle top that fits easily in my blower stoves. There is also a little space for an insulating pad to go under the lid to help it work better in cold weather or the snow. The burner is shielded from wind and the stove is a perfect pot stand. When using it in my tent I sit the whole lot in a pot or pan so that any alcohol or food spills will be safely contained.
Whisky top backup alcohol burner with chimney
I noticed that the flame was a little yellow. As is my usual wont, I thought that I might be able to make an improvement by adding a short adjustable stainless steel chimney/flame guide with air slits at the bottom. I got quite excited with the colour of the flame, est 500C on the chimney rim, and the thin flat mushroom shape that spread nicely over the bottom of the pot.
An ode to the adaptability of alcoholic stoves and cooks;
For an ultralight stove, alcohol’s a choice gentle fuel,
A whisky bottle lid makes a sweet burning tool,
Whisky burning’s expensive and non-wowsers offensive,
Moonshine’s the fuel. The cook can nick a spare Joule.
SAFETY WARNING 1: Ensure the flame is out before refuelling (or taking a sip).
SAFETY WARNING 2: When using the burner in a tent, bund the stove and burner in a metal pan that can catch any fuel that might spill.
Here is a little Instagram video of the alcohol burners in action;
Backup alcohol burner performance
Alas, all my excitement dissolved when I found that my stove with a beautiful riser boiled the water quicker, but did not use significantly less alcohol to do so when compared to a simple lid.”Not all things work out as you expect, but it does look good!”
A simple low-cost spill-free alcohol fuel bottle that is ideal for this type of stove is described in another post.
Thanks to Patrick.
Tim
