Date: 2004-03-01
To: Stovetest 2004
Miles today: 0.0

Although we didn't make it out this weekend for more hiking, me and Moxie were able to have some adventures anyway: in stove creation. Yes, as mentioned last entry, we do have a stove - the wonderful brasslite creation - but I got to thinking that having another stove to use might be a good idea. Afterall, we're both going to be waking up in the morning, wanting a tea or a coffee (speaking of which - do any readers of this have any good advice on nice ways to make coffee out there? Instant coffee is depressing after a while)... We're both going to want our hot comfort drinks. Not to mention hot comfort foods - specially after a day of hiking in the rain - so, why not have two stoves whose resources we could tap into as needed?While we haven't gone to super light-weight extremes, we certainly have made a number of concessions towards lighter pack weights with our gear: titanium pot/kettles, a titanium spork each, photon LED micro flashlights, some feather-lite thermals & convertable pants, the lightest 2 person tent we could find (Eureka Zeus) and some lightweight Marmot sleeping bags which are calibrated to comfort in the sub-freezing zone. Early research in lightweight gear had led us to hear about the brasslite and to subsequently discover the world of alcohol stoves. It just sees to make a whole lot of sense - these lightweight simplistic devices that run off of a comparably lighter fuel source. And our field tests of the brasslite have been positive and educational so far. No, it's not as steady or immediately reliable as a propane driven stove, but it has seemed like it's just a matter of figuring out the quirks - we needed to design some windscreening, as well as learn how to get the fuel lit in cold and wet situations. And who wants to be carrying cannisters of propane on the AT? Not me.Tonight, when realizing I'd like to have another stove at our disposal, I was inspired by what I've heard of "the pepsi can stove". And, with an array of empties at my disposal, I rallied up the scientific sensibilities of Moxie, and we proceeded to make a stove which might be perceived as more of a "real thing" than the pepsi can stove. We put our minds and will together to create "the coca cola stove".Aided by the acute and precise directions to be found at pcthiker.com I cannibalized some empty coke cans for the necessary scrap metal. We were missing a drill bit but a heavy sewing-related spike thingamajig that Moxie owned helped in hole puncturing. And my pocketknife (now more in need of sharpening) helped to cut the hole in the top of the can. The rest was fairly easy to do though the detailed directions on the pcthiker.com site meant a lot of back and forth to the computer monitor to check and recheck and rerecheck the many specifics. Those many specifics eventually caused my fragile brain to go supernova - luckily, Moxie was able to finish the last steps. And there before us was the result: a shiny new coca cola can stove.In the meantime, I'd had some food which allowed my brain to recover enough to come up with a cunning plan. Stovetest 2004. We'd pit the brasslite against the coke stove.... We'd measure out an even ounce of denatured alcohol, put two cups of cold water into our identical titanium pots, and see which stove could produce a boil first.The ContendersThe brasslite proved its design superiority right off the bat before the true test began: it is made for a pot to sit right on it, whereas we needed to find some heat-resistant items on which to perch a pot above the coke stove. Finding some espresso cups to use for the cause, we headed into the test lab. The excitement was palpable as we set up the stoves on the unfinished floor of the bathroom. We carefully measured out equal amounts of fuel and set up to do our mad science. Mad ScienceAround nine minutes and twenty minutes (I know boil time stats are less for almost all alcohol stoves, but I've heard that these narrower pots take more time to come to a boil. Plus, they were covered, so I don't know if the first stages of boiling were achieved earlier) the Coke Stove-heated pot started letting out steam. We had a winner. Around twenty five seconds after that, the brasslite-heated stove started releasing its steam.We kept watching, to see which stove would go out first. It was the coke stove - out at ten minutes, thirty seconds. The brasslite however kept burning over fourteen minutes. It achieved this with its sleave open - had it been closed it could have had a much longer simmer time.Coke Stove - The Winner For Fastest BoilFor fuel efficiency, the brasslite is the clear winner. For the fastest boil, the coke can stove wins - but not by much. If we're going to be making meals that require any amount of cooking time, the brasslite is going to be called into service. For teas, or for instants (instant breakfast, for instance), the coke can stove will work just fine.And that all said, I have spent too much time here and bed awaits. Goodnight!