Small home brew alcohol burner for micro bushbox etc.

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.

Buadhach

Member
Jun 2, 2015
44
0
England
Trees are a rarity in my stamping grounds (Peak District, N. Wales, Lakes so I wouldn't consider burning twigs etc. Consequently I wanted to make an alcohol burner for my Bushcraft Essentials micro bushbox. The grate is 4cm square & there ain't any commercial alky stoves to fit so I home brewed.

I used a copper 35mm end feed stop end (these don't have a ring of solder around the inside) as used by plumbers to blank off 35mm dia water pipes. Mine came from a local plumbers' merchant for about £2: avoid the guy selling the same thing on Ebay for £7 +P&P!

I filled this with a stack of four 35mm circles of carbon felt (aka welding mat) and topped it off with the stainless steel mesh culled from a butchered tea strainer. I had pre-shaped the mesh by ramming it into the empty stop end and pinching it hard against the side to fashion some nice folds. On removal it spronged outwards slightly but it clearly had got the idea.

The finished job weighs about 30g but in it's defence, you'll not destroy it by standing on it. The burner is a lovely fit in the micro stove and it boils 300ml water in about 7 - 10 minutes using between 10 & 15 ml of alcohol. Not world beating but quick enough for a cuppa outdoors.

Additionally, the copper warms up nicely, so if you want a longer cooking session, the meths refill is warmed nicely by the hot copper and vapourisation is very quickly established again. Wot is nice.

I did notice that in still air the flame was asymmetric in that the greater airflow from the micro stove filling port carried the flame to the back of the stove and up the rear surface of the cooking pot. Inspiration struck and I blocked the filling port by clipping a piece of thick aluminium foil to the stove front, with a small cutout for the trivet notch. The flame then rose vertically from the burner centre and spread equally across the pan base when on the trivet, which glowed dull red.

This is obviously a more efficient way to heat the pot. In a howling draught all bets are off and the flame goes all over the shop but covering the filling port still helps protect the flame and is worth considering.

I've not yet used the stove with solid fuel but I guess inverting the home brew burner will get the heat closer to the pan.

Edit: Bushcraft Essentials were happy to sell me an extra back panel I could use in place of the front panel. This should help generate the desirable symmetrical air flow. The combination of Micro Bushbox and satisfyingly chunky alky burner is fine for boiling 300ml of water for an economical quick brew in the field, even if the burner is brutally simple.

Addendum: two discs of carbon felt + mesh topping works well in the small Vaseline tins, which can be used in the Esbit solid fuel cookset and the mk 1 Crusader cookset base. Pricier than glassfibre wadding, carbon felt doesn't melt down to a stinking mess. I'm only sayin'.....

Bushbox with burner in place.jpg This shows the micro Bushbox with burner in place

Bushbox with foil covering stoke hole.jpg A small piece of foil over the stoke hole makes for symmetrical airflow in still air.

Bushbox with burner top view.jpg View from above

Bushbox in slip case held together with treasury tag.jpg Components held together with treasury tag - I dropped trivet piece twice due to cold hands when taking out of slip case!

Burner.jpgThe burner -strong, brutally simple- with two other views of 35mm end feed stop end.
 
Last edited:

bilmo-p5

Bushcrafter through and through
Jul 5, 2010
8,168
9
west yorkshire
In the Monkeyboy stove (Vaseline tin) there's less wastage of carbon felt if you cut a strip abt a cm wideand form it into a spiral 'cake'. It will stay in the tin on its own so you don't waste valuable therms heating a gauze.
Ian
 

kaiAnderson

Tenderfoot
Feb 11, 2013
95
0
Liverpool
I made a lynx burner, longest part was steel wooling the paint off. first time it blooms is such a magical moment.

yes it sits right on top, so you need a pretty level surface
 

TarHeelBrit

Full Member
Mar 13, 2014
687
3
62
Alone now.
Great idea for a quick brew. I have a Micro and will certainly build one of these little guys.....Thanks for sharing.:You_Rock_
 

Alan 13~7

Settler
Oct 2, 2014
571
5
Prestwick, Scotland
The finished job weighs about 30g but in it's defence, you'll not destroy it by standing on it. The burner is a lovely fit in the micro stove and it boils 300ml water in about 7 - 10 minutes using between 10 & 15 ml of alcohol. Not world beating but quick enough for a cuppa outdoors.

I know I'm late again! sorry
Nice little stove, impressive stats, out of curiosity 300mls thats like say a large tin mug? on such a small stove isn't it a bit top heavy? I'm guessing from pix max capacity of around 20 ml? & burn time of the home brew burner would be guessing again 10 - 15 ???

edit:~ looking again at your pix & using my computer to zoom to actual size I was able to visualise my tin mug sitting on top.... a fine little brew kit...
 
Last edited:

TarHeelBrit

Full Member
Mar 13, 2014
687
3
62
Alone now.
Finally gathered the components for the stove now I just have to find a spare 15 minutes to take it outside and have a test burn. Test results and pics to follow. :)
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE