What's the Best Alcohol for Stove Fuel?

[Hikin_Jim]

A lot of people are going ultralight these days, and frequently that includes trying out an alcohol stove. In this week's blog post, I try to answer "What's the Best Alcohol for Stove Fuel?"

HJ

[phydeux]

Not to get too picky here, but in the interest of preventing someone from trying to drink it, all 'lab-grade' ethanol that I;ve ever worked with is denatured alcohol, and is typically denatured with 5% - 50% methanol (sometime a little MEK or MBK, too) to make it poisonous so you can't drink it. What you're probably thinking about is 'medical/USP grade' alcohol, or 'food grade' alcohol, which is ethanol spiked with a little bit of water that can be used as a food or pharmaceutical additive.

[Florian]

I made an alcohol stove once. Was surprised how sooty it made my pot. Never used it again.

-Florian

[Hikin_Jim]

Not to get too picky here, but in the interest of preventing someone from trying to drink it, all 'lab-grade' ethanol that I;ve ever worked with is denatured alcohol, and is typically denatured with 5% - 50% methanol (sometime a little MEK or MBK, too) to make it poisonous so you can't drink it. What you're probably thinking about is 'medical/USP grade' alcohol, or 'food grade' alcohol, which is ethanol spiked with a little bit of water that can be used as a food or pharmaceutical additive.

I think it's a pretty good idea to check the MSDS any time you consider imbibing anything not intended for human consumption. Drinking denatured alcohol can lead to blindness and death.

HJ

[Hikin_Jim]

I made an alcohol stove once. Was surprised how sooty it made my pot. Never used it again.

-Florian

What kind of alcohol were you using? Sounds like you might have been using isopropanol.

HJ