Today I am using the Gnomatic alcohol simmer stove below left. It is available from Minibull for US$25 (May 2020) plus freight and weighs 19 grams with the simmer ring. It is just about the best alcohol stove and simmer stove I have ever owned, and you do not have to worry about accidents because it is virtually spill-proof (because of the carbon felt inside) and wonderfully easy to light ( or relight) from the top (first time every time with Mini Bic) without burning your fingers. Just make a flat level space on the ground with your thumb. Away you go. It is also easy to blow out when you are done. The one on the right is the Turbo Gnome 12 to 2o grams (with simmer ring – shown attached) – also $25.
Here I have it set up inside a Trail Designs Caldera Cone (31 grams in this size). It fits either of my two pots the Evernew deep pot with frypan lid 900 ml at 123 grams (for one) or the Toaks Titanium 1100 ml at 156 grams (for two – big enough for us anyway. We find 1 litre of hot food is enough for the two of us. Both weights are including the lid. They are exactly the same diameter. If you find it a little snug you can trim a little off the top with sharp scissors or tin snips. I haven’t needed to. BTW If you need a second plate these at 15 grams are the cheapest and lightest I have found).
You also need two eg titanium shepherd’s hook tent pegs (total about 11 grams). I previously posted about this setup in Cookset Woes. So for one person: 123 + 31 + 11 + 19 + a spoon (9 grams) and cup (25 Grams) you have your ultralight cookset = 215 grams. Just add eg a Platypus bottle (<20 grams) of appropriate size plus metho and make yourself a stuff sack (4 grams). PS: I find I can cook everything I need for about a ten day trip with 500 mls of metho. For 2-3 days I just take 100 mls ie 80 grams, a bit more for two. This is much lighter than a canister stove alternative, and you can use wood if you run out of fuel!
When there are two of us I take the larger pot above +33 grams an extra spoon 9 and the plate I mentioned 15 (ie + 57 grams, or a total of 272 grams) and some extra fuel. It all fits into the same bag. When I have the Jack Russells along they also use the same plates as above (kept usually separate)! They also have their own sleeping bags. More about that later.
On full – hard to see the flame, sorry, but it works really well..
On simmer, and moved up to the wood burning level so you can see the flame – and it would be cooler like this. A nice slow simmer.
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You just push down on the Gnomatic with your spoon to convert it to simmer. With the turbo Gnome you just slip the simmer ring over the top. If you worry about burning your fingers you just blow it out then relight it.Couldn’t be easier. If you are not going to simmer you leave the simmer ring at home and save yourself 12 grams.
One advantage of this setup is that you can also use wood (if you run out of fuel) as shown here. Try that with a bulky canister stove:
You will now be able to cook some of these delicious meals: A Hiking Food Compendium all of which you can make from ingredients you can buy cheaply in the supermarket. Tip: Try the soups, for example the wonderful Nepali Dahl!
NB You could do the same thing more cheaply (and more lightly!) with the Turbo Gnome or Gnomatic, The Egg Ring Stove ( <$2 & 8 grams plus 3 x tent pegs ie 16.5 grams) and an US$8.50 ultralight titanium windscreen such as this or this (search: ‘titanium wind screen’) from Aliexpress (15 cm x 60 cm = 13 grams) – or DIY aluminium flashing = cents, and a probably <$10 aluminium billy. Cheers.
Update: Mind you, just when I thought I had this important section of my gear pretty much ‘solved’ along come an idea that shows I can still save around an ounce an a half (say 40 grams) without any loss of functionality. See: Ultralight Pot Lifters
I also realise that there is another stove the 12-10 Stove from Trail Designs intended from the start to be used with their Caldera Cone (US$11.95 – June 2020). It weighs 16 grams. Adjustable flame simmer rings are also available for it – 7 grams and US$9.95 (June 2020). I have tested the stove and it is not nearly so efficient as either of Tinny’s, but one thing is clear: there is no chance of the top of the stove getting stuck in the bottom of the stove which I suppose might happen with Tinny’s – of course the same is true of the Turbo Gnome. Why not buy both of Tinny’s wonderful stoves as I did?
I have a further improvement which I have to wait for supplies to try out. I realised today that if I made a carbon felt ‘hat’ (itself cone shaped) that slipped down the cone just below the pot and extended down the Caldera Cone about half its height that the waste heat that is currently escaping to the air would have to be directed to the contents of the pot. Just feeling with my hand I estimate that this could easily add up to a saving of one third of the fuel currently used. I will report back soon.
The quest for ultralight perfection never ends. As I remarked once before if this keeps on pretty soon my pack will be carrying me! See Also:
