Jetboil? Trangia? Primus? I laugh in your faces!
The lightest, cleverest and most practical camping stove I’ve ever seen can be made by hand from a single empty drinks can.
Every so often, simplicity and genius are combined in a way that leaves you wondering why on earth anyone didn’t think of this earlier, and why you’ve never come across such a thing before. This is one of them.
It barely tips my kitchen scales. It requires no maintenance. Your camping mattress is the windshield. It burns medical alcohol (a.k.a. surgical spirit) — available from any pharmacy — or gas-line antifreeze, or any other highly concentrated ethanol/methanol you can get your hands on. And you can make one in a few minutes with a knife, a pop-can and a bit of ingenuity.
20ml of fuel boils a large tin mug of water in under 5 minutes. Anyone for tea?
Read Wikipedia’s article about beverage-can stoves and the multitudinous variations on this basic design.
(If you’re looking for something a little more robust, check out the MSR Dragonfly.)
9 replies on “The DIY Beer Can Stove Is The Best Camping Stove You’ll Never Buy”
Good luck with this stove in a cold, windy, high-altitude situation. Stick with some variation of an MSR.
I would not attempt to use this stove in a cold, windy, high-altitude situation.
what about a cold, windy, low-altitude situation?
I would not use this stove in a cold, windy, low-altitude situation either.
the more i explore , its driving me crazy your are simply awesome man.…Tom
That’s brilliant Tom. I have been searching for something to use as a back up to my MSR pocket rocket, if ever caught short without gas. Just the job. Thanks.
unless my Cyrillic deceives me I reckon that’s a “Gin and Tonic” stove… Classy!
Have you seen these Tom?
Penny Alcohol Backpacking Stove
Tara and I brought one as a backup and it worked excellently! It is a bit more work to build, but they are really efficient.
At first, I couldn’t see how the flame was supplied with oxygen but I see that there are ridges in the ‘internal’ part of the beer can cooker. That’s simple ingenuity in action. Brilliant.