Re: stoves, especially for Tomsie
Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 2:14 pm
morag1 wrote: Tiso are selling small stoves with small canisters but I'm not sure how long they last, one day or two? It would be great to find something very small and light so you could just make a coffee whenever you want
We guess about 20g gas per person per day if you are not doing a meal as well. I love instant coffee at home but the stuff made outside is (for some odd reason) horrible. The best solution I've found is a wee espresso maker. .
One other thing to say about gas stoves is that there are two types. One sort (like Tomsie's video) screws into the gas cansiter which acts as the base. Very neat but a nightmare for falling over if you cant find somewhere flat or it is windy. For these you can get (sometimes - Go outdoors had them a week ago) special tripod feet which make it a lot more stable). The other sort have an armoured tube which allows the stove to sit on the ground with the cyliner about a foot away. These are much safer for tall mugs and espresson makers. They also allow you to invert the gas cylinder so that the mixture reaching the flame is the same as the mixture in the cylinder which is important in winter.
Science alert
[the 'gas' in most cyliders is a liquid mixture of propane and butane. The propane is more volatile so the gas which comes off is higher in propane content. Especially in winter. If you always run it upright, you end up having burnt off all the propane and are left with butane which (again especially in winter) doesn't have enough pressure to burn properly. You end up throwing away half full gas caniisters. That's why meths (or other liquid fuel stoves are more reliable in really cold conditions
alert over
Finally, check the flame width. Some burners are designed to spread the flame to give an even heat over a wide pan base. Great for controlled cooking but very bad for narrow pots with handles (or espresso makers).