I went for a short walk this afternoon, the temperature was about -2 C. There has been snow on the ground for about 3 weeks now and the ground is frozen. I visited a nearby forest Hareskoven, where I have been many times before. It is a very popular area though late on a friday afternoon it is less so. I wandered around the area, meeting some people as well as a couple of deer, after a while I decided it was time for a cup of tea so I got my BPL 550 Titanium pot out out along with the Caldera and set about boiling some water. After about 6 minutes the Esbit tablet had heated the water to boiling at which point I made some tea.
I keep returning to Esbit for its convenience and simplicity, the ability to take it in your luggage on a plane is a further benefit. No doubt Esbit has its down side but for me, it works.
The walk was very pleasant and a fine escape from other commitments.
Hej!
ReplyDeleteAlways nice with some hours walk.
Interesting to hear abt Esbit use in cold weather. Had my doubts to use it in this season. Your report get me in mode for some stove testing in the weekend. Have to other projects running ready for test tomorrow.
1. Redbull can alcohol stove
2. wind screen for my Pocket Rocket
So added to that some Esbits test. Hope for good weather.
Thanks for the comments Roger. I like Esbit, and what makes it work well is the Caldera cone, gram cracker and a small base plate inside the cone. I used about 8 gms of a 14 gm tablet for the water so in more sheltered conditions I could have boiled enough for dinner and a cup of tea. My favourite alcohol stove is the mo go firefly (no longer available) but it is a red bull can size stove and I have used it a number of times, a very efficient little stove. Enjoy your stove testing.
ReplyDeleteFreshly brewed always tastes better!
ReplyDeleteI never knew esbit was ok to take on a plane, that's useful to know when planning this summer's trips.
Agreed fresh brewed tea, or coffee is always better. I cannot find any "official" reference to Esbit on a plane, but I know it is okay to post Esbit in the USA. And there is no mention on blogs BPL.com etc of Esbit being banned so one assumes it is okay.
ReplyDeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteThe test.s was interesting.
Started on first stop with the Esbit stove. MYOG/my own construction :-).
Worked fine for the lunch tea. Well function in -2 Celcius. Took some time to get my 4 dl boiling, but nu hurry.
At dinner time I did my next test. This time the redbull stove. Excellent performance. Fast and reliable. 4 dl water to the meal and then additional 1,5 dl to a hot cup of coffe.
Ended my day trip in darkness. 14 km on snowy paths. Lovely.
Roger
Still need to try my Gram Cracker. Time, what is time? Anyhow.
ReplyDeleteGood info that you can take Esbit on a plane, didn't know that. I used the old German Army Esbit stove a few years back as I was on a road trip with my brother to the Nordkapp, and back then it worked very well. Its really time to take it out and try it, before the big tour in two weeks.
Roger sounds like a good trip. Interesting stove test results. What stand did you use for the Redbull stove? and what amount of fuel did you use for the esbit and redbull stoves? I assume you use a piece of aluminium sheet for the windshield. Your results have sent me off to test my mogo firefly again : )
ReplyDeleteI use a simple stand made of stainless steel. Foldable MYOG construction. The same stand for both Esbit and alcohol stoves. Didn't measure the fuel in the redbull stove. I used 5 pcs of Esbit-4 g each. For both stowe I use a simple windscreen of alu foil (3 layers) with punched holes. I store it around my alcohol fuel bottle. Have an idea abt a foldable windscreen small enough to store inside my pot.
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed of the Esbit. Easy to store and easy to use.
Thanks Roger, I have found that the 14 gm esbit combined where necessary with 24 gm esbit tablets is very effective in the Trail Design Gram cracker. I also found that placing the 2 4 gm tablets under the 14 gm tablet seemed to be more fuel efficient.
ReplyDeleteThe trail designs concept on the gram cracker is that by having walls the tablets burn slower.
Your results sort of confirm my view that alcohol may be a little better, but there is not a big difference especially as the heat generated is about the same as far as I recall.
I will be out again tomorrow I hope, just to make a cup of tea of course : ).