a boring video about ultralight stoves 

I think I'm learning that the most important thing with alcohol stoves is an efficient heat exchange between the flame and cup. Maximise the surface area in contact between the two. Either increase the area of the base with jetboil style fins or heat the sides of the cup too like the caldera cone does. If not, you're wasting lots of fuel. Half the heat escapes without doing anything. The cup needs to be enclosed in basically an oven. Extend the wind shield up and over the top of the cup. Aluminium foil flexible ducting is my first idea. Very light, keeps it shape and concertinas back down when not in use. We'll see how well that works.

As an owner of many different stoves. The best you can get is every different kind of stove ☺️

You crack me up Stephen. One of the great joys of having too much gear is the hours spent pondering do I take my alcohol stove, or do I take my gas burner, or do I try a mixture, or how many coffees do I really need, and what cooking will I be doing. Oh the anxiety of it all. And then, do I bring a pan (the answer is yes)! Gear nerdery.

Give the cup a quick buff with a Magic Eraser to bring back the original patina before handing it off. Love your content and the associated humor. Cheers!

To put the stove out just put your pot (or a lid) straight onto the stove. It will starve it of oxygen and extinguish the flame, safer than blowing it.

I’m delighted you showed this , me and my friend were scared of the Bailey burner . We did not know it blows out. It didn’t come with the crown stand so we put it in a silver folding mini twig burning thing and it got so hot we couldn’t move it. I can’t believe we never thought to blow it out OMG 😂

That is a really tidy solution. Love how the pot stand uses the wind sheild.

What an awesome cook set, I'm in the market for one for a Christmas present to myself and was going to buy the trangia but your video is timed impeccably...one of these cook sets is exactly what I'm after 👌

Stephen. welcome to the wonderful world of alcohol stoves - it is a "fun" rabbit hole to go down. I make my own now IF I need one as there are so many types, configurations, and designs, that do what you might need them to do. I have enjoyed the journey and ended up with a manufactured one that is smaller but not self-contained but can be used for boiling water OR actual cooking of food - though I do have one I made myself like the Bailey one, which is a great little stove and I use it for just coffee on the go. Awesome that Mark sent you those - great little configurations. Thanks for sharing

I use a BCB stove with two very simple alcohol burners that fit nicely. I light both to boil and just one to simmer. I can get a pair of 20ml alcohol bottles and a lighter in it. Ideal for a day trip and a weekend away with more meths. I'm going to put up a video detailing it next year on another channel

Never ever boring Stephen. I will just have to convince the wife that I need yet another stove.

I am a gear addict and have several alcohol stove setups. This is a really nice little set I wish I had over here in the states. I can piece together most of it, but I truly love the little pot stand holders that fit onto the wind screen. How cool that he reached out to you!

I have all the stoves, including one that will run on fricking Diesel if it has to. But what I use is still usually the brs-3000T. It’s tiny and light, works really well. I mean, if you’re gonna be in places where buying gas canisters remains an option.

Gas if I’m long distance hiking, meths if I’m doing day hikes or bushcraft. For me it’s all about time, gas if I want a quick brew and then get back on the trail, meths (Trangia stove) for more relaxed and chilled camps and hikes 👍🏻

Gas is the best fuel to use for camping. It's the cleanest burning fuel, much cleaner burning than alcohol (alcohol gives off toxic gas when it burns), it boils water much faster than other other fuels (3-4 minutes to boil 500ml of water is typical), it's instant to light, instant to put out, it can't spill and set you tent on fire (like Alcohol can) and it lasts for ages. And it doesn't make everything stink of smoke like a wood stove can or make your pot go black. The smallest widely available gas canister is a "100g canister". It holds 100g of gas when full and it weighs 100g when empty so it has a total weight of 200g when full. Use an ultralight and highly efficient stove with it, like the BRS3000T, which weighs under 26g, and that will be enough gas to boil 1.5 litres of water per day for at least 5 whole days, maybe even up to a whole week! And there is no need to throw the canister away when it's empty either as you can easily refill it again using cheap and easily available refill adapters (which can cost less than £4), using larger canisters, which works out much cheaper than buying a new 100g canister each time. The cheapest 100g canister costs around £3.99, and the price goes up from there but to refill one with pure Butane from a spray can shaped 227g canister only costs 52p! In fact I have been using the exact same 100g Primus canister for several years now! Now lets look a portability...The Toaks Light 650ml Titanium pot, which appears to be the pot Stephen was given in the above video, is the only Titanium pot worth buying if you are an ultra light wild camper like me) is big enough to take a 100g gas canister, a windshield, the BRS, a Forclaz folding spork (12g), a shorted plastic stirring spoon (3g), a Bic Mini lighter (the lightest gas lighter in the world at under 11g) and you still have room for small a bit's and bobs like a poly bag sweeteners. The lid goes on and to hold everything totally secure inside and keep every clean I use a Tread Light Gear DCF drawstring pot bag which is custom made to fit that particular pot (he makes bags to fit most other Titanium pots too). It weighs 3.5g.

Best ever clickbait 😊 I have the similar x-boil set up (I ALSO have that little burner with the wire stand). Ive been experimenting with a tin foil with a small hole to use to simmer the flame. Not got it quite right yet.

You're right about people spending too much time trying to buy the next best thing before they will go camping. Something new comes along pretty much every day so you would never get out there and camp. You would end up with a cupboard full of stuff that you will never get around to using. Also people have to remember that what works for one person doesn't mean it will work for them. I'm a two to three season camper. I don't mind if it happens to chuck it down if I'm bedded down for the night and I like the cooler weather for keeping the mozzies away but I'm not going hiking up the fells in rain and gales. I'm not going to be putting myself in a position where I need to spend more on a sleeping bag that costs more than my car just to make sure I don't freeze to death. Peace

What a fun video! I'm loving playing around with my alcohol stove :) Time to kit up a new one cup wonder.

Thanks Stephan for the video. My favorite stove is a titanium wood stove that I can also use an alcohol stove in.

I always favoured an alcohol burner, my mates that had gas stoves just always seemed to be noisy and bulky, but after getting a gas kit that fits inside everything like a Russian doll I'm kinda converted to gas, although still heavier and bulkier in general, I like the ease of use. I just keep the flow at 50% so my peace isn't disturbed too much.

Putting the puck up to your ear at the end was brilliant ... I'm not sure if you were trying to hear the flame or if you were checking to see if your hair burst into flame ... 🤣

Happy to see you are using the Pocket 3 as main camera.......😀

Love the video, the giveaway would be great for collecting a genuine piece of Stephen J Reid history 🙏

Been watching the burner + windshield for a few weeks on ebay holding off on getting one. Wish I had gone for it now as they're out of stock. Good to see a thorough review though. I'll be getting one once they are available again.

Mine arrived today, good little burner

Like the look of the Bailey Burner...😊

My all time favourite is my stormin normin ultralight stove. The chap that made them has sadly passed away . It's light efficient and quick. 2nd to that msr 2 gas stove.i have so many others . like tents I match stoves to the environment/trip.

enjoyed this video thank you and a good looking bit of kit from Mr BAILY.

New subscriber... actually found you through the Paul Messner video which was great. Thanks for taking the time and effort to produce content. Cheers Sel

Another great video,have used all sorts of stoves from Trangia to peak1 petrol but still find myself going back to simple alcohol stoves. Currently use a Speedster setup and am currently working out how to make a caldera cone .Keep up the good work 👍

Hey Stephen, Love the idea of giveaways! love old used kit as older stuff tends Ito be better and more robust than newer stuff. I'm a "gas" man myself (pun intended LoL) but yeah gas all the way for me. I have a MSR pocket rocket with a 750 ML mini pot that I can use as a cup or something to cook pasta or camp meals in. The pocket rocket, gas container and lighter all fit into in nicely and I don't use a windshield as its powerful and I'm usually not using it in high winds. but yea maybe in the future ill convert to alcohol stoves again as I see the benefit and its much cheeper.

Not boring, like watching Paul Daniels setting up a trick, bring Debbie with you to Tollymore next time. Love it.

I either use Toaks alcohol or Primus multifuel, love them both but generally I would use the Primus in the colder months. Having a two pot system is easy as some pot nest conformable on a Nalgene 1L.

Hello from a new subscriber, and a great video BTW 👍 Always been a big fan of alcohol stoves, I just love the simplicity. My current set up is a home made shoe polish tin alcohol stove (I have one of similar construction to that Bailey Burner, and one containing stove rope) which sits in an Esbit solid fuel stove. A few Hexi blocks along with my supply of alcohol ensures I always have a back up should I need it. Add a cheap windshield, and one of those no-name 2 piece Chinese cooksets, and while nowhere near as light or compact as yours, does exactly what I need it to.

went to his ebay store to have a look at the kit like yours ,but it was only the burners (might still get one though lol). nice to see some local gear getting tested too.

I like these kinds of videos

Eco zoom rocket burner. Heavy but i use it for van/camping cooking.

I have the 50ml Speedster burner, the big one, and a DIY coathanger stand, and a DIY Caldera cone. I will admit it's hard to get a full rolling boil but it's great for cooking and simmering. I am still getting used to how exactly long to leave it, but it usually boils within 4-5 mins.

DIY Kojin stove. Nothing else needed. Spill free, carries fuel and ofc its basically free

I just use my bushbox XL, although the XXL looks good. Having said that some people in your position prefer alcohol burners, just to save weight. If you're in to all things stovey, head on over to Kent survival gear and review channel for tips. Personally just enjoy what you do, your resident stroke survivor.

Absolutely brilliant Stephen!..was not expecting that. I'm laughing with a very red face😂. Glad you like the setup and will get good use out of it. Thank you kindly for your very funny review 😊👍

The key word(s) you used was 'for camping'. Of course there are many types of camping. Back in my D of E days, waaay back in the mid to late '80s, and again when I was an expedition instructor training Army recruits about 20 or so years ago, the Trangia was the standard piece of equipment. Big bulky, but pretty much bomb proof and it did the job. Except for one occasion, when despite having been given the full safety brief an individual decided to 'top up' an already lit stove, then throw the now lit meths bottle, towards a tent, which resulted in one less tent within minutes, and 1 x recruit off to A&E with third degree burns. The tent was beyond help, but thankfully the recruit made a full recovery together with the new nickname of 'Crispy'. Have also used the standard hexamine stoves a heck of a lot, and now have swopped out hexamine for Firedragon cubes and gel, which comes in various forms, such as a bottle, and pouch. Great for emergency kit in the car, and for hiking too. So easy to use, and non spillable. For a long time I have used propane/butane cannisters, in all weathers, with a simple gas stove, now favouring the BRS3000, together with the plastic triangular stand for the cannister, for extra stability. Small enough, well, pretty much the smallest of any stove that exists, lasts a good length of time, and easy to use, very reliable, never had one go wrong and very resistant to wind, unlike most alcohol stoves. I also have a Coleman Feather 442, which I opted for rather than the sportster, as the weight isn't prohibitive and can still easily be used for hiking/backpacking, unless you're an ultralight obsessive who does things like cut the handle off your toothbrush and obsessively weighs your pack. It is an exceptionally rugged piece of kit and pumps out a lot of heat, and works in all weathers, with it's built in feet is also very stable, and can handle larger pots and bigger meals, ideal for 2+ people. The fuel is also pretty easy to get hold of, and in an emergency will work on all kinds of other fuels, such as unleaded petrol. Small alcohol stoves have their place, and have many advocates, but there are plenty of alternatives that do many things better, and you can tip them over to your hearts content with no issue, whereas tipping over an alcohol stove once, can be an interesting experience. Different strokes for different folks. None of the above are expensive, and I baulk at the cost of things like the Jetboil, which has been heavily marketed, and saves you a few minutes in boil time. Whoop te do. It's not as if you're in a massive hurry when you're camping. Reliability, ruggedness, ease of use, value for money, should be the main considerations when making your choice of gear, not boil time. Don't spend an extra £50-£100 just because it comes in Titanium and weighs a few ounces less. Complete waste of money. Spend your budget elsewhere where it is going to make a real difference, like double lined socks or 1000 mile socks, or a decent base layer.

Interesting stuff, might just change from my 1kg Trangia. Thanks Stephen.

Great video, really impressed with the Bailey Burner, I have the X Boil which is pretty similar as well as an ever faithfull Trangia. I rarely take gas with me these days as i just enjoy the whole experience of cooking and boiling water with an alcohol burner. First time I've come across your channel, love your presentation style and subscribed within the first 5 minutes. 👍 edit: follwed the link to the Biley Burner, but only see potstand / windshield and the burner. Doesn't seem like the two pots are for sale, which is a shame.

Nice, but I love my Trangia burner.

Get the Speedster combined windshield / pot stand to use with the Speedster burner. It makes the burner much more efficient by funneling heat all the way up the sides of your mug. I reckon those 3 little pot stands that you clip on to the windshield will be easy to lose!

Grab a twig or a piece of grass and hold it over the burner to check if it is still burning. Easier on the skin. Like the look of the Bailey Burner. Definitely going to have one of those. I have recently become a convert of Trangia stoves using meths. I used to use gas stoves (and still do on occasions) but have learned to slow down and relax when cooking on a camping trip because, what's the rush? I also use a twig stove to boil a cup of water when on a day hike as its a chilled out way of getting a boil and you get to burn stuff.

Alcohol stoves ftw - if I'm camping I'm usually not rushing anywhere, so a slow boil time is worth it for the quiet :)

Mark is right. Alcohol stoves aren't like butane/propane stoves. You have to tune each one to the right stand, windscreen and pot. The gaps and heights have to be just right to get good performance and efficiency. I've stayed away from using the wind screen as part of the stand so I can use it in multiple setups. Mine is super low tech with big paper clips to adjust the windscreen size to match the pot. My main setup just uses a Trangia mini in an Esbit triangle stand. The stand keeps the stove off the ground, which is good for efficiency, especially in the snow, and also makes the setup very stable with such a wide base. It quickly converts to a hexamine burner with a round plate replacing the Trangia, which is a great minimalist build for a solo camping run with very light equipment (solo tarp, bivy, mosquito net, ...). I'm no longer camping with the boy scouts, whose lawyers don't allow improvised liquid fuel stoves, so I can get beyond the weight and efficiency of a trangia and get back to home built stove sets that can be lighter and more efficient - if I put in the effort to tune it up. I'll be able to use my dumb windscreen or a similar one with a carefully chosen stove style. But I have been exposed to the good parts of the Trangia/Esbit combo and can no longer settle for wobbly designs that let the ground/snow chill the stove. So it will end up better than my old home built stove setups. Exposure to other viewpoints is critical to real advancement. My suffering through the BSA legal restrictions has yielded fruit. There are also some unusual stove designs that may allow burning alternate fuels. So I'll play with that. I'll probably work up a convertible 2 or 3 stove system using mostly shared components. I want to have at least a super light setup with a fast start, high power and probably no simmer mode (cat stove? fancy feast?), a medium weight kit for more complex cooking with good adjustable power, and a large kit with a bigger pot for two people and a stronger stove. And of course a hexamine option. I'll probably add in a hobo kit made with tin cans as most of the build, likely able to burn twigs, charcoal and maybe coal. Maybe even discarded cooking oil. Or using whatever a modern day hobo can easily get. Should be fun!

i got a primus etalite stove. its bit over 400g. while i like alco stoves ,gel stoves, after some strugles to boil water in bad conditions which takes more fuel than u expect, the etalite makes things so easy. fast, eficient, keeps water hot for longer. for me having a hot drink is essential i even drink plain hot water on cold days. i think its totally worth it,unless you wanna go ultralight and save gramms..

Thanks just bought one to replace my army surplus trangalike

Great video. Love the chatty style you have as a newer subscriber I find it very easy to watch and relate to. Thanks.

My advice is , firstly , use a gas stove with a butane/propane gas mix as your main choice of stove. Secondly, If going on a expedition into the wilds of Scotland take a Primus/MSR Whisperlite stove. Have a emergency backup stove with solid fuel/meths with you, as when visiting remote bothies you often come across half used bottles of meths left behind by generous (some would say lazy) previous visitors. I have a ultra-light stove made from a medium shoe polish tin and a legnth of stove rope which weighs next to nothing and enables me to utilise "donated" fuel and save my usual fuel supply. Happt Trails Folk.

Excellent video again mate, I love different setups like this, question though, where did you get the clips that go on the windshield?

Awesome stuff - sold!

All good interesting. Good kit

Have changed my mug to one of those fold flat jobs as drinking out of the titanium mug was strange ( I think it has a weird metallic taste ) Would go alcohol for just water boils and go Gas for the burgers or steak :-) . Really impressed with the price of the Bailey burners was thinking they were gonna be over £20 tbh . ( might look at one of those for inside the tent ) Might have to rejoin the channel again for the chance to win your unwanted tat 😂😂😝

Is that the Mark Bailey who has the outdoors youtube channel ? Wondered what he was up to lately , genuine guy 👌

Nooo Stephen, no! I don’t need another stove or cookset, dammit man! I can’t! I won’t watch!! I’m not looking!! I have 5 already!! 😭 it’s an illness. Ok, how much is it? I’m off to look. P.s. I enjoyed the video 👍🏼🍻 Cheers, Gary B.

That's more-or-less an X-Boil rip-off....... It's a grand little set-up (X-Boil) and is my go to for when I just need to boil water. You can carry the burner with fuel in your trouser pocket, or jacket, to keep it warm, that way it will ignite & burn far easier, especially in sub-zero temperatures.ATB

i started off with the ultralight cook set ( that's only good for boiling water like all of them,i mean you could not even boil an egg ) but i started bringing my Trangia 27 as in the Uk or Ireland you will be passing shops i was eating fillet steak in a home made peppercorn sauce with fresh made chips and veg but the Trangia cook set is 1379 grams or 799 grams if you leave the extras at home ,all in. compared to 298 grams for the toaks titanium cook set. but bear in mind a days freeze meals are about 520 grams and about 50 pound in total ,if you go around your local supermarket with half that money, you can fresh veg ,mushrooms etc noodles use cup a soup to make a sauce or make it fresh bring some Ready made flour mix for flat bread ,pancakes and also you have to have the water to rehydrate . and i am sick of all that expensive shite

This ain’t a boring video!

Smaller pots take longer than bigger ones to boil the same amount of water, so testing would need to be done to see which weighs more, a bigger pot with less fuel or smaller pot with more.

Charcoal with a bunch of rocks around it and a metal grid on top ! Not forgetting to dig a small hole in the sand on the beach we are on 😅

Ultra Lightweight Wind Shield Pot Stand Trangia Alcohol Burner (good idea) 🙂

Those burners are very easy to make with a vaseline tin, fibreglass loft insulation and a cheap metal fine sieve!

He’s only got the burners on eBay now, no full kits. Any links to the full kits please? 👍🏼

Send your old cup to paul messner as a Xmas present 😁 I like the set but really like the anti spill butI’d still go up like guy Fawkes think I should stay with gas lol

Where did you get this small pot stands/hooks? Great thing but I can't find them😕

Where do you get the little clips for the pot stand/shield? Not seen those sold anywhere.

the best..... horses for courses innit. my lightest stove is about 2 gms. my smallest is tiny.

It depends what you are doing and what to achieve. Just basic alone either a trangia typ system will do most things. For more complicated you may need gas or even solid wood or gas stove dont rely on one system, you may need a combination of stoves and fires.

Actually enjoyed the boring video, even the format felt like just sitting across the table from you for a chat. I like the idea of the alcohol burner in theory (have never tried one in the wild) but I would find it hard to pass on MSR windburner type stove for speed. I suppose thats the trade off, size, weight and speed Vs small light and slow. Still going to buy one of these....cause i like gear and I like supporting the local guy more than the big companies.

💚 Love this! And don’t forget that bioethanol is so much better for the environment (what we all love to enjoy) and our children’s environment than burning fossil fuels! 🌱

Forty five years using gas so doubt I’m gonna change now. I have a phobia of leaking alcohol🔥 I have a three pot system for gourmet cooking with an MSR burner and it all fits into my stembag. Still loving the videos but worried about what you might start giving away 🩲😂

Newbie to your channel, I enjoyed that. Why do we try to find new stoves when we all started with the trangia that still boils faster than most and has already been tested to the extreme 🤔. And versatile enough to be used within any cook system. Saying all this, I'll probably buy one of those burners as I and the rest of the planet like new items to have in our collection 😅

Great setup, love the wind shield. I haven’t ventured into alcohol stoves much, the slow boil times puts me off. But tempted to give it another go. Where do you get the bioethanol?

The best stove is the one in my kitchen

Did you make the burner supports for the windshield? I have the same one but can't find supports anywhere. TIA

I like the swiss army volcano stove, it is not exactly compact but it is quick, however horses for courses, I recently bought a really cheap and nasty 8 wick paraffin stove from fleabay and you know what I love it, but it is not for backpacking so much as glamping.

Been using alcohol stove since 1979.. Never used gas, used a Coleman petrol stove once. (Utter crap)

Don’t blow it out. Just put your pot on top of it or rest the lid on top. Don’t risk blowing flaming alcohol everywhere.

That's a great setup! Wonder if Mr bailey does bespoke windshields!

Goshawk ERA for alcohol quick boiling.

Be careful brother. Alcohol fumes are really dangerous inside a tent. I'd recommend a quality butane stove if you have to close the door. The Blade II from Fire Maple is one of the least CO producing ones.

My tube isn't collapsible. But that means its indestructible and its used to carry 4 burns worth of charcoal.

What is the name of the alcohol you use and where do you get it from.

What a great video championing some UK garage gear kit, also thanks for the speedster site link. It would be good to cover more small enterprise made gear. Video laced with good humour as well, what more can one ask for?

Where did you get those small alcohol bottles?

so does bailey also do the cookset? the link lists the burner, but not the cookset, where do I find that? I was hoping to get a full cooking kit

I wouldn’t call it a boring video. I thought your own 1 cup wonder was a good idea. I like many I’m sure will find the Bailey burner a fantastic idea.

Are use petrol in the winter myths in the summer

I use gas, wood or alcohol depending on my circumstance.

Oh, and now I reach the end of the video ...I'm fine for your sooty old mug, I'm going to buy my own (a Bailey Burner kit, not sooty old things). But is Winston needing a new home, I could give him a welcome place to live?

I've never used an alcohol stove, only gas - you can at least hear when its going and certainly when its lit. Could you put it out by putting your pot on top of it, rather that blowing it out? I've seen people putting the lid that comes with Trangia stove on top of the base to kill the flame - although a bit gingerly (if that's the correct term) to avoid burning their fingers.

everyone should really make their own alcohol burners - with YEARS of videos on YT on the subject there's really no excuse 😁 aand with easy access to chinese market we have these days, here's really no point for middle man, well except maybe convenience of having it all pre-bundled. ☺️

Depends on how long you are going for and the weather and altitude I guess aha

If you were going to buy the pot stands from Xboil, you should have taken the ones out of titanium. 😅 The cool thing about the XBoil is how robust it is. I've literally pulled a car with it. 👍 The connection makes a massive difference and you can store it in the pot. 👍 I can't forget to mention that the ultralight version is still lighter than the one you presented. 😂

18:07 - 🥺

What's the benefits to something like this over say the msr mini pocket rocket and gas canister? That I may or may not have 😂