Alcohol Stove

Common Choices for Alcohol Stove Fuel

Here's a quick list of the most common alcohol stove fuels:

- Denatured Alcohol (hardware store, paint department)
- Pure Methanol (hardware store, paint department)
- Pure Ethanol (Everclear, liquor store)
- Fuel-Line Antifreeze (gas station or convenience store)
- Rubbing Alcohol (drug store)

Denatured alcohol is recommended as the best all-around fuel for any stove that burns alcohol. It is quite cheap and usually available in hardware stores. Denatured alcohol is mostly ethanol with some methyl alcohol added to render it unfit for human consumption. This form of fuel has anywhere from 1% to 80% methanol. One trick to test the suitability of a particular brand of denatured is to burn a small amount in a dish and reject it if there is any residue.

Pure Ethanol also makes a good stove fuel, but it is much more expensive than denatured because it is potable. You can find it in liquor stores as "grain alcohol"; Graves Grain Alcohol and Everclear are some brand names.

Pure Methanol (wood alcohol) burns very well in a stove. It can be found in the same sorts of places as denatured alcohol (hardware stores). Methanol is toxic. It is readily absorbed through the skin or mucus membranes.

Fuel-line Antifreezes are usually pure isopropanol or pure methanol. Look at the ingredients of the bottle to find out which is which. You can usually find these in gas stations or convenience stores. A popular brand is HEET; the red bottle is isopropyl and the yellow bottle is methanol. Isopropyl alcohol burns with yellow, sooty flames, indicating that it is not combusting completely.

Rubbing Alcohol (not recommended) is 70% isopropanol and 30% water. It won't work in many alcohol stoves. Alcohol with 91% or greater alcohol content will work, but will leave a sooty residue on your pot and brown water in your stove.


General rules to get the most shelf-life out of stored cooking oils:

#1 Exposure to oxygen, light and heat are the greatest factors to rancidity. If you can, refrigerate your stored oil esp after it's been opened. Buy your oils in opaque, airtight containers. If you purchase it in clear plastic, transfer it to a gas impermeable glass or metal container that can be sealed airtight. Transparent glass and plastic containers should be stored in the dark, such as in a box, at as cool a temperature as possible and rotate as fast as is practical.

#2 Try to not buy your fats in large containers. This way you won't be exposing a large quantity to the air after the you've opened it, to grow old and possibly rancid, before you can use it all up. Once opened, refrigerate cooking fats. If it turns cloudy or solid, the fat is still perfectly usable and will return to it normal after it has warmed to room temperature.