[pct-l] RE: folding Bakepacker; alcohol stove baking; Cat Stove simmering- LONG

[reynolds@xxxxxxxx (Reynolds, WT)]

R-

	I use a commercial BakePacker without the outer ring and never have
had a problem with "This insures that the plastic bag will not hit the side
of the pot."  I would not be concerned with this. We have also found that
just a tad of flame will keep the pot simmering if one uses a windscreen [I
use a MSR aluminum windscreen]. We do not fold our ringless Backpacker. We
simply leave it in the pot.

	T-
	PS: Roy can comment on alcohol stoves. i don't use one.




>  -----Original Message-----
> From: 	Robert Ellinwood [mailto:rellinwood@worldnet.att.net]
> Sent:	Wednesday, April 02, 2003 3:51 PM
> To:	BackpackingLight@yahoogroups. com; pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net;
> ROYROBIN@aol.com; 'Reynolds, WT'
> Subject:	folding Bakepacker; alcohol stove baking; Cat Stove
> simmering - LONG
>
> A big day for alcohol stove baking around our house:
>
> First, A folding Bakepacker:  Following an idea two hikers suggested over
> a month ago, I cut up strips of aluminum roofing sheeting 1" wide and 5.5"
> long (8), 5" long (4), 4.5" long (4), and 3.5" long (4), cutting halfway
> through at half inch intervals - in short, duplicating a commercial
> BakePacker as best I could. The attraction initially was that I would be
> able to take it apart in strips and save space in my pack. Well, putting
> it together was an absolute royal pain and I began to think, "No way."
> But as I neared completion, I realized that - unlike the commercial one -
> this lightweight Bakepacker would simply fold shut into a neat,
> accordion-like package. Not only that, but the finished project weighs 1.4
> ounces, as opposed to 2.9 ounces for the commercial BakePacker with outer
> ring removed. You win both in regards to space and weight. It works
> wonderfully.
>
> So, how about the problems of baking on an alcohol stove that I keep
> hearing references to.  Well, initially I tried out the new bakepacker on
> an nameless alcohol stove and had to refill the stove several times, thus
> using almost six (count them) ounces of alcohol before the big package of
> Golden Chocolate Chip Snacking cake was done. Delicious, but unacceptable
> and impractical.  So, I remembered Roy Robinson's directions for making a
> simmer ring for his cat stove.  I got mine out and made it quickly, but
> with modest results: With the simmer ring in place (lowered over the outer
> holes), and using 2 ounces of alcohol, the water in the pot - up to the
> grid level of the homemade Bakepacker - boiled in 7;30 minutes and had a
> burn-out time of 22:30 minutes. Well, my snacking cake needed a little
> longer than that, I thought. So, with Roy's simmer ring lowered in place,
> I repeated the test, putting in 2 ounces of alcohol and getting the water
> to boil in the bakepacker grid in 7:30 minutes.  The minute it boiled, I
> took off the pot, lifted the windscreen and added to the top of the cat
> stove a wafer thin washer (weighs 0.3 ounce) that is 2  5/16" in diameter
> with an opening in the center that is only =BD" across.  It is the exact
> former "simmer ring" that Aaron used to sell with his Brasslite stoves
> (which I love, but not for simmering and baking).  Of course, the pot and
> windscreen were replaced immediately.  Here's the bottom line... I could
> not believe it. The stove continued to simmer, with gentle sounds and a
> tad of steam rising, for an additional eighty-eight minutes and twenty
> seconds (88:20!) That's a total of 95:50 minutes on 2 ounces of alcohol.
> The pot was so hot, even at the end, that I burned myself touching it
> accidentally.
>
> This says to me that carrying the cat stove with simmer ring, my 1.4 oz
> folding bakepacker, and that 0.3 oz. wafer-like washer, I can bake easily
> on the trail. Eat dinner, put in less than an ounce, and let it bake away.
> There was plenty of water left in the grid after all that time. Oh, to
> duplicate the ring in the commercial BakePacker, I folded a piece of
> aluminum foil in a ring around the inside of the pot at grid height. This
> insures that the plastic bag will not hit the side of the pot.
>
> Forgive my enthusiasm, but I had no idea that adding that washer to the
> top of the cat stove, in addition to Roy's simmer ring, would produce such
> great results.
>
> Please try this and then improve on this and make it even better!
>
>