I was stuck at home this weekend so to relieve the boredom I built a coke-can stove from one of the designs on the internet (a double-wall, top-burner one - the instructions and templates are at http://zenstoves.net/BasicTopBurner.htm).

Not difficult to make (the hardest part is mating up the top and bottom sections) and surprisingly effective. I've not made a windshield/pot-stand yet (I'm planning something that'll work with my Alpkit mug as the pot) so just used the ones from my Mini Trangia and it definitely boiled a pan full of water quicker than the Trangia burner and is also much lighter.

My son and I also decided to camp out in the garden to test some new kit I was given for my birthday (Eureka Spitfire Duo, Vango Venom 225, Aplkit Wee Airic) so the weekend at least wasn't a total loss.

Way to go with the coke can stove, Stephen!

I made the same stove as yours and totally got the bug for making all sorts of designs.

Using Red Bull Cans (or the tiny soft drink cans which are the same diameter) you can make a side burner stove which the Alpkit mug sits directly on top of. They burn very hot and fast though, a bit too hot (large flames).

For pot stands have a look at the trail designs web site http://traildesigns.com/

Their Caldera Cone windshield/potstand looks great and they are in the process of making them for the Alpkit mugs (which are identical to the Vargo Ti-Lite) they are going to email when they've done the next production run.

I'm keen to experiment with these Pepsi stoves, too. I don't really have the dexterity or savvy to sit down and make my own so I'll probably get myself one from Winwood Outdoor's ultralight cooking section.

I'm also intrigued with the idea of those insulated pot cosies - I've ordered myself a pot cosy kit from backpackinglight.co.uk. Cheaper than buying a whole roll of the stuff.

At the price BPL are charging, I gave Frank about £40 worth of the stuff for free this weekend.

I bought a cozy kit from Bob last week. And have made a nice jacket for my litetrek kettle. As a test I boiled a kettle (this was in the kitchen) and put a cup quinoa in the pot and covered with the boiling water. I left it for 30mins and although the water was still quite hot the quinoa wasnt cooked. I had to finished it off on the stove.

At first glance the cozy didnt seem to have worked but as the time required to cook quinoa was reduced to about half there was a measure of success. I plan to use the cozy to reconstitute the meals I've dried so I feel that it will do the trick.

Does anyone have any cozy tips?

Not had a lot of luck with the cozy thing myself.

I took one of the antigravity gear ones along on a long hike I did once and ended up junking it after about 3 weeks. It was bulky and easily damaged: more trouble than it was worth IMO. I still follow the principle, and usually leave things half-cooked with the lid on for a few minutes, before giving them another blast.

What did you use to seal the top and bottom halves together? I looked in my local B&Q and Jewsons but couldn't find anything similar to the sealant described on Zen Stoves.

I've never used any sealant, just relying on the interference fit.

Shed Dweller: That trail designs Caldera looks very interesting - I'd definitely consider an Alpkit sized version of that. How fiddly was the Red Bull side-burner to make? Might give that a go for my next project.

Commers: The one I made was pretty easy to build and I'm renowned for my DIY incompetence. I'm considering the pot-cosy option myself and might also go with the backpackinglight option.

Mark: Initially I didn't seal them at all - there was a bit of leakage but not too bad and the stove still works ok. I had a look in B&Q today but also couldn't find exactly the stuff I've seen used on the websites. The only high-temperature tape I could find was some silicone pipe sealer stuff that's rated to 250C. I've just tried with that and it seems ok so far, although there was still one small leakage flame. B&Q also provided the materials for my pot-stand which I've made from cutting down the wire-mesh cylinder from a cheap bird feeder. Seems to work ok although the top part did look like it was getting pretty hot so I don't know if it'll last.

I've used plastic padding "rapid steel" to seal the two halves.Red bull top and Heinz toast toppers bottom,I copied it from Martyn on the British Blades website.

I had a go at making the mini stove on the Zen Stoves website this evening. I used a couple of empty Red Bull cans for the stove and a third full one to expand the bottom half so that the two halves fitted together.

I didn't use any sealant and the stove worked pretty well with just a slight leak from the join - similar to what Stephen reported. I think it needs a primer pan to get it going quickly though. I'll try it with one tomorrow.

I'm going to make another one using some of the steel epoxy suggested by Marcus and see if that improves things. Very light stove though - it weighed in at only 6g!

That mini stove on the British Blades website is going the be the project after next (next will be a side-burner equivalent of my current stove).

The silicone tape seems to be working fine and there seems to be no more leaks from my stove. I just set it up with 500ml of water in an Alpkit mug and my home-made stand and also set up my mini-Trangia, also with 500ml of water. Starting when the jets were firing on both stoves the coke-can boiled the water in 6 minutes compared to 9 for the Trangia. The Trangia burner didn't really look to be burning at it's best for a good 5 minutes or so and by the looks of it I reckon there would have been little in it if a second 500ml was boiled on each.

i don't use any sealant on mine either, had alot of fun messing about with them last year,

lighthiker reviewd a few in his great blog not long ago

The sealant most often described on U.S. stovebuilding sites is J B Weld. I bought some of this at a (UK) car accesories shop some time ago, but can't find any there today.

However, if you google "J B Weld" and "pages from the UK" you will find it available here. It is a two - part epoxy which resists high temperatures.

As this thread was about pepsi can stoves I've decided to start another thread on the subject of cozies - how thrilling!

The smaller versions using the Red Bull (or minature soft drink cans 30p compared to £1) are just as easy to make as the larger ones.

I use a silicone sealant which is designed for stove flue pipes, I've some left over from a job. Good up to 1000C, so should just about cope with an alcohol stove. You can only get it from specialist suppliers, most wood burning stove shops sell it.

Before I made my own one I bought one from the States via Ebay (About £6 posted including a windshield/pot-stand) and it's just arrived. It's a pressurised design so it'll be interesting to see how it compares to the other one.

If anyone is looking for a Caldera Cone solution for the MSR Titan Kettle, I received the following email from Rand at traildesigns.com:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Caldera Cone for MSR Titan Kettle
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2007 16:06:23 -0700 (PDT)
From: Rand Lindsly <rand@traildesigns.com>

Neil:

Excellent news!

Turns out we will be doing a production run of the MSR .85
this weekend to build in the new closure and make them from
a lighter material....so you hit us at exactly the right time!
Once we get it all built and up on the web site, I will drop
you a note telling you where to look. It should be middle
of next week. Price is $35 for the cone, stove, fuel bottle
and measuring cup. Not sure on shipping at the moment to
the UK....but it will be in the $10-$15 range I believe.

Thanks again for the interest!

Rand :)
----------------------------------

Rand also emailed to say that the cones will only fit a Titan Kettle with dimensions of:

Outside Diameter: 4 1/2"
Pot Height: 3 1/2"

Apparently, MSR's original version of the Titan Kettle was of a different size.

Having experimented with various designs now I've found that I prefer the simple top burner. The mini side-burner is quite impressive especially as it doesn't need a stand however it suffers from limited fuel capacity - ok for boiling 500ml or so but not quite enough for more. The pressurised ones that need a priming pan (I use a bit of tinfoil) are more difficult to light and too fiddly in practice.

My little kitchen set-up - Alpkit Ti mug, coke-can stove, pot stand (made from a bird feeder) and windshield - pack up into the mug and only weigh about 140g. That set-up boils faster, has a bigger capacity and is considerably lighter than my mini-Trangia (330g without windshield).