Reviews > Cook Gear > Stoves > Brasslite Turbo II-D Alcohol Stove > David Anderson > Long Term Report

Name: David Anderson
E-mail: danderson@backpackgeartest.org
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Height: 6'2" (1.87 m)
Weight: 280 (130 kg)
City: Olympia, Washington

I grew up car camping with my family in California, and started backpacking sometime around 5th grade. As an adult I've lived, worked and backpacked in New England, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. I've also gotten involved in sea kayaking in the last few years.My backpacking style could be described as light-heavyweight. I carry the lightest version of the gear that I believe is up to the task. I will sleep under a tarp, but I will be sleeping on a CampRest mattress so that I will be able to sleep.

Over the years I have used many types of backpacking stoves. I started in the '70s with a couple of white gas stoves, then in the early '80s I switched to canister stoves, just to avoid the flare-up issues while priming. After a bad experience with the stoves that sit on top of the canisters, I switched to the more stable stoves that sit on the ground and attach to the canister remotely.

In the mid '90s I discovered alcohol stoves and have been using them ever since on trips where they are more appropriate for the style of cooking. They serve me well if I am mostly boiling water or cooking over medium to high heat. If I plan on doing any extended simmering, my stove of choice is still a canister stove. I have used both commercial alcohol stoves and home made soda can stoves.

Product Info

Manufacturer: Brasslite

Year: 2003

Turbo II-D Stove

MSRP: $50.00

The Brasslite Turbo II-D Stove is a lightweight, hand-made, alcohol fuel stove. As the name implies, the body of the stove is made from sheet brass, with the exception of the pot stand which is made from stainless steel hardware cloth.

There is a single, central flame hole, approximately 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter in the top of the stove body. Around the base of the stove, there are 6 small vent holes to provide oxygen to the flame inside the stove. There is a rotating sleeve that has cutouts that enable backcountry chef to regulate the amount of air being fed into the combustion chamber. Reducing the amount of air will reduce the size of the flame, allowing for some ability to simmer.

8 Ounce (0.24 L) Capacity Dispenser bottle

MSRP: $5.00

The 8 ounce (0.24 L) fuel storage and dispenser bottle that came with the test stove is an ingenious two chamber design that allows for metered dispensing of small quantities of the alcohol fuel.

The larger main storage chamber has graduated marking up its side starting at 1 ounce (30 ml equivalent, but there are no metric markings on the bottle), and going up in 0.5 ounce (15 ml) increments. This chamber has a screw top fill port at the top of a short neck.

At the bottom of the storage chamber, there is a tube that leads up the side of the bottle to the top edge of the small dispensing chamber. To fill the dispensing chamber, the storage chamber is squeezed lightly forcing alcohol up the tube till the desired amount is in the dispensing chamber. There are two markings on the small chamber, "1/4 oz" and "1/2 oz" (~7 and 15 ml respectively, but again there are no metric markings).

The small chamber has the same size screw top as the main chamber. But in addition to the regular cap, there is a nozzle that can be screwed on to allow for a controlled stream into the fuel chamber of the stove.

Long Term Field Report

I've now taken the Turbo II-D on several additional backpacking trips, and I have learned many tricks that have made it much easier to use. In fact, I can even use it for most meals that I never would have tried on any of my other alcohol stoves.

Field Locations & Conditions: Other than backyard testing, all testing has been on trips have been to the Olympic Peninsula and the Cascade foothills in Western Washington.

On the trip to the coast, we had just about every sort of weather imaginable, but mostly it was hard driving rain being driven by gale force winds. All the cooking was done under the kitchen tarp, which helped with the rain, but it didn't do much to cut the wind.

At the other extreme, just last weekend I was camping just below the snowline at about 4500 feet (1400 m) without even a breeze making it through the trees.

Lighting: My method of lighting the stove has changed completely since my field report. In February I got a new lighter, the Solo Candle Lighter, which has the fuel jet mounted at the end of a retractable tube. With the tube extended, it is quite easy to just light the fuel inside the chamber without having to do any sort of priming. About one out of four times, I will have to relight it when I do it this way, but I have never had to relight it more than once. I am also able to light it this way with the stove vents set how I want them for cooking, so I don't have to mess with adjusting it after the stove is lit.

Of course, I should mention that I have not tried my new method for lighting the stove in temperatures that were below freezing, where I would not be at all surprised to find that it would require priming the preheat pan.

Vent Setting: I have found that the only times that I have used the stove with the air vents wide open, has been when I am using it with my large aluminum skillet. With any smaller pot, I set it somewhere between half and completely closed. If I see more than an occasional lick of flame showing up out the top of the windscreen, I know that I have the vents too far open. Not only does turning it down save fuel and give a longer cooking time, it doesn't seem to reduce the time to boil very significantly.

Boiling: Like I said in my Field Report, boiling speed is not important to me, as long as it boils. What I really like about the Turbo II-D is how much it boils. With the vents all the way closed, I can boil water for tea, boil the water and cook two servings of steel-cut oats, boil the water for some dehydrated eggs, and still have some fuel left to heat up some wash water without refueling.

Cooking: When it comes to cooking, there are two things that I really appreciate about this stove. First, the flame lasts long enough for just about any cooking situation I might expect to encounter short of melting snow. The second thing I really appreciate is the nice even heating on the bottom of the pan. Stoves with rings of jets tend to have hot spots, whereas the Turbo II-D, with its large central flame heats evenly across the bottom of the pan.

The only issue with cooking on this stove is when a meal requires a quick adjustments in cooking temperature. Since the vents regulate air flow instead of fuel flow, there is quite a lag between the time that I make the adjustment and the change in the flame. But as long as I know that it is a limitation of this stove, I will be able to plan my menus accordingly.

Fueling: As I mentioned in my Field Report, I have given up on using the fuel bottle that was supplied with the stove. In fact I don't even use my little measuring bottle anymore. I have gotten very good at eyeballing how much fuel is in the stove as I pour it from my Nalgene fuel bottle. It is rare that I am off by more than a minute.

Conclusion

The Brasslite Turbo II-D is now my favorite alcohol stove. While all of them are good at boiling, the only other stove that can even come close to its cooking ability is the Trangia, but at the cost of significantly higher weight and fuel usage.

While it will not completely replace my canister stoves, it has significantly expanded the range of menu items that I am willing to cook on an alcohol stove.

David Anderson
squtch.quiet-like-a-panther.org

Reviews > Cook Gear > Stoves > Brasslite Turbo II-D Alcohol Stove > David Anderson > Long Term Report