Which alcohol fuel for clay kettle?

[lenk]

Hi, I've recently bought a Lin's ceramics studio's clay kettle. I did some searching as to what fuel is best use for the burner and most suggest using methylated spirit(denatured alcohol for americans). So I went to my local camping shop and got my self some Barrettine methylated spirit, they only sell them with purple dye and it smells(odor and colour for legal reasons). Tried burning it at home indoors for a while and the fumes it gives out is not pleasant. I tried looking for pure ethanol online but I think its a controlled substance and not easily sourced. I got my kettle from purple cane in malaysia and they do have odourless alcohol fuel, not sure if its pure ethanol. Unfortunately its also difficult to import to the UK. Any solutions?

[nonc_ron]

Hi, I've recently bought a Lin's ceramics studio's clay kettle. I did some searching as to what fuel is best use for the burner

Lamp oil would probably work.

[lenk]

Hi nonc_ron, have it tried this method? I remember oil lamps are really smelly

[tenuki]

Can you get Everclear 190 there? Perfect fuel and if you are brave you can even drink it.

Check out your local marina store - the fuel they sell for marine alcohol stoves works great.

[Dresden]

For my alcohol backpacking stoves I use HEET which is an isopropanol anti-freeze for fuel lines. It burn with minimal soot which is why I use it.

That said, the odor is quite strong so I don't think I would recommend indoor use.

[nonc_ron]

I remember oil lamps are really smelly

OK Plan #2, Ethanol fuel is alcohol distilled from organic products.
Get a still and make your own.

[Dresden]

As others have mentioned... Maybe try and find some 190 proof alcohol... It burns quite well!

[edkrueger]

I have used denatured alcohol successfully, it was recommended by Brandon.

[s(tea)ven]

You should be able to find denatured alcohol at any hardware or paint store. For my job we use it to get paint of certain surfaces. I've burned it before and I didn't smell any unusual odor and it even warns on the can that it produces a virtually invisible flame. (It has no dyes as far as I know) The brand is Sunnyside.

[nada]

If you're in the UK, I think you are in for a tough search. I didn't find anything suitable for this & ended up getting a friend to bring a few litres of pure alcohol back from France for me (they don't trust us British enough to sell us this stuff in the UK).

If you have one of the bases for your kettle with the removable burner, you could try substituting it for a can of chafing fuel. I haven't tried it, but I'd imagine this should work fairly well. Restaurants use it for food, so it shouldn't have an odor.

[nonc_ron]

Denatured alcohol/methylated spirit :: Suppliers in the UK
The UK's leading business search engine has found 7 Denatured alcohol/methylated spirit suppliers in the UK. View matching companies supplying Denatured ...
http://www.kompass.co.uk/.../uk/Denatur ... 136037.htm

[nada]

The problem is the smell - all the methylated spirits that I'm aware of in the UK has a strong smell when burnt

[lenk]

Thanks nada. You are probably right about non odour methylated spirit/denatured alcohol, I can't be bothered to try all the brands to find one that doesn't smell, there probably isn't one like you said. I've also thought about chaffing, popped over to pages last weekend to find some, and its about £1 each for 2 hour burn time. Thats pretty steep if I were to brew once a day. Unless I buy one of those 4kg chafing gel and get a new chafing holder to fit my base. I'll pop over to tea smith maybe later in the week to see if he stocks any alcohol.

[lenk]

Btw nada, is pure alcohol from france cheaper to run then chafing? Thanks.

[nada]

I'm pretty sure it is much much cheaper than £1 per 2hrs, though I'm not entirely sure how much the alcohol cost in France. My friend just kind of gave it to me in return for a couple of bags of tea. It comes in big 5L bottles which last for ages.

You could always use an electric hotplate though - these work well & are relatively inexpensive to run. I use one all day in our teahouse for boiling lins kettles.

The alcohol burner should only be really used for keeping an already boiled kettle warm, not to boil the water to begin with - you'll be waiting for ages otherwise!