How much cooking fuel?

[USMCret]

How much jet boil fuel do you carry on your hunt, I’m always taking to much for fear of running out. What sizes and how many do you take for say a 10 day Alaskan hunt. Have you ever counted how many boils you end up doing?

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

How much jet boil fuel do you carry on your hunt, I’m always taking to much for fear of running out. What sizes and how many do you take for say a 10 day Alaskan hunt. Have you ever counted how many boils you end up doing?

How many boils do You do? Thats the important question.

Myself I only boil 6 oz in the morning for coffee and 14 oz at night for a freeze dried meal and a drink.
I can make a small (3.9 oz or 110 gram) canister last for 6 days.

Determine how many boils you need. Then, grab a full canister and a digital scale. Use the pot and stove you take hunting and do some boils outside at your house.. You can weigh the canister after a boil and see how many grams of fuel are used. Extrapolate from there. Any other advice that doesnt use that as a metric is not applicable to your own situation.

 

[ozyclint]

In NZ tahr hunting I use 1x 110 gram in 10 days. 3-4 boils per day. I take 2 110gram canisters for 12 days.

 

[PoniBoy]

I usually boil twice a day, coffee and a hot meal for dinner. A small 3.5oz canister usually lasts me a couple 3 day trips. I’m usually above 7K feet elevation.

Good article below on how to plan:

https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/how-much-stove-fuel-should-i-take-on-my-backpacking-trip.html

 

[eamyrick]

Went on an 8 night bear hunt in Alaska last year. I’m a coffee and warm broth hound. 2 boils in the morning for coffee and one in the afternoon. Another dinner boil. I finished a medium. Some learning lessons are that for coffee it does not have to boil with instant coffee. Hot is fine and that saves gas. Also there are a few non negotiables for me that I don’t care about the extra lb total:
Socks
Stove gas
Coffee
Wet wipes

 

[Mike Islander]

For MSR IsoPro canisters, here are the weights and boil estimates at ~3000 feet elevation (slightly less efficient than sea level):

MSR 4 oz / 110 g Canister
Full weight: ~210 g (7.4 oz)

Fuel weight: 110 g (3.9 oz)

Approx. boils:

~12 liters of water

~24 boils (0.5 L or ~2 cups each)

Burn time: ~60 minutes

MSR 8 oz / 227 g Canister
Full weight: ~390 g (13.8 oz)

Fuel weight: 227 g (8.0 oz)

Approx. boils:

~25 liters of water

~50 boils (0.5 L each)

Burn time: ~120 minutes

Assumptions:
Using an efficient stove like the MSR PocketRocket 2

Ambient temps above freezing

~4g of fuel per 0.5 L boil under typical conditions

 

[TaperPin]

I probably pack more than twice as much fuel as many. One trip having to rely on chemical treatment of water was all I care to do. Maybe my taste buds are overly sensitive, but extra fuel is now my water filter backup for enough water to last a good portion of a trip if need be.

This also takes care of the risk of being unlucky enough to get a leaky canister valve - the only time it happened was on a short trip and was nothing more than inconvenient, but had it happen on a long trip I’d get grouchy. Then there’s the risk when hunting with others that seem to pay less attention to reliable equipment and double checking a packing list, and nothing bugs me more than rationing hot water because now two people have to share a single stove.

As a purely comfort luxury, if a cold front passes through it’s nice to have an extra liter of hot water to warm the bottom of the sleeping bag. Same goes for extra wet weather when damp clothes have to be kept in the sleeping bag to dry out.

It’s impossible to carry enough backups for every possible situation, but for me a little extra fuel is easy to justify.

 

[Blockcaver]

Many backpack mountain hunts (sheep, caribou, etc) in BC with a MSR Pocket Rocket boiling water for a cup of tea in the morning and a mountain house and hot drink in the evening: I use an ounce of fuel per day. Hunting in August and September primarily, using spring water, not melting snow or ice.

 

[Bambistew]

My experience over the last 20 years of backpack hunting is one 110gr can will last me 7-8 days in early fall, a day less in colder conditions. Thats coffee/oatmeal in the AM and a mountain house at night. A can will last my wife and I 3.5-4 days same boil times. For a 10 day I hunt I take two 110 gr cans if its just me, when I go with a partner and we share a stove its a 220 and 110. I don't' like taking just one can, I had a bad valve one time on a can that wouldn't seal. Also I make sure to always disconnect the can at night. I've had them accidentally get turned on and leak.

I also forgot my fuel one trip, that was fun. My buddy had a little to spare, but I ate a lot of cold meals and survived.

 

[Antares]

How much jet boil fuel do you carry on your hunt, I’m always taking to much for fear of running out. What sizes and how many do you take for say a 10 day Alaskan hunt. Have you ever counted how many boils you end up doing?

A few things to consider here. How many boils per day as @B_Reynolds_AK pointed out, but also ambient temp. You're going to use a lot more fuel at 10F than at 50F. Not only do you need to use more fuel when it's cold, but you get less fuel out of the can too, so in compounds. If you add snow melting and high altitude to that equation, now you're burning a metric shit pile of fuel.

Other thoughts:
- effectively blocking the wind has a big impact on fuel consumption/stove efficiency
- the 110 g cans are nice because they fit in your pot, but the bigger 230 g cans hold twice as much fuel but only weight about 25% more.
- If you use a fuel transfer valve (e.g., FlipFuel), you can pack quite a bit more fuel into the cans than they come with from the factory. Not saying this is safe or recommended, but you can do it. You'll know you've overdone it when the concave bottom "pops" and becomes convex... ask me how I know.

How many boils do You do? Thats the important question.

Myself I only boil 6 oz in the morning for coffee and 14 oz at night for a freeze dried meal and a drink.
I can make a small (3.9 oz or 110 gram) canister last for 6 days.

Determine how many boils you need. Then, grab a full canister and a digital scale. Use the pot and stove you take hunting and do some boils outside at your house.. You can weigh the canister after a boil and see how many grams of fuel are used. Extrapolate from there. Any other advice that doesnt use that as a metric is not applicable to your own situation.

In NZ tahr hunting I use 1x 110 gram in 10 days. 3-4 boils per day. I take 2 110gram canisters for 12 days.

How much water are you boiling per boil, @ozyclint? I'd love to know your secret because I do 4 boils per day (2x 500ml and 2x 250 ml) and I'm lucky if I get 4 days out of a 110 g can, which is pretty much in line with @B_Reynolds_AK consumption rate.

 

[RELIANT]

Lots of good comments here, but there are a lot of variables that impact how many boils you get from a can of fuel. Like stove type, conditions, amount of water for each boil, ambient temperature, starting water temperature, final water temperature, length of time water is boiled.

I would second the idea of testing out your stove with your typical daily needs and weighing the canister to get an idea of the stove's ideal burn rate per day. Just remember that your test conditions will likely be more favorable than conditions in the field as others have mentioned. Higher elevations and lower ambient temperatures typically make the boil less efficient.

When you run your tests you can try to get it closer to field conditions by using cold refrigerated water as the starting point and running the stove outside with some wind.

Another consideration is if you will be hunting in below freezing conditions make sure you get a winter mix fuel canister that will operate in the lower temperatures.

 

[ozyclint]

How much water are you boiling per boil, @ozyclint? I'd love to know your secret because I do 4 boils per day (2x 500ml and 2x 250 ml) and I'm lucky if I get 4 days out of a 110 g can, which is pretty much in line with @B_Reynolds_AK consumption rate.

About 300ml for a cup of tea, up to 500ml for a dehydrated meal.
This is with a JetBoil SOL Ti stove with a zip cup. I replaced the Ti pot with a zip pot when the inevitable fin burnout happened to the Ti pot.

 

[jdub17]

I have been on three 12 day hunts in Alaska. I have never needed more than 4 500g fuel cans. I am burning an Optimus Polaris, cooking hot breakfast, coffee and dinner each day. September and October hunts in the Alaska Range, Chugach Range and Talkeetnas.

 

[Antares]

About 300ml for a cup of tea, up to 500ml for a dehydrated meal.
This is with a JetBoil SOL Ti stove with a zip cup. I replaced the Ti pot with a zip pot when the inevitable fin burnout happened to the Ti pot.

That’s crazy. That’s petty much exactly what I boil, twice a day. I didn’t realize the JetBoils were so efficient. I’m using an older MSR Pocket Rocket.

 

[ozyclint]

Yeah those cheap rocket stoves are lighter setups for up to 3 or 4 days but beyond that the efficiency of the jetboil comes into its own, saving you weight by not having to carry as much fuel.

On our first NZ trip there were 3 of us. One had a jetboil and 2 of us had Kovea Ti stove with cups. We used more than twice the fuel of the jetboil. Next trip we all had jetboils.

 

[RELIANT]

Nice video comparing some stoves burn times and fuel consumption.

 

[mtwarden]

Plenty of good information on how much fuel to bring, but will state that on longer trips I always bring two small canisters vs one larger one even though the larger one weighs slightly less. I’ve never had a leaky canister, but know folks who have.

 

[RELIANT]

Yep if you are hunting with Murphy you are apt to have a gear failure. When you are a bush plane flight into the back country the old adage of when you got two you got one and when you got one you got none, is real.

 

[PanhandlePilgrim]

I love my coffee so I take 2 small cans for a trip that long and usually have a 3rd at the airstrip or truck.

 

[USMCret]

I love my coffee so I take 2 small cans for a trip that long and usually have a 3rd at the airstrip or truck.

How many days for your hunt?