When ultralight is too light

Driven by curiosity, a few months ago I began an investigation into what new and slightly alternative stoves have been released that me and you don’t know about.

A brief tangent…

I still prefer cooking on a Trangia burner so I wasn’t looking for anything too far fetched – although I stumbled upon a Pill Bottle Stove which does in fact, nearly fit into the ‘far fetched’ category, and using methylated spirits at the same time! Its a few pizza oven bricks drenched in methylated spirits and set alight. Extremely minimal but no, not very lightweight.

Research lead me next to the EOE Kyll titanium stove which is super lightweight, 41g and with an added titanium windshield, the complete cooking setup weighs only 45g without the Trangia burner itself (which really lets the show down at 285g).

I used the Kyll stove because of the tiny weight, and it was especially easy to pack away.

The story goes on…

In exchange for such a light weight, the stove compromises in stability – one of the initial things I noticed. The long legs twist and wobble a bit when placing the pot so care needs to be taken. Placing/removing the simmer ring during use also requires very delicate hands, as its done blindly underneath the cook pot.

Its easy to tell the inevitable is going to happen sooner or later: a spillage of either the pot or the fuel burner.

Yes, exactly that: In the process of removing the simmer ring to extinguish the flame it became stuck at the back and pulled the burner off the trivet, spilling fuel all over the ground. Luckily I’d just finished cooking dinner so there was not a lot remaining but it took a while to extinguish itself.

I also had my cooking setup just near the edge of my tarp so I was able to move and hold it at a safe distance until the flame burnt out. The flame didn’t burn high or hot but if it had fallen when I was cooking in a tent, the tent would most likely be damaged.

Fortunately, no damage this time other than some burnt grass.

And so the backpacking life of EOE Kyll has ended. RIP.

Findings…

There were a few things I enjoyed using about this stove: having a smaller windshield packed away so much better in my pot; and the simplicity of setting up the system was a joy.

So I’ve modified my trusty MYOG stove set up by reducing the height of the windshield and adjusting the pot rest pegs to make setting up better. It’s more suited to frying now also. Previously the entire stand had to be pulled apart and a switch to frying was impossible. A long-handled titanium spoon remains an excellent controller for the simmer ring.