>>2688864You don't have to use gel fuel in the "gel" burner.
You just need to buy some ceramic wool/insulation for $5, and put it into the tin like this
>>2687678and now you have a ultralight secondary burner, that is hotter/ puts out more heat than the spirit burner. I saw multiple tests and the gel burner is faster than the spirit burner. Trangia's own website lists it boiling 1l of water in 7 mins compared to 10mins for the spirit burner. I think this is due to the gel burner having a larger flame diameter. The gel burner has no simmer ring, so it's better for frying than stewing, so you'd use it with the mini stand to fry things while the main burner is cooking your stew. I've used mine 10+ times and there is no darkening of the ceramic.
I used to use methylated spirits / denatured alcohol. It is purple coloured, it stinks and since there is no standards regarding its composition, so every brand has varying quality. There is a chance it could be majority methanol which has 2/3rds of energy of ethanol which reduces heat output. For example I checked the SDS of Klean Strip and it says it's composition is:
>Ethanol 30.0 -90.0 %>Methanol 5.0 -60.0 % However if it's clear and doesn't have a chemical smell to it is should be fine.
I've switched to bio-ethanol, which is more expensive here at $10/L compared to $6/L for meths, but the composition is regulated at:
>Ethanol >95%>Methanol <2%The difference in heat is obvious and there is no awful chemical smell.
I know what you mean about cooking real food on the trail. That's why I own a Trangia and always take it with me. When I went on club trips people, would bring their rehydrate meals, while I'd be cooking risotto on the Trangia for dinner or pancakes for breakfast. One thing I don't like is that the fry pan is too far from the flames in the standard windproof stand, so the flame has a small contact patch with the pan and get sooty. This has caused my frypan to slightly warp over time.
