Make Your Own Gelled Alcohol Fuel aka "Flaming Snowball"
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ส.ค. 2014
- In this video I'll show you a method for making your own gelled fuel at home with alcohol and calcium acetate.
Materials you need to make gelled fuel:
Calcium acetate (C4H6CaO4)
alcohol (ethanol, methanol, or isopropal)
Use the following steps to make a sample of gelled alcohol fuel. Ratios can be scaled up for larger amounts.
Step 1: Make a saturated calcium acetate solution by dissolving 1/4 cup of calcium acetate in 1/2 cup of warm water.
Step 2: Add 1/4 cup of alcohol (ethanol, methanol, or isopropal) to 1 tablespoon of saturated calcium acetate solution. Mix the solution and it will become a semitransparent gel. Just be patience; it could take a couple of minutes.
Dissolved calcium acetate solution ratio:
1 part dry calcium acetate (by volume) to 2 parts water
Solution to alcohol ratio:
1 part dissolved calcium acetate solution to 4 parts alcohol
Thank you for watching my videos,
Hiram
Hammock Fight by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a CC Attribution 3.0.
incompetech.com/music/royalty-....
Permissions beyond the scope of this license are available at
incompetech.com/music/royalty-.... - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
Post covid pandemic, there is a glut of really cheap hand sanitizing gel on the market. It works really well as fuel. The cheapest is the best as it has the fewest things added to it apart from alcohol and the gelling agent.
What type of gel? I tried like purelell maybe I did something wrong??
@@warrentoles3127This is the most Is phoeniki thing I've ever tried. I got all the ingredients, And follow the recipe exactly, And couldn't get it to work.
So I just left all the stuff sitting on the stove overnight, And I came out the next morning And warmed the acetate solution up and then It worked perfectly. Jails up as soon as I put the tablespoon in. I've since tried it again followed the recipe Exactly warmed the acetate solution just like last time and it doesn't work. If I keep trying it I'm bound to figure out what I'm doing wrong, But I can read English pretty good, And I'm following these recipes to the letter.
Great practical video. Thank you for the demos as well.
fine grate a 1/2 tsp of paraffin candle and add to a one cup mix of homemade gel fuel and it will pop like a fireplace burning wood.
I mixed isopropyl alcohol with Denatured Alcohol and I liked the result.
isopropyl alcohol burns dirty, thus it makes a yellow flame. Denatured alcohol burns a lot cleaner and it burns blue (almost invisible blue). When I mix it 50:50, I can see the flames and it burns a lot cleaner.
Garage geniuses keep us going!! Awesome demonstration.
Semper Fi!
I just did the dried egg shell and vinegar method to make calcium acetate...now I just need to filter it, and boil it down to about 1/2 volume then mix with some alcohol!
I ended up making 9 dz eggs for pickled eggs, took shells put on cookie sheet in oven set to lowest temp it would run for a few hours...then put shells in "the bullet" and powdered them...25gr powdered shells per 100ml of 5% vinegar(I actually doubled it)...let foaming stop, filter...boil down to 1/2 volume...then mix alcohol 2oz to 1tbl spoon of solution...instant gelled alcohol :)
Just made my first batch. Awesome!
Great video, like cheap is tactical said, it would be nice to see burn times and compared to sterno. Thanks Hiram.
Thanks for the demonstration
Great video. I look forward to testing this out as a fire starter 👍
Thank you Hiram. You are a good teacher.
That's awesome! Thanks!
Thank you so much sir
It's the best video I ever had seen
Awesome! thx for sharing!
Place a copper coil or screen over the flame and it will produce a lot more infrared radiative heat that can be easily directed using a mirror or another reflective material like aluminum foil. 👍🕊
Now this is the kind of chemistry I can get into!
Nice job. Thanks for the video! ;)
Fascinating thank you
Firefighter minion is standing by and getting ready just in case....haha.
Cool stuff. Thanks!!
NICE, THANK YOU!
Great!!!!
Thanks!
I really enjoy your videos. They are very imformative and inspirational. I just happened to come across this video and coincidentally, I recently got about a half a case of Sterno fuel for chaffing dishes from a friend that works at a restaraunt. I beleive they contain ethanol as they have the red label and use fiberglass wicks. I was thinking of emptying the fuel out and using it in my Trangia for a better burn. Do you have an opinion on this or shoud I just try it and see what I get? Thanks for the awesome videos, they have been very helpful in my alcohol stove journey, especially the ones on the Trangia.
Nice job !
Thank you.
THANK U , SIR ..
Thank you.
Hey Hiram another great video, and just a quick question, or two, for you. After mixing this recipe is there a preferred method of storage as it congeals or does it not matter much? I wonder what would happen if you put it in the freezer for a good while?
If you use tums, I recommend you burn the powder until it turns white. That way you get rid of the organics and your calcium acetate isn't all sugary
Hiram,
If I recall correctly, a few years ago you explained that you could refill a spent Sterno container with alcohol and it would jell up sort of like the original product. Did you have any luck using that technique? Thanks.
Very useful
Hi. Great video, thx! Can you assist with the specs for making it with 91% alcohol by chance? I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!
So that is what a Webber cube is! No wonder they dry out! Do you think if we mix it with water and the alcohol we can activate them again? Could you try and show us the results? I hate to throw the dry cubes away if I can reload them and make them work again, and of course sealing them in wax to make sure that they last for a long time!
Thanks for the video, I look forward to see what you come up with!
Very cool.
Great idea can you tell me the life of this in storage in an airtight container or the best way to store it
Really good video! To the Batcave for me!
Hello Hiram, What would ratio be with the vinegar and antacid? Thank you
GOOD JOB
OK, Super Video, Is there any way this can be turned into a solid bar, such as trioxane bars for camping and emergency cooking, and how would you do it......Thanks
on the old can you might need to accommodate for inflation lol
i like your little liberty bells
9:19 it looks like the flame on the fresh batch burns a little hotter, would like to see heat comparisons between using different types of alcohols and materials for the "best" gel fuel
I think I found my next fuel for camp cooking
Thx, Hiram - I appreciate your clear instructions.🏕
Thank you for the kind words.
@@MrHiramCook omg Hiram is it really you? I'm so glad the algorythm popped this video into my home page. Nobody else can take your place!!! I'm pretty home bound these days, so I've had to resort to backyard camping. Your vids are awesome!!!
Bro, have you ever extracted oxytocin from ergot?@@MrHiramCook
@@MrHiramCookBro, have you ever extracted oxytocin?
@@MrHiramCookBro, have you ever extracted oxytocin?
Very cool to know
Whats your ratio for making calcium acetate with the antacid tabs and vinegar?
Isopropyl alcohol works well too! Easy to make the acetate - just a little time consuming - egg shells, Natural chalk and spirit vinegar - then filter and reduce to a powder - - 1 part acetate salt to 3 parts water & Then 1part solute to 2.5 Alcohol then stir once very lightly until congealed. Works for me and lasts 25 mins -
Dry distillation proceeds to acetone and companies have investigated the possibility of using White Eggs shells from waste as a production method using Glacial Acetic acid 👌👌👌🤤
I'll need some laymen's instructions thank you. 😉
And poisonous as well if used for food stuffs (fumes).
@@Perktube1 easier to buy but have made it many times - most vinegar/ acetic acid is 5% Volume so if you get 1litre its 50mls Hx and 950mls water - so you need a lot - fine chalk (CaCO3) or Egg Shells. (Cleaned dried and pummelled. Add to the acetic acid a spoon at a time (outside) until bubbling stops. Add more and repeat - if you have 4litres of solution boil down to a litre and filter then proceed to reduce but keep heat medium up until this stage - then at this point heat gently A white solid resembling porridge will appear - semi solid and liquid - The vapours / condensate on a ph paper will be acidic but not poisonous just irritating to mucus membranes - eyes, nose and sinuses but worth the fun - let the rest evaporate naturally - if not it will stick to your pan and is evil to get off - hence buying it lol
Cant wait to try this. Thank you so much for the video! Where can I find calcium acetate? I put it in a search for Amazon, and it brings up calcium carbonate- not the same thing, I think.
If you allow the gel to dry out like a hexamine tablet, will it still burn, or will the alcohol have evaporated already?
It's a 2 oz. Pimento jar with a sealed lid. Do you think it safe burn in. Or just too pack the gel sealed then put into burn can.
Does the fuel evaporate if left out in the open or does the fuel stay incorporated into the mixture until it meets an ignition source?
could i use white spirit instead of the methanol or would that not work?
I use to make this for emergency camping stoves
when I was a kid, ho the memory's
$0.19 for a can of Sterno! Ha ha! I love to see old price tags. I have a Sears model train from the 60s. $9.95! I found an old fishing reel for sale on a shelf in a boat shop once. It was $4.95. They sold it to me for the price marked.
👍👍🇧🇷 Parabéns
Cool.
Is it cost effective in comparison to store bought cans?
Have you tried cubes of sugar, and alcohol rubbing alcohol.
Okay I found a small glass jar with a sealable lids . Could burn in it or at least use it to pack the gel in.
Does it have to be white vinegar or can I use a higher percentage vinegar to make calcium acetate?
Thx
I did it! Me, I made some!!
The best (and easiest) way to make calcium acetate: measure ~40g crushed eggshells and put it in 800ml of 5% acetic acid (household vinegar). Stir it occasionally and leave it for about 2 days, or until it stops producing bubbles. Filter it with a coffee filter in a funnel to get rid of the excess junk and boil the liquid until it turns into a moist white gunk. If you're using cleaning vinegar (10% acid) use 400 ml.
can I use denatured alcohol instead of methane?
Easy if you eat lots and lots of eggs. If you're a one-man team though, getting 40 grams of eggshells will take you a while.
Can you burn this in an alcohol stove and can you store it to take camping or in a survival pack?
Is this really cheaper than buying Sterno (or the generic version), once you’ve bought all the ingredients?
I wish you would still make videos ❤
"I love the smell of Hiram's Kickapoo Joy-Gel in the morning!" ;-)
LOL, possibly better than napalm?!
@@KimiW nothing like napalm
in the morlnin !
How long does it burn? How to make the longest burning for heat in a tent?
GREAT VIDEO.. Is It Safe? Does it Smoke AT All.
Try getting a thermometer and comparing temps and time length.
If its "fresh", will it freeze on account of the water?
Hiram, you are missed. God bless.
Well now, this is just what I've looking for.....as kids we used solid or gelled methylated spirit for lighting our toy steam engines, mainly because it was easy to put a lump into a small tray under the boiler without having the metho spill if it's in liquid form.
Later, while on holiday, I used the same stuff to heat my one year old child's dinner in the hotel room when we were at a hotel that had food she didn't like.
Does this work with Methanol?
I have enough info now to say mischief managed after I say I honestly swear that I am up to no good.
Does the slushy snow have a shelf life
Can you reuse a chafing fuel can?
Can any superabsorbent polymer absorb gasoline i would love flammable orbeez but replace the water with gasoline. Orbeez or the superabsorbent polymer in diapers don't absorb any gasoline.
Domt make it with tums there is sugar in that and when u boil off the vinegar and water ur gonna be left with a syrupy mess use eggshells instead theyre also made from calcium carbonate.
I did before I read this and my pan is still stained with rainbow from that XD
I was about to warn people on that. Anyway, here is a link to a chemist making it with egg shells
th-cam.com/video/32vCLXTjnyQ/w-d-xo.html
I know this was 6 years ago but you can clean it pretty easily, I would still use a pan you don’t care for though.
uhhhhh... you realize that i will now troll many people with this XD
Snowballs for the big boyz
Eggshells are basically Ca carbonate. Can mix them with the vinegar to make Ca acetate. Much less expensive than Tums.
Thank you for that. I said Tums because they are easier to get for some guys than eggshells.
The older stuff started burning in the orange spectrum. I wonder why that was?
I assume it had more calcium acetate and less aclohol, burning dry quicker than the new one which was the opposite.
Before it sets. Could you soal a cotton dental round with this? Soak it in wax and make a fire plug. Cheers jas from New Zealand 🇳🇿
Please confirm, is this the same...Calcium Acetate, Laboratory Grade, 500 g Syn: Lime acetate, calcium diacetate Formula: Ca(CH3CO2)2 • H2O
F.W.: 176.18
CAS No.: 5743-26-0
Storage Code: Green-general chemical storage
say would gelatine work?
Pour White vinegar over crushed egg shells through a coffee filter and let drain into cup to strain egg shell bits. That is calcium acetate. Then mix with denatured alcohol (at hardware store). Stir, let set a few minutes. Light safely in can with long neck lighter on heat safe foundation away from anything that is flammable.
Great idea. Looks like the one on the right is burning more blue than the one on the left.
can u use agri lime for making this
just as dirt cheap
Could you add food coloring to it?
How long will this burn?
if you live near a brewing supply store you can buy powder calcium carbonate and skip crushing up tums.
You can use eggshells crushed into powder mixed with vinegar instead of the wierd pills you got.
Who knew? Fire is hot! LOL
Now, I don't know if this will work with methyl alcohol, but for decades now (since Vietnam) the 'secret' of making Napalm was rather 'public knowledge'...you take and mix fuel oil (kero, diesel, etc.) with SOAP FLAKES, and stir...Napalm is rather-close (consistency) to Sterno. It soots, it smells, but texture is close. Now, I would hazard to guess that if you added soap flakes to methyl alcohol, it would ALSO gel up...and again, work like Sterno with a similar consistency. For you 'kids' out there that have NO IDEA what soap flakes are (and betting that you've never seen a 'shop class' sink that had the powdered soap dispenser above it), it is a dry powdered hand-soap that was OFTEN used in industrial settings near old 'step bar sinks'. Laundry soap isn't quite the same, as it has Phosphorus and Borax in it (or at least, it used to)...so Laundry soap normally won't yield the results you are looking for...so look for 'hand soap powder' and if you can get some, it should be pretty-close...and it USED TO BE REALLY CHEAP! A 25-gallon cardboard drum of 'soap flakes' was only about $0.50 a pound...in the day...that was why schools and industry used it in group-sink areas!
You can do the same thing with powdered beef gelatin, or sugar-free Jell-O
i hear you are the authority on hobo stoves and fuels etc,,,very cool ma man and can we add food grade coloring to the gel to make it blue or green orange etc?
Salts and borax
@@speaklifegardenhomesteadpe8783 borax or better yet boric acid gives green flame but i might have been asking about coloring the gel itself not what color the flames will be
How long does it burn
Can you make this with vodka?
How long does an ounce last
"Looks like a melted snowball" Um no. A melted snowball looks like water.
how to create blue,pink or violet coloured fuel gel .Is there any difference in functioning of fuel gel with different colours ?
PLEASE REPLY
OK MISTER SCRUB LORD SO DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW ONE CREATES DIFFERENT COLOR FLAMES? ill give u a hint... BURNING DIFFERENT ELEMENTS GIVES OFF DIFFERENT LIGHT LEVELS RESULTING IN DIFFERENT COLORS. conclusion... if u want a green flame add copper, red flame add sodium etc. bruh at least do some research on this like really that's kinda sad
Could i pour iso into a diaper and pull out the gel after?
Jacob Regamey, the chemical in disposable diapers ( sodium polycarbonate ) is not the same as used in gel fuel. The diaper material is also used on commercial aircraft to soak up vomit from passengers with salt added after to dry it out for disposal. The same stuff is used to make "instant snow ". If you accidentally add salt to your instant snow it will ruin it by drying out and you will be unable to reactivate it with a small amount of water.
Very cool!! How long will it burn per tablespoon? can you snuff it out and relight after a day or so?...again awesome vid! thanks for the lesson!!
WaiT ,
Where else did we see this ?