Metho burners

[slowtrip]

You'd think something so simple would not cause a problem, but...

I have a stainless steel smoker.  It came with a metal stand and 2 metho burners that sit in holes in the stand underneath it.   I have been experimenting with it, and I am getting good results, however, the flame from the metho burners always seems to spread and burn across the whole width and length of the stand, and not just stay, as I expected, as a ring of flame from the holes in the burners.   I thought I must be overfilling them, but even putting a small amount of metho in them results in the same problem.   I even went and bought 2 of the cheap metho burners that BCF sells.   These are better, but still the same thing happens. 

It happens after about 5 minutes, after everything reaches peak temperature.   It's almost as if the gas from the metho burners ends up filling the space in the stand, under the smoker, and so there is flame everywhere (it is a yellow, sooty flame).  Could it be lack of ventilation in the stand?  The stand  is a 4 sided pressed metal affair, with some slots and gaps, but maybe not enough??

[austastar]

Hi,
Try adding 10% water to the alcohol.
Cheers

[slowtrip]

Hi,
Try adding 10% water to the alcohol.
Cheers

OK, I'll try.

What effect does that have?

[austastar]

Hi,
   Friends with Trangias do this to cut the soot deposited on the bottom of cooking pans.
It may/maynot solve your problem.
Cheers

[slowtrip]

Hi,
   Friends with Trangias do this to cut the soot deposited on the bottom of cooking pans.
It may/maynot solve your problem.
Cheers

Any idea how much to add?

[austastar]

Hi
10 percent water..... i.e, 100 mL fuel, 10mL water.

Cheers

[slowtrip]

Hi
10 percent water..... i.e, 100 mL fuel, 10mL water.

Cheers

Ta.    Will give it another go.

[Troopy_03]

Did your smoker come with plastic embedded into the seams like mine did? The staino sheet comes with a protective layer of blue plastic over it. So when they made the smoker, they just spot (resistance) welded it together with the plastic sheet still on the staino. I haven't even bothered trying it out since it was given to me about 10 years ago, because I couldn't be bothered trying to burn out all the plastic before I used it. On second thoughts, maybe I should have posted this in the the daily rants thread... 

[slowtrip]

Did your smoker come with plastic embedded into the seams like mine did? The staino sheet comes with a protective layer of blue plastic over it. So when they made the smoker, they just spot (resistance) welded it together with the plastic sheet still on the staino. I haven't even bothered trying it out since it was given to me about 10 years ago, because I couldn't be bothered trying to burn out all the plastic before I used it. On second thoughts, maybe I should have posted this in the the daily rants thread... 

No thankfully the smoker itself is well made.  No plastic on the stainless.

[Troopy_03]

No thankfully the smoker itself is well made.  No plastic on the stainless.

Yes, this one seems fairly well made. They just didn't bother to remove the protective film lol

[chisel]

I have a smoker I've only used once.  It does the same thing.  It didn't seem quite right to me but the smoking seemed to happen ok.

[dales133]

Ditch the metho burners alltogether and plonk it ontop of your bbq for a heat source.
I can always taste metho in whatevers been smoked so it eliminates that too.

[slowtrip]

Ditch the metho burners alltogether and plonk it ontop of your bbq for a heat source.
I can always taste metho in whatevers been smoked so it eliminates that too.

Not that I can taste metho - but putting it on top of other burners, such as the gas stove is certainly an option.