Compass24.de also do an alcohol cooke, which looks to be a direct copy of the original Origo.

I know someone on here bought one and wasn't too impressed, because of poor assembly and no rubber plugs to cover the burners when not in use.

But I had a look again, after reading the post on the Toplicht.

The Compass user manual now stresses the importance of ensuring the stainless springs push the burners right up against the bottom of the top-plate to ensure the flame will go out when the knob is turned to off and also emphasise the need to use the rubber covers to reduce evaporation of the alcohol.

Which were two of the complaints of the poster on here, which seem to have been rectified.

Not sure if the rubber covers are included in the purchase price, which IS quite steep at €200 for the single, or €300 for the double burner, plus the postage.

It MIGHT be worth looking at, though, despite the negative report from our member.

Good, Tony.
That sort of  «Spirituskocher» seems to have a long tradition in Germany. Unlike my Dometic /Origo stoves (one dual burner and one single), the Mamba burns with a perfectly blue flame, so should make maximum use of the fuel, and produce the least smoke, soot and smell.

I still use my Origo, after trying several modifications to the burner. These days I run it without the original flame damper, but with a washer with a 25mm orifice. This 25mm orifice increases time to boil with about 10-15%, but the flame is almost blue. This has also been helped by using 80% alcohol instead of 96%.

Yesterday I made a few performance tests to boil 0.5l water, starting at around 19°C. Using a digital scale, I also found the fuel consumption after each test.

The first test was made using a plain little casserole.
This resulted in spending 6:20min and 20g fuel to bring the water to boil.

Then I brought home my little Alocs kettle from the boat. This is a thin-walled aluminium kettle and with ‘cooling’ ribs in its bottom. The test above was then repeated.
This resulted in spending 5:44min and 16g fuel to bring the water to boil.

One gram of ethanol has a burn energy of 29,7kJ/g
Since I use 80% alcohol mixture, I reckon its specific energy to be  29.7 x 80 /96 = 24.75KJ/g.

To cut a long story short, I found the efficiency of this burner to be 34% with the casserole and 42% with the highly efficient Alocs kettle.

Tony, I hope you can make this little test with your Mamba cooker as well. It will probably be slower than the Origo, but my guess is that the fuel consumtion will come out quite low.
Many of us are curious about those German alcohol stoves.

Cheers, Arne

(PS I also made the test with the Alocs kettle and with a 33mm wide orifice. This resulted in spending 5:10min and 17g fuel. I still prefer the smaller orifice since the flame stays bluer, and thus makes less smell...)

(Photo on my members' albums, section 8 of photos, photo no. 13)

Toplicht in Germany are selling these German-made spirit stoves, both single and double burner versions. The price is quite reasonable at €83 for the single burner and  €127 for the two-burner version. I have no idea if they're any good, but have ordered a single burner one to try out. It should sit nicely on top of my Dickenson for use in warmer climes :)

https://www.toplicht.de/en/cabin-comfort/cooker-oven-barbecue/paraffin-cookers-methylated-spirit-cookers/6394/methylated-spirit-cooker-mambo/salsa-hpv

P.S. I've also seen them on Amazon, but for a slightly higher price and possibly (but only possibly) a knock-off version.

For those of you, who like me have downsized to much smaller boats. Who don't have a lot of room for a galley I came across this galley box. I have since found the designer and he sent me this link. I also have the construction files.

Galley box

Anonymous wrote:Re sourdough.  How did people care for it before refrigeration, I wonder?  And what I'd the difference between wholewheat and whole grain?

Sourdough fed daily (even every second day), does not need refrigeration. Refrigeration just lets one be a little more lazy. When bread is made daily, a little bit of dough saved from yesterdays bread just before "benching" works fine.

In North America "whole wheat flour" is AP (possibly bleached but hopefully not) with the proper amount of wheat bran added. "Whole grain" is ground in one operation and includes everything the grain came with, including the wheat germ which "whole wheat" flour does not have. I do not know if this holds the world over but it likely does.

Whole wheat flour is more shelf stable and holds it properties well over time. I am sure this is why the flour companies do things this way. Whole grain flour seems to have a range of age where it makes really nice bread and if chilled or frozen this range can be extended for a long time. Whole grain does spoil faster.

So whole wheat flour may be the best choice for long term cruising. Keeping a small amount of sourdough in one's tiny fridge may still make sense on a boat as it uses a lot less flour to keep alive (1/10th- ish). Well preserved white flour kills sourdough, I am not sure what that says for what it does to our health. Robin hood AP flour almost killed my sourdough the last time I used that, use UB instead if you must have white bread.

AP = All Purpose

UB = UnBleached (similar protein content to AP)

Protein in flour is determined by the species of wheat used. The protein in question is gluten, nature's polymer (epoxy?) that makes the bread rise.