Water Boiling Efficiency

[comptiger5000]

I recently picked up a Camp Chef Everest and I'm looking for the most efficient (reasonably priced) container for boiling water on it for coffee. It needs to be kettle-like (as in, has a pour spout, not a pot) and it needs to hold 1.5 - 2 quarts (more is fine but not necessary). What have you guys used that doesn't just waste a bunch of heat around it into the air?

 

[perterra]

Probably the most efficient is something like a kelly kettle, how well it works on a everest I dont know

https://www.kellykettleusa.com/base-camp-large-stainless-steel-kelly-kettler1-7l-57-5oz

 

[DaveInDenver]

If you're not concerned with weight and space, we just carry a $3 thrift store kettle when we take the Coleman stove to boil water for our French press.

 

[Biker Eagle]

Have a GSI Halulite kettle that's quite light but very sturdy. Heat transfer is rated very good. Comes in 2 sizes and a little spendy at $20 to $30. GSI gear really has a rep for lasting.

 

[comptiger5000]

If you're not concerned with weight and space, we just carry a $3 thrift store kettle when we take the Coleman stove to boil water for our French press.

Weight / space aren't really an issue in this case. I did a little testing with the kettle that sits on my stove at home and found that especially at higher burner settings I was losing a lot of heat around the sides (it's only 7 inches in diameter and the everest is pretty much a flamethrower when cranked up). I found a cheap kettle that's 10" across to try (should cover more of the heat / flame). If it's still losing a lot around the sides, I'll have to look into finding / making a bigger version of the MSR heat exchanger wrap thing. There's enough straight surface on the sides of the kettle to try it.

I was looking at some of the kettles with the heat exchanger bottoms but it seems like most are either hard to find, $50+ or too small. That concept seems to be more common on pots for whatever reason. I guess a lot of people skip the kettle when camping as it's not as multi-purpose as a pot. But in my case, there's enough room in the Jeep (not taking overly long trips), so I'd rather have the better water pouring ability of the kettle.

I checked out the GSI stuff, but the 1.8 liter version is only about 6.5" across, so it'll have the same issue with heat / flame going around it unless I keep the burner turned down.

 

[JDHFJ40]

For boiling water on a similar stove when car camping, I use a stainless percolator. It has the plastic "bubble" on the lid. You have the ability to use it with or without the coffee "filter" portion and I/we use it to boil water for all things around camp. The lid is snug enough that you can pour without holding it down with your second hand. I actually think the lid is hinged as well. It also has a wide base so flame efficiency is good.
I don't recall how much I paid for it but I am certain it was less than $20.

 

[comptiger5000]

To follow up on this, I tried out the wider (almost 10" diameter) kettle. It definitely boils faster for a given amount of water and I can turn the stove up higher before losing a bunch of heat around the sides of the kettle. Probably not a perfect solution, but it seems to be good enough for now (in the sense that 1/3 lb of propane is enough to boil a little over 1.5 gallons of water without worrying too much about setting the stove burner for perfect efficiency).