I’ve been tweaking my basic backpacking cook system for some time. I really like my JetBoil, however, when I am looking to save weight it becomes a focus of attention. Where I have currently ended up is a BRS 3000 with some home-built additions, which comes in at a total of about 6oz compared to nearly 14oz for the JetBoil. As you can see from the above picture – this is really compact. Everything I need is in the pot itself. Let’s break down the individual elements.
Setup
The pot is a Toaks 750 ml Titanium pot. This is super light, comes with the lid and net bag, and weighs a total of 3.6oz. The pot is pretty thin so the bottom will heat up quickly and if any burner has hot spots they will heat the pot unevenly, this makes cooking a little more tricky than just boiling water. The standard 100g isobutane container fits perfectly inside. To help both wedge the container inside the pot and provide a cool surface to drink from, there are a pair of Snow Peak Hotlips. It’s great that these serve a dual purpose.
The stove itself is simply a BRS 3000. Again super light at 0.9oz. I’ll talk a little bit more about the performance of the stove below. I need the Bic lighter as the stove does not have a built ignition. You can also see a homemade set of spices that packs nicely in the cook system, just to add flavor to some foods.
Homemade components
There are two components that I have made on my own. The cozy and the windshield. I made the cozy is made from some welders carbon. This is pretty to easy to work with and can be cut with a normal pair of scissors. It has a little bit of stretch to it so I cut it just so that it would be snug when stitched together. Originally I used thread to join the ends – with a thought I might have to go to a high-temperature thread. Then I just stapled the two sides together and that seems to work well. The cozy both helps with keeping the contents of the pot warm and makes it really comfortable to pick up.
I quickly realized that the stove needs a windshield because the burner is very sensitive to breezes. The windshield is just a piece of aluminum flashing from Home Depot, which is cut to fit around the pot and is about 1 1/2” wide. It stays in place by tucking it between the pot and the cozy and tucks inside the pot for storage. If the windshield is too deep then it looks like not enough air gets to the flame and it starts to burn yellow, so you have to play with this a little.
Performance
I did a couple of performance benchmarks of this system versus my JetBoil. These were pretty much done under ideal conditions.
The JetBoil boils a cup in 1min 20s (@500 feet) and uses about 2 grams of fuel – a BRS3000 with a Toaks 750ml boils a cup in 3mins 20 secs and uses about 3 grams of fuel. A couple of observations – it’s easy to have the jetboil on full blast and the flux ring keeps the majority of the heat on the bottom of the container. With the BRS I had it specifically on a lower setting to avoid the flame creeping around the side of the Toaks.
For 2 cups of water; the JetBoil rook 2mins and 10secs, using 4g of fuel, and the BRS took 5 mins and 51 secs, using 7g of fuel.
Out of a new 100g fuel canister – you’d get about 14 boils with the BRS and 24 with the JetBoil. This is pretty much spot on with what they say on the side of the can.
Conclusions
There is rarely a perfect solution. I’m pretty happy with this as my basic cook system. I use it when I’m only out for a night or two and don’t have to worry about fuel efficiency. I actually find it easier to cook with the system than the basic JetBoil. I usually don’t run the BRS at full blast. However if I am on a longer trip, or when I know I am just going to be boiling water, maybe for a slightly larger group then I’ll take the JetBoil.
Explore more gear options here.
Links in this article are generated through an affiliate program. However no products were provided for me to review and everything reviewed here I have tested in the field. Please leave a comment if you have any questions.
