Solid alcohol or "dry spirit" has been used as emergency heat in the Norwegian army's survival pack for decades, this era has ended. How to make the stuff has been hard to discover. Recipe using Calcium acetate leaves a great amount of residue. This is a lot better, and makes just small amounts of dirt in the preheating cup.
Recipe:
100 grams alcohol
10 grams of pure stearine (stearic acid,) flakes or powder (you may shave some from a white candle, but if it do not work, the wax may be different from pure stearine). 3 grams of lye (NaOH dissolved in as little water as possible)
Heat the alcohol with the stearine to the stearine melts (be careful with the poisonous fumes, and explosive gases, use water bath). Add the lye, and stir. Lye is extremely caustics, take care, read the labels on the container. Put the solution in a suitable container, let it cool down.
That’s it.
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