by Gadgetgeek » Sun 17 Apr, 2022 8:33 pm
For a standard trangia burner, with normal "digger's" metho, a little water (up to 1:10) will help it soot up less, without any real reduction in heat output. It's not as common to find just straight ethanol/ methanol in a lot of other places, so we are pretty lucky here on that score, and it generally works really well in most of the aussie conditions.
From my looking almost all of the fuel alcohol in Australia is basically the same, I've bought it in up to 20L cube jugs, but the 1 and 4 liter jugs from your local hardware store will be a good balance. They are probably from the same plant. They do contain a bitterant, so if the fuel leaks out into a pan the residue can leave a flavor, but it's almost no methanol, so it's not particularly toxic (apart from what >90% alcohol generally is) and once it evaporates there is nothing particularly toxic left.
Give it a run with the fuel you can get, and make sure you have a good handle on how your particular stove primes, including putting the stove and fuel in the fridge for a bit, as some designs are more sensitive to the total thermal situation. Trangia burners are less sensitive to this due to how conductive brass is. Feel free to ask any questions as you experiment, as not everyone has the same plans and uses with their burners.