I wanted to tag onto this thread, for anybody who's looking for another use for heads.
DIY Alcohol Lamp (Burner, Candle, etc.)
I did some searching on the Home Distiller website, and I found a few threads on alcohol stoves, but none on alcohol lamps (laboratory type alcohol burners).
There's not much to them, really.
Tools Needed: Either a nail or a straight screwdriver.
Materials Needed:
* A heat-resistant resealable container: A) a glass baby food, jelly, etc., jar with metal lid; or B) a small metal canister. Shorter and fatter works better than taller and skinnier.
* A wick made from A) a cotton shoe lace; B) a strip torn from an old cotton T-shirt; C) cotton twine; or D) some other 100% cotton material. It has to be 100% cotton, or it won't wick right and it will probably melt with the heat.
* Some alcohol (foreshots, heads, etc.) to burn in your lamp.
* A twist-type bottle cap to cover the wick when not in use to keep the alcohol from evaporating.
How to Do It:
Step 1) Depending on what type of wick you go with, use either a nail or a straight screwdriver to punch a hole through the metal lid of your jar or canister. You want the wick to fit tightly enough in the hole so that it doesn't slip back down into the jar.
Step 3) Push about a 2-3 centimeters (about an inch) of your wick up through the hole in the metal lid.
Step 4) Fill the jar with alcohol.
Step 4) Screw the lid on tight.
Step 5) Take the lamp outside in an open space, somewhere out of the wind, and light it to see how it works. Let it burn for awhile until you're satisfied it will be okay to use someplace else.
Step 6) Blow it out just like you would a candle and pinch the wick to make sure the fire is completely out or use your bottle cap to snuff out the flame.
Step 7) Cover the wick with your bottle cap when not in use.
I have been running my alcohol burners daily for about a month with no troubles whatsoever. And I'm running a 5 mm (3/16 inch) diameter wick sticking up about 2-3 cm (1 inch) that gives me a roughly 8 cm (3 inch) high flame with a full alcohol charge.
Of course, you can play around with the diameter of your wick and how much of it you expose to achieve whatever size flame you're looking for.
I currently have two in our bathroom shower, and they do a great job of chasing off the chill in our bathroom during the winter months. And just as soon as I can get my hands on another jar, I will make another.
Depending on the size of your jar, these lamps will burn for six or eight hours on a single refill, but I usually refill ours every three or four hours because the flame gets weaker as the level of the alcohol goes down.
You can use these lamps to warm up a small space like a bathroom or a fishing/hunting shelter, but these burners also come in handy if somebody needs a clean burning heat source for craft projects that require thermoforming plastics, melting hot glue, and that kind of stuff.
One thing to keep in mind with an alcohol lamp is that alcohol flames are pretty much invisible in bright light, so you want to put your hand above the wick and feel for heat to ensure the flame is out.
The other thing to keep in mind if you are using a glass jar for your lamp is that glass breaks, and breaking a lit alcohol lamp will give you your own version of a Molotov cocktail.
So you want to use them under supervision or place them in a bathtub, sink, or a metal pot that would ideally contain a flaming spill, should something whacky happen like somebody accidentally knocks one into something hard and the glass shatters.
Here's
a good 4-page article on alcohol lamps.
And
this guy here has a neat way to go if somebody needs a wind-resistant version.