Holding mash temps.

[RM-MN]

No offense but how do you keep Propane flowing at -30 C? Anything below 8 F (-13 C) and I have to keep the tank in hot water bath and occasionally pour hot water over the regulator to thaw it. This is starting with a tank at 16 C before moving to the garage.

To keep the propane going at low temps you need a bigger tank. Propane is a refrigerant gas and a fairly good one as you can use it in the air conditioner in your car. With a small tank you need to boil off enough propane to keep the burner going which will chill the liquid propane and eventually you chill it enough that insufficient gas will be produced to keep the burner going. With a bigger tank there is a lot more liquid to chill.

I use propane as a backup heat source and it will keep the furnace running at -45F as long as I have sufficient liquid in a sufficiently large tank. It that temperature remained too long my furnace would quit as the liquid in the tank cooled off. Propane boils at -43.6F.

 

[newnick]

Recirculating the mash with a pump is what I would do. With a very low outside temp you could probably leave the burner on a very low simmer and hold the temp.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I use propane as a backup heat source and it will keep the furnace running at -45F as long as I have sufficient liquid in a sufficiently large tank. It that temperature remained too long my furnace would quit as the liquid in the tank cooled off. Propane boils at -43.6F.

I am aware of this but based on the OP's description of his various limitations I doubt he can use a 100# tank or even better a skid tank.

I used a propane generator as back-up power and it easily worked to 0 F even with the high draw of a 9000 watt (on propane) generator. It was on a 100# tank.

 

[newnick]

Glad it doesn't get that cold where I live.

 

[Finlandbrews]

Thanks for the info guys, I was planning on doing my first biab next weekend. Only problem is it's about -10 Celsius here. I wonder how well insulation would work at that temp, I know by the time January comes around it will be -30 here so brewing will probably be on hold until spring.

Install a heating element into your kettle so you can brew year long. It's sad to have to wait brewing because of the weather.