Advice on temperature control in cold garage

[philip5660]

Hi there,

I am a complete newbie and am very soon hoping to purchase some home brewing equipment but would like some advice first.
Firstly I intend to brew in my garage/utility area which is detached from the main house and gets very cold in winter. I see various products e.g. heat pads and brew belts for sale to control temperature but I'm assuming these would not be sufficient for me.
I have also seen mention of some guys converting fridges with digital thermostats and electric heating elements.

I do have a spare fridge and am technically competent -should I embark on one of these projects to do things right. Don't want to throw any money into this until I have the basics sorted.

ALSO - if anyone has any recommendations for beginners kits I'd really appreciate it too!

 

[Sean_Mc]

Phil I built a fermenting cupboard for my cold winter shed, which has electric.

I currently updating it to include a TUBE HEATER connected to a room thermostat

 

[philip5660]

Phil I built a fermenting cupboard for my cold winter shed, which has electric.

I currently updating it to include a TUBE HEATER connected to a room thermostat

Cool, I wasn't sure what type of heater to use but that looks about right.
What about cooling, do I need to worry about that in this climate? (I'm in ireland)

I was looking at these thermostats - controls both heating and cooling.....
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TC-10-DIGITAL-THE ... 4cf1a2d715

 

[Aleman]

A TC 10 is great for temperature control . . . you can either wire it up to two training sockets and plug heating and cooling appliances into it (As I do with my Fermenter cooler/heater . . . or you can wire it directly into the appliances As I've done with my Kegereezer.

Don't use heating without temperature control. . . .And yes Ideally you want your fermentations to be between 18 and 25C . . . lagers around 10-12C . . .Bierre de garde - 28-30C . . . so some sort of cooling is required . . . . hence the fridge.

Good luck with the conversion . . .be logical and work out your wiring control on the fridge . . . it is really very simple . . . and ask questions post pictures here . . . and you'll get all the advice you need

 

[philip5660]

This is a bit pricier than what i was originally thinking of but I see on other threads people have used this successfully.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ATC-800-NEW-DIGIT ... 35abb7e82f

It seems if I just keep the fridges thermostat, turn it to the coldest setting I can simply plug in both my fridge and tube heater, I can retain the fridges functionality if required.