For those who are using old fridges as fermentation boxes - Is a single stage temp controller sufficient to simply turn off the fridge when it gets too cool and then turn it on as it warms, or is it better to use a two stage controller to power a heating element like a ferm wrap inside the fridge?
You can find this thread half way down the Homebrew forum page. http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/external-thermostat-what-are-you-using.371009/ As far as a dual stage, are you fermenting inside where ambient is at least 70ish?
A single stage controller can be set for either heating or cooling, you just have to manually select the different mode. For about 99% of the time a single stage does just fine. But, you can get an Inkbird dual stage for just a buck over their single stage model . . . so simple a caveman would know what to do.
The fridge is in my basement which is above fermenting temps in the summer and below fermenting temps in the winter. I saw the earlier thread and see that some are using fridges for cooling only, where others are also using some sort of heating element inside the fridge, but there were no comments on the merits or efficiency of either approach. I'm leaning toward a dual stage and some sort of heating element, but wasn't sure if that was overkill.
Since you live in CT where I assume you can get some freezing weather, the only time that you would need a heating element and a dual stage controller would be if your fridge was in your garage and subject to freezing. That's also assuming that your basement ambient temps where your fridge is now can be raised to 70-72 degrees where you might want to ferment for some beer styles.
To avoid the fridge turning on and off I bought a ferm heat wrap and connected the digital ranco to the heat wrap and it works perfect. Keeps my beer within 1 degree and the fridge stays the same temp. I tape the digital probe to the outside of the Carboy and cover with bubble wrap and tape then and wrap the Carboy in a towel to try and avoid the fridge temp effecting the probe reading. Ever since I made this change my beers have increased in quality exponentially.
