I'll get right to the point, and then add more info below for those who
want to read further. I don't know if this sort of a device exists, and
I've just spent all afternoon googling -- trying to find one -- without
any success at all. I hope that some kind person here will be able to
point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance for any help.

I'm looking for a programmable digit thermostat with a short probe that
just needs to reach about 2 inches through an insulated wall; in other
words, I want to mount the thermostat on the outside of a cabinet to
monitor and control the temp on the inside of the cabinet. I built the
cabinet a few years ago to ferment ale, but now I'd like to expand its
ability to include lagers which require more careful, critical control.

For ales, I used just a cheap household hvac thermostat mounted on the
inside, and there was no need for it to be programmable or even visible;
I just set it and forgot about it until the ale was done fermenting
about a week later. In fact, cooling was generally only important for
about the first 4 or 5 days, and the temperature requirements for ales
are so rough that most people don't use any cooling system at all except
perhaps to drape a wet towel over the fermenter to cool by evaporation.
I would just set my temp on 70F, and my system worked _very_ well. The
thermostat cycled a small fan (the type used to cool CPUs), and the fan
moved cold air from the lower ice compartment into the chamber where my
conical fermenter is suspended.

But lagers require _sustained_ cooling and conditioning, lasting perhaps
two months, with significantly cooler temps in the 35F to 55F range, and
with gradual, slow temperature changes (in contrast to ales which can
have a constant temp). If it isn't possible to program a thermostat to
constantly drop the temp at a controlled rate (e.g., 4-5F/day, max),
then I could manually lower the temp one degree every 6 hours or so, but
that would make having the control on the outside even more important.

What most homebrewers do is buy an old chest freezer and then change the
thermostat, but they usually use glass carboys as fermenters. I have a
conical fermenter which is too tall to put inside a chest freezer, and
my cabinet also doubles as the frame to support it. Besides, I'd really
like to try making a lager or two before deciding if I want to invest in
an extra freezer and converting it.

Also, if it turns out that my ice-cooling system isn't up to the job*, I
intend to try to augment the cooling by putting the system out in our
breezeway during the winter, but that presents the possibility of things
getting too cold, so I'd also like to be able to use the thermostat to
control some small heating device -- either a lightbulb or perhaps some
heat-tape like those used to prevent pipes from freezing. I figure that
the wires that usually control the air-conditioning will control my fan,
and those that control the heater will control my light-bulb or heating
strip.

*As for cooling power, the outside of my cooler is 16.5" x 16.5" x 34.5"
and it has 1.37" thick styrofoam (double 11/16") on all sides and top,
and 11/16" thick styrofoam between the two compartments. The lower
compartment can hold four frozen 1-gallon milk jugs, although I want to
play with that a bit because I'd like to suspend a 1/2-pint mason jar at
the bottom of my fermenter to collect yeast, etc.

Any comments or suggestions will be appreciated. I hope someone will be
able to help. Thanks.

Bill Velek -- remove the "--NO-SPAM--" from my email address