I have one of the eComposter Death Star-esque ones and it works great! Enclosed so no critters nor smell and it churns out great compost in about a month.
My LHBS has the MM3-2.0 mounted up with a high torque drill and it is quite the beast. The three rollers yield a great crush and it'll eat my grain bills in about a minute.
That was my first beer as well; I got the kit from Homebrewer's Outpost. It definitely was darker almost like a brown but tasted fine and everyone seemed to like it.
Eh not really sure. Thermostat's set at 71, but I bet it gets warmer in there during the day. I had just started doing this with my second batch (a brown ale recently bottled) and it tasted great. I just have the curtain closed and sometimes throw in a frozen gallon bottle as well.