Brewbelt/Fermentation Chamber Questions

So I am building a fermentation chamber out of a dead mini-fridge.

My garage stays a constant 55 degrees right now in the winter so I don't need to worry about cooling.

I was planning on buying a brewbelt to heat my carboy but then I got to thinking...

Would a brewbelt be able to heat my carboy and overcome the 55 degree temp in the chamber (I'm guessing the brewbelt wouldn't work so well to heat the air)

I know I am overthing this but I just want some reassurance.
I may just buy a small personal heater or something but I think having the heat source on the carboy would help it to be a bit more precise.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.
And yes, whatever I do end up using will be wired through my temp controller.

My chamber is an old chest freezer that still works. I use a controller 2 as secondary temp controller to cool to whatever I need and can be swithed for heating. A brewer edge heat panel stuck to the back wall keeps up to 70f in 0f weather no problem.

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/CONTROLLER-II-P183C100.aspx
http://www.williamsbrewing.com/BREWERS-EDGE-SPACE-HEATER-P518C100.aspx

I have a couple of operational freezers (one chest, one upright) for fermenting/lagering. I use (and like) two control outlet boxes based on the STC-1000 dual controller. It's inexpensive ($24.39 shipped on Amazon) and gives you precise digital control (in Celsius) over your temps. I have the tolerance on mine set for +/- 0.5*C. All you have to add is a wall outlet and some sort of box to mount it all in (I used an old computer speaker casing).



If your fridge or freezer sits where it may get cold, the dual controller triggers either cooling or heat as needed (with a heat source placed inside). If you can wire a wall outlet, you can set one of these up easily.

Where you are, you'll be looking at just using the heat feature most of the year. The cool is also there if you ever need it and have a working freezer/fridge. A good heat source is the DIY Paint Can Heater (link below).



https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ebay-aquarium-temp-controller-build-163849/

http://brewstands.com/fermentation-heater.html[/FONT]

Personally I love my brew belt hooked into my temp controller. I don't ever think about it. Stable temps 100% of the time

I bought some 12" flexwatt tape from Reptile Basics online. It's the same stuff as what the Brew Belt is made of, but it comes in different widths and you can customize the length. I wanted something I could wrap around two buckets in my chest freezer, and this has worked well for me.