Any reason this wont work?

[Atown]

In my garage I have a stand up freezer for my kegarator. A mini fridge that I will be using for lagering. And a regular fridge/freezer with freezer on top. What im lacking in my equipment is a temp controlled fermenter for ales. The basement is mid 60's but now that I have a conical im done lugging buckets down stairs.

I have no more room to buy or build another fridge/fermenter so using the fridge freezer is my only option. I would like to retain my freezer portion for bulk buy household items and have the bottom used to ferment. I hope to acomplish this by using metal tape and isulation if needed be to block off all vents/air flow that cool the fridge portion since the fridge is actually cooled by the freezer. With the freezer portion going full blast just being in such close proximity the fridge portion should get high 50s 60ish? Then use a temp controller to cycle a ferm wrap or heating element of some kind to get the desired temp in the fridge.

The only drawback I can see is the freezer might run a little more than usual since the fridge will be warmer than original design. But with a freezer full of food/water bottles etc... That should help with temp swings I would think.

 

[PoppinCaps]

This works fine, but you don't have to change the fridge at all. Just hook a temp controller to power a cheap heating blanket. Wrap the blanket around the fermenter and surround with 2 layers of reflectix. Probe goes in a thermowell. I run the fridge at 40F, the beer stays at any temperature, doesn't seem to affect the running too much.