Controllable Heating & Temperature Microcontroller

I need help in a small microcontroller. I need communication to/from a small heating coil element, and a temperature/humidity sensor. Basically I have a 3mm diameter rubber tube carrying water at room temperature and I would like to heat the water inside using an external heating element. At one point, I have a thermocouple to provide a temperature reading of the water inside the pipe. Based on this reading, the heating element needs to either turn on, turn off, provide more heat, provide less heat. Idealy this can be done by altering the current going to the heating element. (relay, triac?). I am very inexperienced in electrical engineering so I am very flexible in this project to accommodate your suggestions.