Feeling ultra-crafty? Put your skills to the test by making your own precision-controlled yogurt maker using your slow cooker, spare electronics parts, and a little piece of open source software. No kidding.
This yogurt maker, a.k.a. Yobot, just seems so cool! We found the tutorial over on Make and have been eying our slow cooker ever since.
It actually does much more than incubate the yogurt while it ferments. It also takes care of the initial heating and cooling steps, which would eliminate so much hassle in our yogurt-making routine. All we'd have to do is provide the milk and stir in the starter at the appropriate moment.
Now, admittedly, this is completely beyond our particular skill set. But we're thinking this might be the perfect project to commission from a tech-minded friend or teenage relative. As long as you have a slow cooker already, it doesn't look like the parts are too expensive. The instructions also look fairly easy to follow as long as you have the attention span and willingness - and a soldering iron.
Anyone think you'll give this a go?!
• Get the Tutorial: Yobot: Make a Precision Arduino Yogurt Maker at MAKE via Craftzine
Related: Three Ways to Make Yogurt without a Yogurt Maker
(Image: Chris Reilly/Make)
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Ummm -- looks like a potential fire-hazard. Certainly not "UL-listed"! Don't they sell yogurt-making machines. And for that matter, didn't folks make yogurt for centuries before electricity was used???
When we make yogurt we hold it at a steady temp (don't remember how warm, my husband does this) by putting the yogurt in its sanitized glass jars into a big insulated container and quickly surrounding the yogurt jars with jars filled with boiling water. Then we cover it, put the lid on, and monitor the temp (hubs made a little hole in the lid and he sticks a thermometer in so we can check it.) He just reminded me he keeps a heating pad under the yogurt as well. Cozy!
I make yogurt in my crockpot but it doesn't require a hack at all. It's super simple.
Crock Pot Yogurt
You can also use an electric heating pad like Alton Brown.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/good-eats/fresh-yogurt-recipe/index.html
Oy, all of this seems very complicated! All you need is a vaccuum flask to keep the yogurt warm. I make homemade yogurt every week and it takes 10 minutes each time. Try it--no geeky relative required. :)
Seriously? I just put it in a steel container in the oven with the light turned on.
The oven with the light turned on is my incubation routine. What I dislike about it is that it puts my oven out of commission for a day.
Purpose-specific yogurt makers don't make enough at one time, those little jars are futzy and annoying, and with most you still have to do the heat/cool thing first anyway. As you've pointed out this is the part that can be a real PITA. Other "yogurt makers" are really just styrofoam coolers and don't actually do anything at all other than insulate a bit.
I'm sending the link to my fabulous resident engineer RIGHT NOW.
Now, to find a crock pot that will hold at least four quart jars...
Seems too complicated for a simple yogurt...Agree with many commenters above...Here's how I do it without machines or special equipment...Just need a hot water bath. I put it in the night before sleeping and by morning its done. Comes out perfect every time... :)
Perfect Homemade Yogurt
A half gallon thermos does the trick.
I just place the bowl on a heating pad and cover it with a couple of towels. Works every time.
I have a heat lamp over my stove and that does the job.
I make mine in a LeCreuset dutch oven wrapped in a bath towel. Easy peasy.
I think this is kind of neat... and all you'd need to do is change the temperature settings and hey presto! it's a sous-vide cooker! (Well, maybe add an aquarium water-circulating pump to properly finish it off for sous-vide.)
This is too old for anyone to read, but I have to say, it's genius. 90% of the comments on this post are saying, "really? just use a towel/oven/other insulator." This invention is not about keeping it at a constant temp for fermentation! The beauty is that this robot heats your milk to 185, and lets it cool to 110! THEN it will ferment it for you in the SAME CONTAINER.
All you do is dump in your milk, then later dump in your yogurt starter. Pure genius, and makes me wonder why no commercial yogurtmaker offers this convenience. I so want a yobot.