I just started, and I like it. It’s cheaper and tastes better than most of the store stuff. I also like knowing what’s in it, and using organic ingredients (milk ;)) My old girlfriend from years ago used to make yogurt, and the memory of that got me started. I have a Donvier that makes up to eight single (about 5 oz. each) servings.
I might get a one quart maker to use for cooking, etc. I like to expereiment.
BTW; I am well aware you don’t need a special device to make yogurt. Don’t care. 
Peace,
mangeorge
I’ve made yogurt (I run in streaks between making my own and buying it). It’s easy, and fun. Though I’ve had problems with resuing the starter too often - it tends to get too sour for me after two or three reuses and then I buy new.
Blueberry is my favorite add-in.
Yup, got a yogurt maker and I like being able to make my own without extra sweeteners or other odd ingredients. Plus, vegetarians like me don’t like eating yogurt with gelatin in it - typically in the fruit stuff - so I make my own with fresh or frozen fruit.
Me too. I’ve started alternating. I make one batch from a good organic store bought yogurt, then the next batch from my own, then store bought again. I haven’t tried a freeze dried starter yet. The ingredients put me off a little.
I like any berry, and I drain Dole single-serve mandarin oranges to add too. Also, several drops of good vanilla extract and some sweetner is excallent.
I buy a basket each of whatever berries are in season, than spread them out on a cookie sheet and freeze them. Once they’re frozen, I put them by type in baggies and take out what I need. That way I have a good variety.
Yup, I’ve made my own before. I like using palm/coconut sugar as a sweetener over anything else. It’s got a subtle sweet flavour that goes great with yogurt.
Ahem… TTIUWR!
I should try using honey as a sweetener. I bet that would be good.
My favorite mix-in is rum (vanilla rum works best, but regular stuff works well too). Give it a try…
I used to make my own yogurt, in Egypt of all places. You’d think the ME would have the world’s best yogurt, but quality control was so poor that I opted for homemade. (Reading that something like 30% of domestically produced milk products could not meet international standards for cleanliness didn’t help either.)
I have a yogurt maker, although I know I don’t need it.
I’d like to try making yogurt without a yogurt maker. Any tips or suggestions?
Have you tried using powdered non-fat milk? Start with 1/2 C to a quart of milk. It helps to bind the whey. Adding 1C makes very thick yoghurt.
I used to make yogurt, and it was good. I discovered early on that nonfat milk wouldn’t turn into yogurt (although nowadays a method may have been devised to get around that). Nowadays I love that thick strained Greek yogurt (Fage) from Trader Joe’s so much that I just buy that, and it comes in nonfat as well.
I think I made it in a slightly warm oven, which involved turning the oven on for minute or so and then off several times a day. It was in the days before yogurt-makers.
Using a similar method, you can make French-stye creme fraiche. Use store-bought buttermilk as the starter, and stir a spoonful or two into a pint of warmed, heavy whipping cream. Keep the cream warm, and it’ll clot into a heavy, rich zillion-calorie treat.
What type of container is best? Metal? Ceramic? Glass? No difference? How long does it stay in the oven? How often do you re-start the over? Every hour? Every two hours? Every half-hour?
Does non-fat milk work or not?
I use nonfat (skim) milk plus the aforementioned nonfat powdered milk addition, and of course some live culture yogurt as a starter. Works fine.
The best container is CLEAN, which could rule out anything that has deep scratches or scars, notably plastics, though smooth plastic is fine.
Temperature is ideal at 110F. Once you add your hopefully pasteurised milk to the culture, all around that temp., it will take four hours to be yoghurt, with longer time contributing tartness.
Most ovens have a viewing light. Experiment with different wattage bulbs to attain that temp. Most oven thermostats aren’t reliable that low.
I’ve never used totally non-fat milk, but 1% worked fine. The powdered non-fat dry milk is an addition to the liquid.
My parents kick it totally old school and have been making it for years (my mom used to grate her own coconut until 2 years ago when my dad stole her little third world coconut grating stool and forced her to buy pre-shredded). When I was growing up store bought yoghurt was a treat and we used to beg my parents for it.
Of course, now that I’m older, live apart from them and do my own groceries I long for the taste of the old school shit I grew up on.
I thought the stool was just used for getting the coconut milk. 
My old gf’s kids begged for store bought too, but only for the flavored stuff.
Glass jars work best, they hold the heat a bit.
Johnny L. A., I think he meant “tool” not “stool”, but I could be wrong.
I have been wrong before.
A couple of times.