Miracle Milk Carton Yogurt Maker - (ME72)

I purchased this hoping to be able to make a decent batch of homemade yogurt. I read all of the reviews and took a chance. Unfortunately if it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. I tried several batches, each time trying something different (different starters, adding milk powder, leaving it in longer than 9 hours, etc). The unit just doesn't get warm enough to make yogurt. I am going to try to return it and purchase a different unit. Good luck!

Lured by promises of no-fuss yogurt-making, I decided to try this little machine. I dropped in a quart carton of goat's milk and gave it a more-than generous helping of organic yogurt, stirring it in with a whisk. I plugged it in as the instructions said.Then, because I had also accidentally opened a half-gallon carton of milk, I did a desperate google search of how to make yogurt in a crock pot. I poured that milk with the yogurt mixed in into four sanitized mason jars, sealed them with sanitized lids, set them in a warm water bath in the crock pot, and turned the cooker to "keep warm." I did not scald the milk before pouring it into the jars.In the morning I checked the Miracle Yogurt Maker. I had sourish milk goop that had no resemblance to yogurt, perhaps resembling milk with yogurt mixed in. When I checked the water bath in the crock pot I noticed that it was too hot at 125 F (I had placed a folded towel over it), so I had little hope that that experiment had worked. When I checked the jars however, I found that the yogurt had indeed set to satisfactory firmness and was quite recognizable as yogurt.The Miracle Yogurt Maker seemed too cool to me, so I checked the temperature with a candy thermometer. After 12 hours of cooking, the bottom of the carton the thermometer registered about 100 degrees F--too cold for adequate yogurt making which requires a temperature of 110 to 115 degrees F. The temperature of the milk liquid at the top of the carton was a mere 90 degrees F. No wonder it failed.We may attempt using the device one more time, covering it with some thick towels to see if this brings the temperature to proper yogurt-making range. If this is what is required it is a shame that it is not mentioned in the instructions.If this does not work we will be attempting to return the product.-----------------------------------Update: Attempting to insulate the yogurt maker to raise the temperature did not work; the temperature still maintains a tepid 100 degrees Fahrenheit. We returned the machine.

I read the reviews here, even the not-so-good ones, and still bought this unit. I came back here to say it worked fine...but it helps to do a little reading up on how yogurt "happens" to understand what it needs. Making yogurt is really easy (and in fact, if you have a bowl and an oven, you don't really need ANY machine), but whatever you use, yogurt "happens" at a particular temperature. This unit's design is great -- but it makes it seem so easy (and the directions are so inadequate), that it looks like you can put your carton of milk in it straight from the refrigerator. I think that's just too much cool temperature for the maker to overcome.I got very good results the **second time** I used it because I didn't try to stick the carton in the unit straight from the refrigerator. I let the milk warm up a little first, then put it in, and wrapped the unit in dish towels. The yogurt was perfect after about 8 hours. I warmed the milk on the stove, first, but as long as it's room temperature, not flat out chilled, I think you're going to have decent results.Yogurt culture WANTS to work: it just needs what it needs, and that is warmth. The unit offers very mild warmth, just what it needs, but imagine you are making this ancient, wholesome food before refrigeration. That is the reason for scalding the milk and letting it cool. But do let the milk temperature rise from refrigerator-level.

I bought this yogurt maker because I don't want to deal with small fiddly jars: I want to make a big jar of yogurt every day or two.I don't like the idea of heating those plastic/tetrapak milk containers - heaven knows what leaches into the milk - so I use glass jars.I haven't found one that's tall enough to take a whole quart or so ... yet. (Suggestions welcome.) So I'm using mason jars that contained (I think) pasta sauces.Anyway, I do it like this: fill up my (clean!!) mason jar with milk, pour it into a saucepan, heat it up on the stove (while stirring) until it's body temperature or a little warmer. Not *hot*, though getting it too hot and letting it cool down to body temperature seems to work well too.Stir in a teaspoonful or two of yogurt ... either store bought or your own ... whisk it around a bit, pour it all into the mason jar, stick it in the yogurt maker and leave it. I leave mine for 24 hours or 48 hours ... until there's no more yogurt left in the fridge and I have to schedule another batch!Makes lovely thick yogurt. I think 48hr yogurt is tangier than 24hr yogurt.I've only made a dozen batches or so so far. I plan to experiment with different store-bought yogurts as starters, and with cooking times.(This all said, I only bought this yogurt maker because the Salton YM9 doesn't exist any more. Such a shame.)

Temp is Too hot for making yogurt