Euro Cuisine Yogurt Maker, Large, Green

ممتازة في صنع الزبادي ونقول وداعا للطرق القديمة

I needed to find a yogurt maker where the temperature and time can be set, so I settled on this one. For anyone who wants to make L. Reuteri “Super Yogurt”, you know it needs to be kept at 99f for 36 hrs. This can do that and after several attempts, I’m getting very good results. My first attempt separated into curds and whey very badly, so I wanted to see if it was because of this maker. I have a wireless meat thermometer, so I taped it to the edge of the jar. What I noticed was, every time I messed with the settings, it would get hotter. What I think is happening is this does not have a thermostat, so its not kicking in/off based on the content’s temperature. When you set the temp and time and hit “start”, its assuming the contents is cold, so it does some heating right away. So, even though I had it set to 100f, and the contents was at 100f, if I then turned it down to 98f, the contents would rise to 104f. ✳️ When I set the temperature and didn’t mess with it at all, it kept it right in range…and I watched it closely…until the battery in my thermometer ran out. ✳️ I was going to return it after the first batch but going on what I learned, I tried a second time (using the curds and whey from the first batch) and the second batch still separated a little, but much less. The 3rd, and subsequent batches, were perfect. L. Reuteri needs to be awakened and it might take you a few batches. What you see in my picture is my 5th batch. ✳️ I suggest when you make a batch, fill it up all the way (just under 2 quarts of scaled half and half – very important) and make sure its around 80f. Set it, forget, and harvest a perfect yogurt 36 hrs later. ✳️ Other comments. The thermometer it comes with is useless, but I used the cheese bag and that worked well. I love the size and convenience of this. It doesn’t take up much counter space and if I’m going to make a batch, I’m going to make 2 quarts every time. I was also very successful making this yogurt in my Sous Vide and InstaPot but I’m afraid of burning out my Sous Vide and the Instapot takes up too much room. That’s why I’m keeping this.

This unit works very well, I do like the large glass jar for making one big batch at a time. The entire kit is very nice, with good instruction manual, strainer bag, large glass jar (2qt), thermometer with red and green marks for heating milk and adding starter. I would like to experiment with different recipes and incubation time settings in the future. My first batch turned out great using the euro cuisine starter culture pack. save a lot on not buying store bought yogurt. Highly recommended

I have now used this yogurt maker about four times, and it works quite well. The temperature it maintains is 103°, which is somewhat lower than the optimum range of 105-115°, according to my research. I start a batch at around 110-112°, and it slowly drifts back over the fermentation period to 103°, and that seems to be OK. A seven-hour fermentation time also seems about right. There is no timer to shut it off. If there was one I would give it a five-star rating. I also bought the glass jar to replace the plastic bucket that comes with it. It has two drawbacks: it doesn't quite hold two quarts of milk - about one cup short; and it is hard to empty out because of the narrowing at the top for the screw-on lid. I'll go back to the plastic bucket. Update: September 2015 I have now used this unit about every five days to make 2 qts. of yogurt. We eat a lot of it around here. In recent weeks the yogurt has been watery, and upon checking the temperature today I found, after 8 hours of fermenting, it was barely 90 °, nor the optimum of around 110°, which it never was even when new. So the unit has failed and produced two qts. of warm milk. It's done, and I'm sorry I bought it.

Temperature was all over the place and stopped heating up at all to make yogurt. I am returning after 3 tries.

I found a web site with pretty good directions that said to only use 1 tablespoon of yogurt to inoculate 1-2 quarts of milk, so I followed that one. however, I left the first batch (my last 5 cups of milk) too long, and it separated and was a little lumpy. funny, I had checked it at 6 hours, and it seemed fine, but I thought it was still too soon, so I went to sleep and didn't wake in time to unplug it when I should have. truth was that it was already done in 6 hours, because I made another batch today and checked it at 6 hours, and it was firm ... still left it for 7 hours and it is still very firm, so I unplugged the machine, this time, and put this last batch in the fridge. guess i'll find out in the morning, if it turned out as good as I think it did! also, I added a heaping tablespoon of raw honey to the second batch, while the milk was cooling and about 150 degrees. another thing I did was heat the milk hotter this time ... to over 190 degrees which really scared me, so I quickly did a search and found that some sources actually recommend heating the milk that hot! I added the heaping tablespoon of yogurt at about 115-120 degrees. you can find the web site I'm referring to by googling "foolproof homemade yogurt science" ... it's 'girls guide to butter' in the address, and the site is quite informative and very interesting. from all I've read, the problem with the first batch could be that with a yogurt maker that gets fairly hot, it would take less time (and I left it way too long the first time). also, I read that adding too much yogurt to the milk could make the finished yogurt too thin, as too much bacteria would be too crowded and not have enough room to ferment and grow. I'm still a novice at this, and I just hope my 2nd batch comes out better (not that the first one wasn't good). I did have to pour the first batch into a bowl and whip it with a whisk to smooth it out, tho. I've thought about adding a teaspoon of pectin to the hot milk but decided to see what happened without it first. if I learn more, i'll be back. I haven't made yogurt in over 20 years, so I'm having a lot of fun (and saving money)!! :) I'm making a bit of a mess of this review, but I wanted to get it in as quickly as possible (it's getting late). I forgot to add that because of reading reviews about how hard it is to remove the lid and raise the yogurt container out of the machine, I left the lid loose and then put the clear top on with a terry towel folded over it, to try to keep any extra heat from escaping the top. I thought that might make the yogurt maker run a little warmer? I don't know, but it seemed to work. sorry my review seems so jumbled (guess that's the way my mind works! lol) but I think I included most everything, except that I used a 1200 watt microwave at 60% power to heat the milk (approx. 10-12 min.??) in a 2-quart anchor measuring cup/batter bowl (pretty sure that's how it got so hot without starting to boil). also, I used 6 cups of whole milk and stonyfield organic whole milk plain, unflavored yogurt for the starter. :) I should come back to try and clean this review up some so it's easier to understand, but I've no time right now. lol as an aside, I really do question why a simple yogurt making machine would cost twice as much as my cone-filter coffee maker? and I love my simple, no-bells-and-whistles, coffee maker and think it's very well made. UPDATE 06/14/14: I had some yogurt for breakfast this morning, and both batches are delicious! the first, slightly separated and lumpy, batch that I had to whip smooth is mild flavored and totally awesome (seems very fluffy!), and the second batch is very firm, mild flavored, and only slightly (a tad) sweet. i usually always pour the separated whey off my yogurt every time i open the container ... saves from having to strain for greek style, and it works for me. i might end up buying a strainer, but i already have too many kitchen appliances as it is (and not enough counter space). right now, i would say that both batches of yogurt are perfect ... just slightly different, but both batches have a flavor that leaves me with a craving for more!! this IS the perfect yogurt flavor, especially the batch without the raw honey ... just love the "natural" yogurt taste! :)