YM80 Yogurt Maker

First the problem. The timer did not, does not work! It didn't move! I set it for twelve hours and it never worked. Now when the time was up, (I have clocks), I checked it. It was perfect. Firm, creamy and delicious. As good or better than any yogurt I've bought in the stores and I've been eating yogurt for over seventy years. I've also owned and used a very expensive yogurt maker before. This is the simplest and the best. I am very pleased. Definitely recommend this. I read all of the reviews and all of the comments and directions. Then putting it all together I made the first batch. I used the seven cup Pyrex bowl with a cover that so many suggested. So, here's the formula: heat 6 jars of cold whole milk in a 7-cup Pyrex bowl in the microwave for no more than 1 minute. Take it out of the microwave (test to be sure it's only very lukewarm, add ½ cup powdered milk, and 1/2 cup of the very best unflavored Greek yogurt I could buy, after that it's a jar that you have saved from the last batch). Put it in the machine on two layers of folded paper towels. Gently blend, place the cover on. I placed a small folded dish towel on top of the machine. Turn the machine on for 13 hours. Check it after 12 hours by slightly tipping the bowl to see if it is thick. If you think you need an hour more, OK, but no more than that. Put the snap cover on the pyrex bowel and put it in the fridge. (Before you eat any of it, be sure to fill one of the jars to use as a starter for the next time.) This was very thick, there was no liquid until I removed a bowl full. I ate it with honey and berries. Absolutely delicious. When I used it the next day I gently drained off any liquid in the bottom of the bowl. There was no need to strain. This could have been sliced to serve with berries for company. I'm updating my review. I have continued using this little yogurt maker and I am more pleased with the results every time I use it. It is extremely reliable. Producing the creamiest best flavored Greek yogurt you can imagine. I have recommended it to several friends. After seeing the machine and enjoying the Greek yogurt made in it they are impressed and one ordered one right away. Sometimes a product is as good or even better than advertised.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent Yogurt Maker – Simple, Reliable, and Worth Every Penny I couldn’t be happier with this yogurt maker. From the very first batch, it delivered rich, creamy, delicious yogurt that easily beats anything I’ve bought at the store—and without preservatives, fillers, or artificial ingredients. The machine is refreshingly simple to use. No complicated controls, just an on/off switch and a clear indicator light. It quietly does its job, and the transparent lid lets you peek in without disturbing the process. Yogurt-making really doesn’t get any easier than this. I especially love the seven 6-oz glass jars. They’re the perfect size for individual servings, and the BPA-free lids seal tightly so the yogurt stays fresh in the refrigerator. Cleanup is effortless—everything EXCEPT THE BASE goes right into the dishwasher. What really makes this yogurt maker shine is the flexibility. I can use different types of milk, control the tanginess, and flavor the yogurt exactly how I like it after fermentation. Straining it for Greek-style yogurt works beautifully too. It’s incredibly satisfying to know exactly what’s in my food, and my digestion has definitely noticed the difference. Between the quality build, ease of use, consistent results, and generous 3-year warranty, this yogurt maker is a fantastic value. If you’re thinking about making your own yogurt at home, don’t hesitate—this machine delivers. one more thing, there is NO TIMER... only a dial to set as a reminder of how long you want it to culture. Highly recommended!

This is the most simple and wonderful yogurt maker I have ever owned. I got the top tier extender and use one cup canning / jelly jars in the bottom and the jars that came with the machine in the top. I wrap a bath mat over the machine so there is uniform heat in top and bottom and don't have to switch tiers as some recommend. If you are considering buying this product I encourage you to do so without any hesitation. AND there is no need for the timer (or even the "hour marker" that comes on the machine). Buy the "cheaper" "stripped" model without the timer. One other thing I found handy is I put a wet washcloth on the bottom before I put the jelly jars in and it seems to disperse the heat more evenly. I lay it across the round of the bottom and the four corners stick out a bit. PLEASE NOTE: the extender will NOT sit exactly sealed when you use the jelly jars on the bottom as they are a bit too tall. But using the bath mat makes a wonderful "blanket" and the slight gap makes NO difference in the yogurt. A further note - I wanted to make greek yogurt and read about all the "straining" and other effort necessary and was so discouraged. But I simply use greek yogurt culture for my starter and it makes VERY THICK yogurt without the fuss. My EASY recipe is - I do NOT heat the milk etc. I take room temp milk (from our cow), put 1/2 cup yogurt from the store or yogurt from one of the 6 oz jars that comes with the machine - in the bottom of a glass pyrex one quart pouring measuring pitcher, whisk in a little milk to disperse the yogurt, then add three cups of milk and whisk again. I then pour it into jars and place them into the machine and repeat until I've filled as many jars as I want to. I would give this gift to ANYONE who has a cow (or goat). I cannot say how it works with store bought milk as I have never used it. I do know friends who add a little dry milk powder to their milk to make it thicker - but the greek culture works great instead for me. Many people also make milk from almonds and coconuts and have success with yogurt that way - so maybe the storebought almond milk and coconut milk in the milk cartons would be great for yogurt too as an alternative to dairy. I hope this review encourages people to try this product and EAT LOTS OF YOGURT with full control of what goes into their bodies. This is a LOVELY, SIMPLE and well made machine. And the price is absolutely WONDERFUL. Another bonus - it has a TINY footprint and all the parts nest (upside down etc) very nicely so it fits easily in my cabinet and doesn't take up much space on my counter when in use. While it is bigger than my toaster, it fits where a toaster fits on a small counter. Another tip - I put the cardboard case that the jelly jars came in in my cabinet and as they are emptied they get put in there until refilled. I make sure that I eat the yogurt jars that came with the machine last as they are 6 oz vs the 8 oz jelly jars and save enough to make the number of jars I want. I only buy culture about once every three months - a quart of plain greek. I buy new when the culture gets a bit runny. I absolutely LOVE this little machine.

Well thankfully i got a working mostly right unit (so far) and temperature never went past 114 degrees after 8hrs (decided to quit testing after 8hrs since temp stayed the same for last four hours).. Temps were however off in different areas of unit the first 3 hours, after that they evened out to 113-114 in all areas. I used three 1 cup pyrex glass containers filled with water at 107 degrees to test unit every hour. these were my results: after one hour; front left side 109 - back center area 110 - front right side 109 after two; left 111 - back 111 - right 109 after three; left 113 - back 114 - right 111 after four; left 113 - back 114 - right 113 hours five thru eight stayed at same temp as hour 4 (with exception of left side going up to 114 once) for me this unit is acceptable since i am using pasteurized milk and its still below 115 degrees but, if it gets hotter than 115 any time soon, its getting returned since i need a reliable unit that won't kill off the extra probiotic strains i add to my yogurt starter. Overall i like the unit, my first probiotic yogurt batch in it using jars (before testing unit because i was impatient and wanted to make yogurt right away) came out okay overall. i left it on for 8hrs, mixture came out looking thick with whey areas and solidified well overnight in fridge but, quickly liquified into a extra thin creamy mixture the next day after i stirred 2 drops of ezsweetz into one of the jars. it had a slight chalky taste (user error when adding probiotics powder, not unit error i believe), yet it tasted decent but, it tasted more like creamy milk than 'yogurt' to me. different taste and texture for sure than store bought and until i perfect a thicker creamier more yogurt tasting result, thinking i personally will continue buying my fage 2% plain yogurt for enjoyment and use this yogurt maker to make my needed daily extra probiotic filled yogurt while i learn to perfect a thicker yogurt without having to use dry milk or thickening agents. If you like fage/thick yogurt, thinking buying the strainer that goes with these euro cuisine makers is a good idea afterall. Oh and the unit did get a bit of condensation on cover, i ended up going ahead and cutting corners off a papertowel and lightly placing it over jars so no water would get into them, worked well and caught the drops that dripped when i was taking lid off. UPDATE: going ahead abnd buying the "Euro Cuisine GY50 Greek Yogurt Maker" aka strainer and straining chilled yogurt for almost 2 hrs (till 1 cup whey worth, which was 1/4 of my batch) made the best medium plus thick and creamy tasting yogurt ever! just as good as fage total, if not better! I did not use the jars this time to make yogurt, only to store finish yogurt in. Instead I used an Anchor Hocking 7-Cup Glass Round dish/bowl which fit perfectly in the unit and more evenly fermented the yogurt IMO..no grainy chalkiness whatsoever with this batch! highly recommend getting the strainer.

I love this. The batch came out great on my first try because it’s so easy to use. I have been trying to reduce my daily plastic use and I got 1 week of morning yogurt from this. I used the cultures from this same company and the yogurt came out tangier than I’m used to but I actually like it. However, I’ll be experimenting with that. Now, I make this for myself only, so if you are feeding a family I’d get the products that let you make in bulk or just get used to using this every other day or so. As others have said this model doesn’t have a timer but if you have a clock or a phone or can do math in your head I think you’ll be fine. (An aside I went ahead and bought their Greek yogurt fine mesh strainer)

Performs perfectly. Many thanks to the reviewers who recommended using the 7 cup Pyrex bowl rather than the individual jars. I have been able to make yogurt easily in as little as 6-8 hours using whole milk and Maple Hill whole milk yogurt as a starter for my first batch. I bought the separate strainer but find that my yogurt is plenty thick without straining. Update: Bad news. Not even 3 months old, only used 4 times, and the thermostat is apparently wonky. I had a batch of yogurt turn out watery and loose last night and checked the temp; it was 122 degrees. To be sure it wasn’t a oneoff, I did a water test this morning. After only 3 hours, the water temp was 121 degrees F. I’m going to try just putting my milk and starter in at 110, with the machine off, then wrapping a towel around it. Hopefully that will work but it’s disappointing.

I bought this yogurt maker over a year ago, and it's still going strong. In terms of product durability, the only thing that has "broken" are the little rubber foot pads at the bottom have fallen off, but a dab of superglue fixed that quickly. I've been making batches of yogurt back-to-back in this baby, and I love how quick the setup is. I usually start a new batch late in the evening, so that it can incubate overnight and be done by the time I'm up in the morning. I take one little jar of yogurt from my last batch and scoop it into a pot, then use the emptied jar to measure out six more jarfuls of milk into the pot. Stir the pot well with a ladle, then ladle into all seven jars, stick the jars in the yogurt maker and put the big plastic cover on, set timer, press the red button and go. In the morning, I lift off the plastic cover (you'll need to be a little careful here, there will be lots of water condensed on the inside of the cover, and you don't want that dripping into your yogurt), cap all of the bottles with the provided lids, and stick them in the fridge to cool. Yogurt is done! The yogurt I get is never as thick as the store-bought kind that you can stand a spoon in, but I'm ok with that. My yogurt is a little viscous but still liquidy, kind of like cake batter. You'll need to play around with the incubation time to see how long you'll need to get the tartness and viscosity you want. For me (California Bay Area weather), if I use whole milk straight from the fridge, I incubate for 11 hours for a slightly tart, slightly viscous yogurt. You can go as low as 9 hours if you don't want it very tart but still viscous. For 2% milk (again straight from the fridge), 10 hours for a tart, viscous yogurt. I've tried 12 hours with 2% milk before, and it came out completely watery. So again, keep trying different times. If you want your yogurt thicker, you can try heating the milk first. Measure out six jarfuls of milk into a pot (don't put in the yogurt starter just yet), and heat it for half an hour. Don't boil it, you want just under simmering. Then cool the milk to room temperature, and warm the yogurt to room temperature. Once both are ready, scoop the yogurt starter into the milk, mix, and ladle into the jars, etc. The heating denatures the fat proteins and spreads them out into longer strands, so that your yogurt has the fat more evenly distributed for a more even network that binds better for thick yogurt. Higher fat content in the milk will make thick yogurt easier to get. Don't expect store-bought thickness if you don't plan to add gelatin, like they do. I've only made plain yogurt, since I'm not interested in sweetening mine, so please keep that in mind. My roommate likes stirring in spoonfuls of jam right before eating, though. I also never bother with pre-heating the milk (too much trouble, and I'm lazy). There are lips in the jars that are hard to clean out with a dish sponge, so I let the jars soak for about 15 minutes to get the extra yogurt to dissolve, then rinse them out and wash. The provided lids are definitely not leak-tight, but the jar opening is a standard size and I've found that lids from spaghetti sauce jars fit perfectly, and are much more leak-tight. Want more bottles than just 7? Like other reviewers have said, the larger baby food bottles are the perfect size. Also note that when the yogurt maker is done, the beep is very subdued. You can hear it if you're listening for it and you're not far away, and it beeps several times, but it's not loud enough or high-pitched enough to be attention-grabbing and bring you out of that game that you're getting really into. It's more of a reminder than an alarm, and it's about half as loud as my microwave's beep. Great product, and I highly recommend it if you're willing to play around with it a bit. The routine I've settled into is quick, easy, and requires very little cleanup. I'm very pleased with my yogurt maker!

I eat a lot of yogurt - I have been buying Fage at Costco and I can polish off a 1kg container (that's 35oz) in about 2-3 days. Even though I reuse the containers and recycle them when I can't use them anymore, I still worry about whether all the plastic I put in my recycle bin actually gets recycled. I have heard that a lot of it just goes to landfills anyway. So I wanted to make my own yogurt. I bought this particular yogurt maker because of the number of good reviews, and the price. It doesn't have a timer, and, like another reviewer, I like to have more control over the process. Having said that, I just opened up the lid of my first batch of yogurt and it is outstanding! I have tried making yogurt before: in the oven on low with the door open, with different fat-content milks, in my food dehydrator (it has a pretty precise temp control), and in a pan of warm water inside an ice chest. Nothing gave me yogurt - all I had was milk that tasted like it had a spoonful of yogurt in it. This batch is so good! I had intended to leave it for 12 hours, but I couldn't wait and just ate some after 8 hours and it's delicious. I'll leave the rest in for another few hours and see if it gets a little more tangy. Here's what I did: I poured 7 jars' worth of fat-free milk from a local dairy (not organic) into a large saucepan, added 1/2 cup (120ml) of dry, non-fat milk powder (I used Bob's Red Mill, a local company in Portland, Oregon) and heated this mixture to 185F degrees (85C). I let this mixture cool to about 95F degrees (32C) and added one jar's worth of Nancy's (another local company) non-fat yogurt. I mixed it well and poured it into the jars. I turned the maker on and tried not to hover over it! I did put the probe of my digital thermometer inside the compartment, next to the jars of yogurt and the temp was about 105-110F (40-43C) I thought the volume might be too much and the jars would overflow, but it all went into the jars and, like magic, I have yogurt! I read a blog last night about using some of your last batch of yogurt as a starter for the next batch and the blogger said (and I am paraphrasing here) he found that freezing a little of the previous batch to use as starter keeps the bacteria fresher and they work indefinitely. In microbiology terms, this makes sense - you just keep propagating the bacteria in the yogurt, but they can get "tired" if they have been in the fridge too long, and they can't do their buggy thing and reproduce like crazy. I probably eat enough yogurt, that mine will be ready for the Ironbacteria competition, but I will try the freezing thing if my yogurt comes out too runny. As with all my reviews, I will post an update after several months of use and let you know how the product is holding up. Update 5/20/2012: I am still making yogurt at least once a week from the same batch I started with and it still tastes good and is definitely not runny; the last batch was made from a jar that sat in the fridge for over a week before I had time to make another batch and the yogurt still turned out fine. I haven't had to try the freezing method. I am so happy with this purchase, I can't recommend it highly enough.