Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

So far I am very impressed with this. I just had to leave a review, because I was surprised it was only rated 3.5 stars, it’s amazing! FYI I was previously making yoghurt from store bought plain yoghurt, but whenever it came to using a few tablespoons of my homemade yoghurt from my previous batch, for the new batch, it failed! So I started looking at heirloom cultures; the whole point of homemade yoghurt to me was to continue using the previous yoghurt as a starter for as long as possible, so it’s much cheaper. I use an instant pot 3qt to make yoghurt and have a candy thermometer to test the temp, and a milk straining bag to strain it, that’s literally it. So I put the milk into the pot, hit yoghurt so it displays “boil” and let it warm it up. When it beeps I check the temp of the yoghurt is 160F with my thermometer (make sure to whisk for hot/ cold spots) and it usually has hit 160F. If not, I press boil again, keep stirring slowly and wait for it to reach. I then take it out, place the instant pot pot in a bigger pot and put cold water around it, to cool it quickly. Or you can put the pot in the sink with cold water surrounding it. Once it’s cooled to 110F or just below to be safe, I add the starter yoghurt (2-2.5 tablespoons of my previous batch to around a half a gallon of milk, I use 2%). Give it a thorough stir, but it back in the instant pot and then hit “yoghurt” again, 8 hours on normal setting. Usually this finishes up about dinner time, I then leave it out for a couple of hours to cool a little. Then put it covered in the fridge. Next morning I strain it through an almond milk strainer for a couple of hours in the fridge, because I prefer thick Greek type yoghurt. Then I add a couple of packets of sweetener to make it a tad less tart, though I could eat it without sweetener for sure. The first batch I made with this, when I was culturing the packet, was a lot more runny, it didn’t make anywhere near as much yoghurt because a lot was water which I strained away. But I just saved a little for the next batch and it worked perfect. I am now on the 4th batch and each is thickening more than the previous one, and quicker too. The first batch took 10 hours on normal yoghurt setting before it was thick enough, the following batches have taken 7-8 hours. Sorry for the long review, I figured the homemade yoghurt business can be tricky, and someone may find this useful! I know I read a lot of reviews here before making this purchase.