Hello, former home yogurt maker here. I used to do this weekly, using a recipe from Harold McGee in the NYT. The incubator was a home oven left warm overnight

Hello, former home yogurt maker here. I used to do this weekly, using a recipe from Harold McGee in the NYT. The incubator was a home oven left warm overnight. It was pretty painless with a success rate of 100%. But, the result was always mediocre, no matter the starter culture. (I didn't buy pro culture, just made it from different brands of yogurt.) It was always pretty thin, never creamy enough, never tart enough. The next step is of course to strain out some of the whey and doctoring the milk fat. Out came the cheesecloth and the bowls, and ... now I've done it. What was I going to do with the whey? The counter was always littered with stuff, the cheesecloth had to be disinfected and washed and hung dried. I got thicker yogurt, but it still didn't taste great. It dawned on me one day that I was spending a lot of time and money (organic milk, expensive yogurt starter) and putting up with a lot of silliness to get an OK homemade product. I chucked it all. Now I buy the European Style yogurt from Trader Joe's and their brand of plain Greek yogurt, both at $3 a container. I love how those taste. I don't regret having tried to make yogurt, and then quitting. That's been my experience and perspective, and I'm in no way devaluing or deflating the experience of the folks here. I think it's pretty awesome that people are still making their own food. My next dairy misadventure: burrata.