Raining cats and dogs

It's considerably earlier than I normally post. I'm having the first cup of coffee of the day, listening to it rain like mad outside, and testing out my homemade yogurt this morning. I made it last night. No fancy yogurt maker here. I used 4 -1 quart mason jars, our trusty cooler, a gallon of milk (I used this brand - I support local dairies who can sell me creamline milk in the stores, sorry home cheesemaker rant off now), and a cup of commercial yogurt. I used this brand of yogurt (I picked up the non-fat) as it's just, as Chef said gone off milk with bugs, no pectin, starch, or other things that don't belong in my yogurt (things that make using it for culture more challenging). For the specifics of my method go here. I think my temperature was a little lower than his - a degree or so (maybe I can use this to get a more accurate thermometer...I have to figure out how to sell it though). He says three hours - my first run at three hours didn't look remotely like yogurt. About an hour and a half later though I had a mostly solid mass in the middle and milky whey outside. I pulled them out of the water bath, dried them, and popped them in the fridge. I opened one to sniff - smell of milk/cream and just the slightest hint of yogurt. Much different than commercial yogurt - fresher - not processed tasting. It's not quite as thick either. I'll try to post some snaps before I eat it all/convert it to other yummy projects. One quart is destined for yogurt cheese and I may strain the rest as I like my yogurt a bit thicker. Oh...and the fun part - total cost was about $7 for a gallon plus of yogurt (excludes my time and the little bit of nat gas & electricity used to heat water and milk). I can't get two quarts of the same sort of thing here for that cost. There are some D-I-Y's that just make you feel good (and healthy).