I'm somewhat confused about how this differs from yogurt makers that are already commercially available. I have a Salton one myself, and though it doesn't look very trendy, it works very well. The major difference I see here is that yours is not powered, and that's where my main question lies -- minimal incubation time for making yogurt is something like four hours; if you like sourer yogurt, it's more like eight hours plus. I just can't imagine a non-electric device maintaining a temperature of 110 degrees for 8 hours. The 'non-electric' bit seems like a solution to a sort of non-problem. I mean, it's not as though if you're already in a kitchen with a stove for heating the milk you don't have access to an electrical outlet.

Personally, I think the hassle of making yogurt is the waiting time between heating the milk to 190 and letting it cool back to 110. You have to be willing to hang out near your kitchen for a couple of hours to go through the whole process. I'd like to see a device that incorporated more technology rather than less -- something more akin to a bread machine -- i.e. add your milk and powdered milk (or however you'd want to do it), put your starter in a separate inlet, plug it in and walk away. A simple heating element and a thermostat could heat the milk, let it cool again, and at the appropriate temperature add the starter (like the bread machine yeast), and six hours later or so, having done nothing more than pushed a button, you have lovely fresh yogurt.

(I suppose I should volunteer at this point that I think bread machines are a waste of money, though partially because of how totally unreliable they are -- if you bought one for $100 and got 20 loaves out of it before something broke, that's still some expensive bread. I knead my bread in a mixer and bake it in the oven. However, a heating element with a regulating thermostat has got to be simpler in concept than expecting a mixer also to be able to function as an oven.)

Hmmm, I love it. Can making your own Yoghurt poison you?

Going to try my first batch tonight, prompted by this product. If it turns out well, I may be in for a pre-order myself.

Bruce good on you...product looks great. If I order one could it be delivered to Australia? BTW, ignore all the negative comments on here. Don't know why people have to be so negative or jealous or whatever they are. Being positive is so much easier and nicer :-) All the best.

@bruce... QVC?! Oh wow! If we could squeeze our way in there, sales would be explosive! I once new some there 10 years ago. They demonstrated tools on TV, but they're long gone.

@alan, scott, adam & ryan - thanks for your good words and insight. indeed, i have contacts at both williams sonoma and sur la table . . . but was waiting to see how far this could go in presale before approaching them. much more powerful to have the item rather than just an idea . . .

quirky was supposed to do press releases this week - and i'm very curious to see how sales react to that - but it got postponed due to the 'petal drops' project.

once that's done, then i'll approach w/s, slt, etc. as well as discuss with my contacts at qvc an hsn. the first quirky product on those shows will bring massive new members.

i went to the open house for petal drops last week. as usual, the team was relentlessly upbeat and working furiously (incredibly positive energy). a film crew was recording the whole event, and hopefully will be broadcast. ben showed me some screen shots of the new site, and it's a HUGE improvement . . . in a few weeks . . . patience.

Anyone making more money on Quirky than I am want to buy this for me as a present...anyone. Well when cordies and beamer ship I should have enough. Until then I will lust.

I'd have to agree with Scott.

IMO, this product is meant for a different market. If you could get this into a store it'd sell out so quickly.

Very interesting discussion on here re market research, quirkiness, getting to the sales phase, etc. I do hope this makes it out of pre-sales (I am an avid yogurt maker myself!) I think that for items like this, Quirky needs a slightly different marketing model (online sales here probably won't cut it). Perhaps they are already doing this, but the real place to market such items is to retail stores such as the aforementioned Sur La Table, Williams Sonoma, etc. This'd fly off the shelves there! But if the pre-sales are only from the Quirky community itself (for the most part), it is probably harder to get such niche products out of pre-sales. Oh, and I agree--it'd be cool for Quirky to establish a user forum where we could discuss these issues. Best of luck Bruce! (and a shameless plug for my own invention--please vote for the current round of ideas if you get a chance, and I'd especially appreciate a vote for my creation, the JustInCase(iPhone case with integrated USB/electric cords). I do believe that this is a product that can do well on Quirky (though if I win, I do hope to get it into retail stores as well).

Honestly, I dont see the point in this non-idea based nonsense. To be honest, I wouldnt care if Bruce was Arianna Huffington herself, its about the idea.

Anyway, Ive committed to one now that my NameThis cash has come in, so heres to hoping this will actually reach production. Despite my questioning whether it will function in its current form, Im confident that the Q staff could make it work, and this is still a product I feel Id use quite a bit.