ThicBot
ThicBot is a homemade yogurt machine I’m currently working on.
It’s going to make it easy to make fresh, thick yogurt right at home. Just add milk and starter culture, select your consistency level, and press start and your yogurt will be ready in 12 hours. There will also be an option to make protein powder.
Why Yogurt?
I’ve been a big consumer of yogurt for several years now. In fact, it’s the only snack I buy.
I like the fact that it’s high in protein. As someone who likes to build and maintain muscle mass, it can be tough to get the recommended amount of protein throughout the day. Having yogurt as a snack makes it easier.
Also, because it’s higher in protein, you feel more full afterward, and so you’re less likely to eat something unhealthy later on.
Yogurt is also a fermented food that contains live active cultures, which are great for your gut. Research has shown that gut health has a big impact on your overall health and well-being.
Yogurt has also been around for a long time, around 10,000 years. For it to remain popular for so many generations (and across different cultures) is a positive sign for me. It’s clearly been working for a while!
I also just enjoy the taste and texture of yogurt, and perhaps more importantly, the way I feel after eating it. It’s tough to describe but I just generally feel better throughout the day after eating yogurt.
Why Homemade?
Homemade yogurt typically produces a tangier and more complex taste. Different starter cultures produce different tastes and consistencies.
Just like with coffee beans, you can try different types to see which one you like best, rather than resorting to a generic version at the store.
You can also be more precise about what level of consistency you want for your homemade yogurt (by deciding how long to strain it).
Also, most store-bought yogurt probably won’t have the same level of live active cultures as homemade yogurt, simply because it takes time for it to be produced, and then transported, and then stocked on shelves.
Which means homemade yogurt is likely to be better for your gut and digestive health. As with most foods, fresher yogurt is just better.
Other Yogurt Machines
There are currently a few homemade yogurt machines on the market.
The problem is that they don’t handle the most tedious part of making yogurt at home, the pasteurization process.
Most homemade yogurt recipes call for heating up the milk to 180F and then letting it cool down to 120F, all while stirring the pot. This can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half (depending on how fast you heat and if you use an ice bath to cool it down).
With current yogurt machines, you need to do that process yourself, and then deposit the yogurt into the machine, at which point it will ferment the yogurt (hold it at 115F for 8–12 hours).
ThicBot
With ThicBot you won’t need to worry about heating up and cooling down the milk while stirring the pot.
The first version of ThicBot will handle that for you. Just put the milk in, and once it’s been heated and then cooled to 120F, you’ll hear a beep, alerting you to add in the starter culture.
The second version will add in a compartment for the starter culture, and automatically deposit the culture once it reaches 120F. That way, all you need to do is insert the milk and starter culture at the beginning and then wait 12 hours.
Future versions would add more functions, including
- Straining the yogurt to your desired consistency. Just select your preferred thickness level.
- Processing the liquid whey from the straining process into a protein powder. Liquid whey is the byproduct of straining yogurt. A separate compartment could convert that into protein powder, so you wouldn’t need to buy protein powder from the store.
- Cooling down the yogurt to fridge temperature (potentially).
My goal is to get a first-version prototype working. I don’t know enough to build a commercial machine, but I think I can at least build a basic prototype that would garner some interest, and then maybe do a Kickstarter to validate the concept.
If the Kickstarter gets funding, or if there’s enough interest in the prototype, then I would hire the right engineers to improve it and build future versions.
If you’re interested in receiving an early version of the ThicBot, just let me know by leaving me a comment or e-mailing me at kenny@snackdial.com.
Also, if you’re a hardware engineer, and this project sounds interesting to you, please reach out.
Thanks for reading!
