Crazy crock pot yogurt

I knew as soon as i herd of crock pot yogurt that it sounded gross and crazy but i totally wanted to try it! you wanna a know something I made some yummy granola! I  am super proud of my self!!
You will need:
--8 cups (half-gallon) of whole milk--pasteurized and homogenized is fine, but do NOT use ultra-pasteurized. (I only had 2% its kinda running but still good, next time ill use whole milk to see the difference in texture)

--1/2 cup store-bought natural, live/active culture plain yogurt (you need to have a starter. Once you have made your own, you can use that as a starter)

-- 1/2 cup sugar (optional)

-- 1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)

--frozen/fresh fruit for flavoring

--thick bath towel
The Directions.

This takes a while. Make your yogurt on a weekend day when you are home to monitor.This is so exciting. My fingers are shaking!

Plug in your crockpot and turn to low. Add an entire half gallon of milk. Cover and cook on low for 2 1/2 hours.
Unplug your crockpot. Leave the cover on, and let it sit for 3 hours.
When 3 hours have passed, scoop out 2 cups of the warmish milk and put it in a bowl. Whisk in 1/2 cup of store-bought live/active culture yogurt, vanilla and sugar Then dump the bowl contents back into the crockpot. Stir to combine.
Put the lid back on your crockpot. Keep it unplugged, and wrap a heavy bath towel all the way around the crock for insulation.Go to bed, or let it sit for 8 hours.
In the morning, the yogurt will have thickened---it's not as thick as store-bought yogurt, but has the consistency of low-fat plain yogurt.

I thought it was good, I thought the flavor and it still kinda warm reminded me of homemade tapioca, which i love. I put the reaming batch in two ball canning jars and put in fridge, i have read other blogs and im am going to to some variations to see the difference on taste and texture will be. I also plan on blending some up with the frozen fruit i have. Today i just added the homeaid granola to it yummy! I am so happy with the way it turned out!
I say if it a try here is a rough cost brake down:
4 cups store bought dannon yogurt 4.00
1/2 gallon whole milk 2.00 which make 8 cups,
so you are spending half the money and getting double the amount!
*update even better after been in the fridge, I think this is will be how I have yogurt all the time!