--- title: 'Packet-Yeast Mint Lemonade' slug: 'packet-yeast-mint-lemonade' kind: 'recipe' revision: 1 variantOf: 'botanically-brewed-mint-lemonade' source: 'mcp' created: '2026-09-19T14:50:17.796Z' url: 'https://noble-notations.ryanjnoble.dev/recipes/packet-yeast-mint-lemonade' --- # Packet-Yeast Mint Lemonade _Supermarket dry yeast, fresh ginger in the oleo, blanched mint syrup, bottle-conditioned_ The Botanically Brewed Mint Lemonade made with supermarket ingredients only. Dry baker's yeast from a sachet replaces the wild ginger bug. Fresh ginger goes into the oleo to give the ginger that the bug gave. The oleo with juniper, the blanched mint syrup and the pear juice stay the same. The bottles are ready in about 4 days, not 10. It ends near 7.2% sugar. ## Why this revision First version of this variation. Aim: the same lemonade with supermarket ingredients and no ginger bug. 0.5 g dry baker's yeast replaces 265 ml of bug liquid. Water replaces the bug volume. 40 g fresh ginger goes into the oleo to replace the ginger that the bug carried. Organic ginger is not needed, because the yeast now comes from the packet. The added sugar is the same as in the ginger bug version. Baker's yeast works faster than a wild bug, so the PET bottle is checked from 12 hours. Not made yet: all sugar, pH and ABV values are calculated or estimated. ## Variations The same dish taken different ways. Each one keeps its own versions. - Botanically Brewed Mint Lemonade (`botanically-brewed-mint-lemonade`) - Packet-Yeast Mint Lemonade (`packet-yeast-mint-lemonade`) — this one — With supermarket dry yeast and fresh ginger instead of a wild ginger bug ## Categories - **Equipment**: Blender, Fine sieve, Swing-top bottle - **Cuisine**: British - **Course**: Drink - **Technique**: Oleo saccharum, Blanching, Bottle conditioning - **Season**: Summer - **Diet**: Vegan, Gluten-free ## Ingredients - 10 piece Lemon, unwaxed - 60 g Mint, leaves only - 20 g Peppermint, leaves only - 40 g Ginger, fresh, thinly sliced and crushed - 8 piece Juniper berries, cracked - 135 g Sugar, white - 0.5 g Dry yeast - 200 ml Pear juice, cloudy, 100% juice - 1395 ml Water, filtered ## Method ### Lemon oleo 1. Peel the zest from 5 lemons in wide strips with a Y-peeler. Take as little white pith as possible. 2. Cut 40 g ginger into thin slices. Crush the slices with the flat side of a knife. 3. Put the zest, the ginger, 100 g sugar and 8 cracked juniper berries in a bowl. 4. Press the mix with a muddler for 1 minute, until the sugar is damp and smells strongly of lemon. _(1 min · Oleo saccharum)_ 5. Cover the bowl. Keep it at room temperature for 90 minutes. _(90 min)_ 6. Juice the lemons until you have 360 ml. Pass the juice through a fine sieve. > Pulp in the bottle causes gushing when you open it. ### Mint syrup 7. In the last 20 minutes of the oleo, bring a large pot of water to a full boil. _(Boiling)_ 8. Fill a bowl with ice and water. 9. Put 60 g mint and 20 g peppermint in the boiling water for 10 seconds. _(100 °C · Blanching)_ 10. Move the mint into the ice water at once. Leave it for 1 minute. _(1 min)_ 11. Lift out the mint. Squeeze it gently dry in a towel. 12. Blend the mint with 35 g sugar and 200 ml ice-cold water on high for 45–60 seconds. _(1 min)_ 13. Let the mint syrup stand for 10 minutes. _(10 min)_ 14. Strain the syrup through a fine sieve or a nut-milk bag. Press the pulp hard. > The leaves are blanched. Hard pressing adds oil, not a grass taste. ### Yeast 15. In the last 10 minutes of the oleo, put 20 ml water at 35 °C in a small cup. _(35 °C)_ 16. Sprinkle 0.5 g dry yeast on the water. Stir one time. 17. Leave the yeast for 10 minutes. It must foam. _(10 min)_ > No foam means the yeast is dead. Use a new sachet. ### Build 18. Pour the lemon juice over the oleo. Stir for 3–5 minutes, until no sugar grit remains. _(3 min)_ 19. Strain out the zest, ginger and juniper. Press them firmly. 20. Mix the lemon syrup, the mint syrup, 200 ml pear juice and 1175 ml water. 21. Taste the base. It must taste slightly too sweet. The yeast uses this extra sugar. 22. Let the base reach about 20 °C before you add the yeast. _(20 °C)_ > A cold base slows the yeast. 23. Stir the yeast into the base for 30 seconds. ### Condition 24. Fill swing-top bottles and one PET bottle through a funnel. Leave 3 cm of space at the top. _(Bottle conditioning)_ 25. Close the bottles. Keep them at 20–22 °C, out of light. _(21 °C)_ 26. From 12 hours, squeeze the PET bottle 2 times each day. _(720 min)_ 27. Stop when the PET bottle is hard and does not dent. This takes 1–2 days. _(1440 min)_ 28. Put all the bottles in the fridge at once. Keep them cold for at least 24 hours. _(1440 min · 4 °C)_ ### Serve 29. Open the first bottle slowly over the sink. 30. Pour slowly over large ice. Leave the last 1 cm of sediment in the bottle. > Baker's yeast sediment tastes of bread. 31. Slap 1 mint sprig and put it in the glass. 32. Twist a strip of lemon peel over the glass to release its oil. 33. Keep the lemonade in the fridge. Drink it within 1 week. ## Notes ### What this variation changes from the ginger bug version _(substitution)_ - 0.5 g dry baker's yeast replaces 265 ml of ginger bug liquid. - Water replaces the volume of the bug liquid. - 40 g fresh ginger goes into the oleo. It replaces the ginger that the bug carried. - Organic, unpeeled ginger is not needed. The ginger is no longer the source of the yeast. - The sediment stays in the bottle. It tastes of bread. - The lemon, juniper, mint, pear and sugar are the same. - The bottles are ready in about 4 days. The bug version takes about 10. ### Baker's yeast in a lemonade _(science)_ Supermarket dry yeast is a bread strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It is bred to make CO2 fast in dough. The lemonade is very acidic: estimated pH 2.6–2.9, not measured. The acid slows the yeast. A small dose keeps the rate slow enough to catch the bottles at the correct pressure. The dose does not limit how much sugar the yeast can ferment. Time and temperature do. The fridge is the stop. A large dose, or a long warm time, gives bread and sulfur notes. Conditions: 0.5 g per 2 L · 20–22 °C · 1–2 days ### Why the yeast goes into warm water first _(science)_ Drying damages the cell membranes of the yeast. Warm water lets the membranes recover before the yeast meets acid and cold. The foam also proves that the yeast is alive before it goes into 2 L of lemonade. Conditions: 35 °C · 10 min ### Raw ginger in the oleo _(science)_ The sugar pulls juice and oil from the crushed ginger, the same way it pulls oil from the peel. Raw ginger gives [6]-gingerol. Gingerol activates TRPV1, the heat receptor, so it reads as warmth. Heat changes gingerol into shogaol, which is sharper. This recipe uses no heat, so the ginger stays warm and round. The ginger is not fermented. This version does not have the yeasty, lactic ginger note of the bug version. That note is the main difference in taste. Conditions: room temperature · 90 min ### Sugar and carbonation, calculated _(science)_ The base starts near 165 g fermentable sugar in 2 L (8.2%). The bug version starts slightly higher because the bug liquid carries some sugar. About 2.5 volumes of CO2 need about 20 g sugar in 2 L. The base ends near 145 g (7.2%). The ethanol is about 0.5–0.7% ABV. All of these values are calculated. Nobody measured them yet. ### Pressure comes faster than with the bug _(warning)_ Baker's yeast can carbonate the bottles in 24 hours. Check the PET bottle from 12 hours. When it is hard, move every bottle to the fridge at once. Warm glass bottles that keep fermenting can burst. Open the first bottle over the sink. ### Taste it beside the bug version _(idea)_ Make both versions in the same week. Taste them side by side at the same temperature. Record the difference in ginger depth, sourness and body.