At a glance
Zing Technology
A faster route to sours, fruited sours, and quick, expressive tart beers.
| What it does |
Lets a single yeast strain produce lactic acid during fermentation, for clean tartness with no bacteria.
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Why it matters
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Gives you greater control over acidity and flexibility in your schedule.
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Best For
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A faster route to sours, fruited sours, and quick, expressive tart beers.
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Dialed by gravity
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Acidity tracks original gravity, roughly 1 g/L titratable acidity per 1°P; a 12°P wort lands near ~10 g/L.
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The tech
What is Zing?
Zing technology lets a brewing yeast make its own lactic acid while it ferments, and lets you scale tartness with starting gravity. This allows you to plan acidity the way you plan alcohol. Think of it as an alternative path to sour production.
Function
How does it actually work?
Brewer’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) doesn’t have a natural pathway to produce its own lactic acid. Lactic acid is produced in the presence of the enzyme lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), which is usually found in Lactobacillus and other lactic acid-producing bacteria.
We created Zing Technology by adding the LDH-producing gene from our Lacto blend to our Voss Kveik strain, which allows the yeast to create lactic acid and ethanol simultaneously without phenolic off-flavors or co-pitching.
The fermentation path to lactic acid and ethanol starts off the same. Simple sugars (glucose and fructose) are converted into pyruvate through a reaction called glycolysis. Then the LDH enzyme converts a portion of the pyruvate into lactic acid. The rest of the pyruvate is converted into ethanol via the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), just like what happens with yeast that doesn’t contain the LDH enzyme.
Tartango
Making sours with just yeast
Voss Kveik with Zing. Clean, fast kveik fermentation with a built-in bright, citrusy tartness scaled to gravity. Here's what makes it helpful.
| Dial it by gravity | Pick your OG and you've largely picked your sourness; a 12°P wort lands near ~10 g/L titratable acidity, roughly 1 g/L per 1°P. |
| Single strain sour | No bacteria, no co-pitch, no separate souring vessel. |
| Fruit pushes it further | Adding fruit during fermentation raises acidity. |
| Keep control at high gravity | Above ~15°P, acidity (TA over 15 g/L or pH under 3.2) can stress the yeast and lower attenuation; ferment a 50/50 blend with Voss Kveik to pull it back. |
| Can be repitchable | Often more viable than yeast harvested from a stressful kettle-soured batch; harvest promptly. |
The data
How to dial in the tartness
Acidity scales with original gravity. At 12 °P, expect approximately 10 g/L titratable acidity. For every 1 °P increase or decrease in original gravity, titratable acidity typically changes by about 1 g/L in the same direction. In other words, by selecting your original gravity, you've largely determined the beer's sourness before fermentation even begins.
Next Steps
Simplify your tart beer production
What's your kettle going to do with all of that free time?
Stay bubbling,
The Omega team