Does anyone use and have problems getting Fermaid O into solution? According to Scott Labs and Lallemand I am the only person having this trouble. They recommend increasing the amount of water or instead of more water, adding juice to the slurry, but it still takes a good 20 to 30 minutes to work the gumballs into liquid form.
I’ver never used O before.
Jeff -I have not used it but according to the product sheet found here … http://www.lallemandwine.com/IMG/pdf_BAT_TDS_FERMAID_O.pdf …they say that this is a suspension in water. Lipophilic nature of the product makes it not dissolve in water without the addition of excepients. …Gary
I use Bioferm (different brand, but same type of non-DAP nutrient), and I know Fermaid O says to dissolve, but I always add mine dry and have never had any foaming issues.
I used O for the first time this year and didn’t find much difference in mixing than with K.
Did the O seem to work as well as the K? Any difference you notice? Is there price difference?
I find K doesn’t mix that easily either. It does mix, but needs to be stirred lots and still some settles out.
We used Fermaid O for the first time this past harvest. I agree - hard to get into solution. Warm water helps. As does a wire whisk to really beat those clumps up and get it to dissolve.
Due to the effort, I tried adding it “dry” (in quotes, as it appears to be super hygroscopic - it doesn’t stay very “dry” for very long once opened) to some barrels. Mistake. Without the weight of the DAP in the Fermaid K, Fermaid O just doesn’t appear to be heavy enough to sink into the wine. It just floated at the top of the barrel, sliming things up. So I don’t recommend that approach…
Its more expensive, $80 vs. $56. I didn’t didn’t do any comparisons treating the same must with each product so hard to know how they perform differently. I handled it the same as K, whisking it with warm water so I didn’t notice it being harder to get into suspension.
I’m starting to think most nutrients are just an overpriced scam. 
Please explain.
Thanks to Linda’s earlier comment, I ended up adding Fermaid O dry to our bins of red grapes just before a punch down. Seemed to work pretty well, but I still have to stir and stir to get it into solution for adding to pure liquids.
I don’t get ML nutrients, when did they become necessary?
ML nutrients? No, just fermentation nutrients.
Since I have been at Peachy, we have been going more and more to spontaneous ferments. This year I only inoculated 4 whites (and I didn’t use any rehydration nutrients with them). I didn’t inoculate any reds (approx 115 lots). I check nitrogens, but even on slightly low nitrogens, I used no nutrients. I only used nutrients on perhaps a dozen lots this year. No issues at all. When I first started there, they used to do a standard nutrient add on everything, and it seems like a lot of people do that, especially if they do not have the ability to check nitrogens. I think we have all been so accustomed to using them that we think a ferment will not finish without them. Actually, a fermentation only needs 40-140 ppm ammonia to complete a ferment, and I have never ever seen a lot anywhere near as low as 40.