Help w/ pitching yeast

Ok. I took 5 gallons of unpasturized, preservative-free cider...crushed 5 campden tablets, mixed with warm water and added to cider. Waited 12 hours, then added 50 drops of liquid pectin(10 per gallon as per bottle). Waited another 16 hours and then took 8 oz warm spring water in a sterilized plastic bottle, added 2.5 t of yeast nutrient, one pack of nottingham yeast, stirred and waited 15 min. Then I took about a cup of my cider and mixed it in with the yeast. and waited ten min. before shaking the hell out of it and pitching. My question is this: When I first added the cider and put a lid on the plastic bottle I was using, I noticed the lid was bulging and almost popped off every 30 seconds unless I relieved the pressure by opening it. After shaking though, it was not producing any gas or bulging the lid out. I pitched it anyway and after a few hours, there isn't the slightest bit of activity in my bubbler. I had heard that I was supposed to aeriate it by shaking it before pitching...was this not true? I know fermentation isn't supposed to start for 12 to 24 hours and somtimes even longer, but would'nt you think since it was producing gas and bulging the lid of my bottle that I would at least see the bubbler raise even a little bit? I'm leaving to go out of town today and won't be back until Sunday night and if it's not going to start fermenting before I go I wanted to make sure it would'nt be ruined by the time I get back. Can anyone help me or did I totally screw up by shaking it? Thanks.

Nope, sounds like you did everything correctly. The little yeasties love oxygen at the very beginning of fermentation. Not sure about the pressure before shaking though, could be temp changes, suspended gases, etc.

Did you aerate the larger vessel of apple juice as well?

Shaking the yeast before hand won't hurt anything. I will help.

Yes. After pitching the yeast, I stirred the cider vigorously creating bubbles for about a minute. Should I swirl or stir more?

The outgassing at forst could have been SO2 from your campden tablets, did you notice a smell? Shaking probably forced out much of the dissolved gas, so that would stop the pre-yeast bubbling. Give the yeast time to get started, you'll have fermentation soon.

Andy77 said:

The outgassing at forst could have been SO2 from your campden tablets, did you notice a smell? Shaking probably forced out much of the dissolved gas, so that would stop the pre-yeast bubbling. Give the yeast time to get started, you'll have fermentation soon.

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Yep. And when she gets going, be prepared for the fart smell of all fart smells.

Mine smells awesome.

Expect bubbling by tomorrow afternoon.

A. "Foaming during re-hydration is no indication of yeast condition."
B. It will ferment.