Moving cider from secondary fermentation (but not bottling)

Thanks very much for the help with my previous question.

Our first batch had its first fermentation for a little over a week in buckets, then syphoned into its second in buckets with lids and airlocks, currently 1.5 weeks. Then, we received our demijohns by courier today!

Is it OK to syphon it from its secondary home, the buckets with lids and airlocks, into demijohns? I had wondered if the dangers of over-oxidation and disturbing its carbon dioxide might outweigh the benefits of a) really knowing that it is air-tight, instead of hoping (the airlock hasn't been bubbling), and b) being able to see it.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I assume it will be at least another week before it's worth testing to consider bottling. We're very anxious to try it!

Thanks very much in advance.

I'd get it into the demijohn ASAP. Not a fan of buckets when it comes to secondary for two reasons, first they're never really airtight, and second, due to their width, there is too much cider/air contact. While buckets are great for primary with a constant layer of CO2 being produced, they're much more risky when it comes to aging as compared to a demijohn. The potential benefits outweigh the risks in this situation.

I second LeBreton's comment. And don't worry, if there is any carbonation left in the cider, enough will come out while racking to create a nice little cushion on top. You can give it a gentle swirl after you get the airlock on. You'll see a few bubbles come through the airlock, which always puts my mind at ease.

Fantastic, thank you both! We'll do it tonight. I'd definitely be reassured by a bubbling airlock!

Thanks for your replies. We moved the cider yesterday. I suspect it may have already had excessive oxygen contact, having tried some from near the lees - I haven't tried cooking sherry, but I would expect it to taste a little like this. Still, we'll keep it and see what happens, since these are from our apples. We put a blob of honey in each and the airlock is bubbling a little today, so at least some kind of fermentation is still happening. Our other batch, a later experiment with store-bought juice and skimmed yeast, was vinegary and went down the sink.

Still, now we have some decent equipment, steriliser and a new packet of yeast we will start again soon, properly, and should see some improvement. We had a big juicer on loan from a friend and I was going to experiment with different types of apple, but she needed it back and so our next experimentation will be with basic store-bought juice and trying to get a tasty baseline, possibly seeing what kind of difference more or less honey will make to it.