Hard Cider #2

After my first fiasco with cider (it is real hard to screw up cider, but I added some powdered sugar, not knowing it contained corn starch!), I am trying my second. This won will be a little sweeter, I didn't use Champaign yeast this time. Here is what i did last night:

5 gallons of Motts apple juice
1 lb dk brn sugar
1 lb lt brn sugar
12 oz clover honey
s-04 dry ale yeast

The fermentation is much slower than i expected, but all seems well. It is a pretty dark concoction.

That looks good. The SO 4 is not a fast, violent fermentation so don't worry about that. Just remember that you are going to have to give it time. Did you dissolve the honey or just pour it in?

I disolved all the honey and brown sugars in about 1 gallon of juice I heated to just below a simmer.

i have a simlar batch to this going... except its got twice the stuff in it... i have 5lbs of honey, 3lbs of brown sugar, and 1/2 lb of molasses... i know holy ****... but i would guess your fermentation is slower because of your yeast and the honey, honey is a slow fermenter... And you mention dark, oh wow mine is black as crude oil pumped fresh from the ground... took forever to start and looks beautiful now... its 23 days into fermentation and im probably looking at triple that in total primary time, and after that its going into my 7 gallon glass carboy to sit for a very very long time.... basically can until i can see a person standing on the otherside in a well lit room... sounds great though... good luck

Cheers