Did I pitch bad yeast?

Hi all,

I just started my first cider yesterday, a very simple recipe; 5.5 gallons Old Orchard 100% Apple Juice w/ no added sugar, gluten free, no artificial preservatives & no artificial flavors, SG 1.050 @ 66.7 degrees. For yeast I used Red Star Pasteur Champagne from my LHBS, there was no expiration date on it but I assumed it was good. I re-hydrated the yeast in 100 degree water for about 10 mins and then added a cup of the apple juice to the mix and let it sit for about another 10 mins before I pitched it. Almost right away the yeast settled on the bottom of the carboy, the juice is still cloudy though so I'm guessing there must be some suspended in the juice. It's been about 26 hours now and I'm getting almost no activity, maybe a bubble every minute or so. This is my first time using this yeast, I've only worked with ale yeasts and they've all been super active within 12 hours. So here are my questions:

1. Should Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast be on the bottom of the carboy?

2. Does it take this yeast a long time to get started normally?

3. If the yeast is bad can I rescue this by throwing in an ale yeast or something else?

4. Do I need to just RDWHAHB??

Thanks for the help!

Give it a day or two.
When you hydrated the yeast did it puff up? http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-5.html

I just use safale-05 on my cider, so i dont have much experience with Champagne yeast.

Nottingham is another option for the cider. I have been using it in my Ciders and really have liked the outcome. I just put the yeast in with half of the last cider container. Shake it up and pour it into the carboy.

JoeBronco said:

Give it a day or two.
When you hydrated the yeast did it puff up?

Click to expand...

Yeah, it definitely did puff up, I think the yeast was probably fine. When I checked it this morning it was bubbling away, about every 10 seconds. I'll probably go with Nottingham or another ale yeast next time, from everything I've read the wine yeast is going to finish way too dry! Thanks for all of the help!