My first batch of cider period...

So I just started my first batch today, and honestly can't wait to see how it turns out... As far as what went in:

4.5 gal Walmart brand apple juice

6 cans of apple juice concentrate, also Walmart brand

Around 2 or 3 tsp of yeast nutrient

One packet of Red Star Champagne yeast

OG of 1.042

My question is: How long, approximately, should it take to take off?
I never realized how impatient I could be...

Nice, im also doing my first cider with the same yeast, im imagining it should be within the first 36 hrs. My wine lady told me to stir it or shake it twice a day i imagine to keep the yeast in suspension. Good luck

Yeast loves apples. With what you pitched I'd say you will probably have steady activity in about a day. I used a 2 quart starter in my last apple wine batch. Total batch volume was 3.5 gallons. 2 days after I pitched I was getting 7-8 bubbles from the airlock per second. OG was 1.1 on that though.

Lots of people make cider/apple wine with no yeast nutrient at all. As long as you are using real apple juice, and aren't aiming for a high abv that works just fine.

Checked it today, and it was just bubbling away. It is being kept at my parents' house since swmbo and my apartment is too small for the two of us as it is. It smells heavenly. I wanted to ask about bottle carbing... How many volumes of CO2 should I set the priming calculator to in order to find my sugar? I also wanted to sweeten it with something like stevia to retain the sweetness and was wondering how I would do that and prime with something that might still give me that apple-like flavor?

2.25ish, the calculator here has values for lots of different brews, including cider.
http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

Your priming sugar is going to ferment out to produce your co2. So, the flavor of it isn't really critical. Other then it not be something crazy like molasses or something.

To add apple flavor, it's fairly common to use apple juice concentrate to back-sweeten. The problem with that is all the extra fermentable sugar you are adding. That can lead to over carbonation and/or bottle bombs. The safer choice to back-sweeten is a non-fermentable like, lactose, sucralose, or like you mentioned stevia.

In most people's heads apples = sweet. I think you will find that if you sweeten your finished cider you are unlikely to need more apple flavor. I would suggest sucralose, specifically baking splenda, as it has a neutral flavor profile. Both lactose and stevia bring there own flavor compounds to the party as well as sweeten.

alpha224 said:

Checked it today, and it was just bubbling away. It is being kept at my parents' house since swmbo and my apartment is too small for the two of us as it is. It smells heavenly. I wanted to ask about bottle carbing... How many volumes of CO2 should I set the priming calculator to in order to find my sugar? I also wanted to sweeten it with something like stevia to retain the sweetness and was wondering how I would do that and prime with something that might still give me that apple-like flavor?

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I was worried about the flavor, that yeast smells super bready, but im sure that will go away. For the carbing I think 2.25 would work but you could also go higher for a cider to make it a bit crisper like 2.7

Checked the gravity today after two weeks, and it was about 1.013. Decided I will bottle tomorrow (Oct. 1) and use my shiny new bottles that came in the mail the other day... One case of flip-tops in the 16 oz size and two cases of 22 oz bombers ... The sample tasted like a young/cheap apple wine: kind of dry and a pleasant apple after taste.

1.013 is a little high for an OG on cider. Have you had the gravity stay the same over a period of 3 days or so?