Stuck/slow fermentation? I'm not sure, never had this happen....

So I'm fermenting 2 different 5 gallon batches of cider right now. Each have 5 gallons of treetop apple juice and half a packet of Nottingham yeast. Batch it is just juice and yeast and is fermenting in a plastic bucket. Batch two is in a glass carboy and I added 1 pound of white sugar by heating a gallon of juice to 160 and then dissolving the stuff. Neither batch has any yeast nutrient.

Batch 2 is still bubbling away. Batch one has stopped and the gravity is at 1.026. A couple days ago it was at 1.028. It fermented like crazy and blew all out the airlock but now there are no bubbles at all. There's a small chance it could be leaking out of the lid since there's no gasket but I've never had this problem with this bucket in the past.

Can I just add yeast nutrient to batch 1 to make it pick back up? Whenever I take samples for specific gravity the stuff is carbonated, so I have to let it go flat before the test. Also why is batch 2 still fermenting just fine?

yes add a little nutrient in dissolved water, but certainly dont add a full dose. do maybe 1/4 of the normal amount since you have already fermented a lof of the sugar and you dont want to have a lot of spare nitrogen etc left at the end of fermentation.

i vote for bucket leakage. during the vigorous portion of your fermentation there was more CO2 being produced that could escape through the gap around the lid so it when out the airlock as well. but now that fermentation has slowed the amount of CO2 being produced is escaping through the gap. as long as the SG is dropping you still have fermentation going on. only worry if it stops and your SG is higher than you want.

i agree with adding the nutrient and maybe giggling the bucket to get the yeast back into suspension. also try warming it up a little if the yeast get to cold they stop working.

What type of yeast nutrient would you recommend? I'm fermenting these guys at 65 degrees. Last reading of temp I took came out at 65.8. Any other insight?