Just how wrong have I gone?

[lwcm]

First time cider

Used 5 gal of pasteurized gala apple cider with nothing except apples and ascorbic acid kicked up with 4 12 oz cans of apple juice concentrate with ascorbic acid.

Rehydrated and pitched 1 sachet of Nottingham at around 70 f (this carboy doesn't have a thermometer on the side like my others yet but it felt like my other full ones did), along with 2 tsp of yeast nutrient tossed in OG was 1.060. nothing happened for three days and no gravity change. Figured it was bad yeasties so I pitched a sachet of Montrachet Champagne yeast. got a little ring of yeastie beasts on the top and some CO2 but no bubbles in the airlock. Waited 3 more days and took a gravity reading (1.052) got impatient and sprinkled some US-05 into the thing. No drastic change in the fermentation, just that little ring got bigger.

Reading all the "OMG cider is easy" makes me think I did something wrong but for the life of me I don't know what's up. It IS fermenting, just stupidly slow. Reading over successful recipes on HBT just shows dump a bunch of stuff into a carboy, add yeast and hooboy you have hard cider in a wee while.

Any helpful hints?

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I'd say it's either a PH issue or a temperature issue; maybe a bit of both. Sounds like the Montrachet is currently the dominant strain. You could just let it go as is, or you could try raising the PH and/or the temp to kickstart the ale yeasts.
Regards, GF.

 

[lwcm]

I'll have to pick up some Ph paper this weekend to see where I'm at. What should I be shooting for? Would adding more yeast nutrient sprinkled into the carboy yield any benefit? There are already 2 tsp onboard.

 

[stpug]

I wonder if any of your Apple product additions contained potassium sorbate. A friend of mine ran into a similar situation using a quality cider that contained potassium sorbate. I don't think there's anything you can do once it's in there.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Take another hydrometer reading & go from there. Montrachet can ferment stealthily & should be able to handle a lower PH than any ale yeast. If it's still not going, check for sorbates and/or other preservatives. You might raise the temp to 68*F to kickstart fermentation.
Regards, GF.