Cider Not Fermenting

[StiefelHund]

Hi All,
I have 3 gallons of fresh pressed juice from a friend's family farm. He added K-meta and K-sorbate per label instructions. I received the cider 48 hours later and added a packet of D-47 (without rehydrating), a pound of table sugar, and shook the carboy for 45 seconds. After 48 hours there was no airlock activity or gravity change, so I added 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient, shook the carboy for another 45 seconds and resealed. Another 48 hours passed, and no airlock activity and almost no gravity change (3 points down). I decided to rehydrate a packet of Red Star Cotes des Blancs yeast, add 1/2 teaspoon more yeast nutrient, and re-shook the carboy for another 45 seconds or so. Now, another 36 hours have passed and still no change. Any ideas what might be wrong? I've never had a cider take this long.

Thanks

 

[BILTIT]

What is the temperature of the juice? Ambient temp?

Might need to warm it up to get it going.

 

[StiefelHund]

What is the temperature of the juice? Ambient temp?

Might need to warm it up to get it going.

Started off at 64F with the D-47, and raised it to 68 after a couple days. It's now at 72F for the last 48 hours since I added the Red Star yeast

 

[indolent]

Potassium sorbate prevents yeast from reproducing. You don't want it in your juice prior to fermentation.

 

[StiefelHund]

Potassium sorbate prevents yeast from reproducing. You don't want it in your juice prior to fermentation.

Thanks for the feedback. Anything I can do at this point?

 

[dmtaylor]

Just wait. It will most likely ferment anyway with all the yeast you put in there. Just leave it alone now for 6 weeks.

 

[StiefelHund]

Thanks everyone, I'll see if it starts fermenting. If not, I may pitch it onto a D-47 yeast cake from a cider I'll soon be kegging.

Assuming it does finally get going, one way or another, will bottle fermentation be possible?

 

[Splyntr]

I had the same problem but it started going after about five days then fermented strong for the next week. Just be patient and it should start up.

 

[Maylar]

The threads I've seen here from people fermenting juice with preservatives they usually end up massively over pitching the yeast. One suggestion was to dump in a bunch of cheap bread yeast to kinda "absorb" the sorbate before pitching your desired yeast. Good luck with it.