Red Star Cote de Blanc yeast starting slow?

[mrzud]

I decided to live life on the wild side and pitched the yeast directly into the cider without rehydrating.

Its been a little over 40 hours and there is no activity. Ive heard Cote de Blanc is a slow starter, but this seems to be a rather long time.

Does activity take longer to start when its not rehydrated prior to pitching?
Is this normal for Cote de Blanc?
About how long would you recommend waiting with no activity before pitching another yeast to start fermentation?
If pitching another yeast, my choices are Pasture Champagne or EC-1118, which one would you recommend?

 

[NUCC98]

I've read in a lot of places that if the unfermented cider has preservatives in it, the yeast will either take a long time to start, or just die out-right.....I'm trying to figure out a way to eliminate preservatives from ciders that are available year-round, so I don't have to always wait until the fall to brew hard cider.....