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Thoughts from the experts...
Hi everyone!
I'm new here, so please excuse me if I'm starting a topic that's been gone over before.
After my husband begged and pleaded, I decided to try and brew my first batch of cider. We went to the local apple town and got some preservative free pressed cider (3 gal). I purchased camden tablets, yeast (red star) yeast nutrient, etc., from an online site and basically have gone of their instructions:
I sterilized my equipment (glass carboy that I normally use for beer) and Mixed the camden tablets, yeast nutrient and peptic enzyme with a bit of water until it dissolved (as instructed) and added it, along with the apple juice, to the carboy. I let this sit overnight. In the morning, I aerated, added the yeast the plugged it up with my rubber stopper and airlock (sterilized).
The mistuxure started bubbling after about 24 hours, but it never reached a furious pace, like i"m used to with beer. It kept bubbling reluctantly for a little over a week. It's now been almost 2 weeks and the bubbling has stopped, the muck has settled to the bottom and the color has cleared out, more or less ( I don't know how clear it will ever get considering it was not clear to start). I've been fermenting in my kitchen, whihc has probably been aout 66-72 degrees.
I have not taken a SG on it yet. I'm wondering if I should transfer this into a secondary fermenter at this point. I read somewhere about someone adding more yeast in the secondary stage.. If I go to a secondary, do I just transfer it over and let it sit for another two weeks? Is it unusual that it never bubbled furiously?
I know cider is "slow" and I'm fine with that as long as I know that all of this is "normal".
Thanks so much for any info!
Juliette
Take a gravity reading. likely if the cider has cleared and settled to the bottom it is close if not ready for secondary transfer. matter of fact you can kill two birds with one stone and transfer to secondary and take gravity reading too.
I make wine quite often and it doesn't ferment strong like beer does either. From what you described I'd say transfer to secondary and take gravity reading and you're ok.
DC
Thank you so much! It's what I was hoping you'd say.
Now, I was STUPID and in a hurryand didn't take a starting reading. Is there an approx SG I should be hoping for? Should/can i taste at this point?
Once I transfer to secondary (hopefully a plastic pail will be okay), do I just let it putz around in there for a few weeks? How long before I bottle? I plan to carbonate this batch too...
Thanks!
Juliette
Juliette,
It sounds like you have a good start.
It is the protein in the wort that makes the foam on fermenting beer. Cider is not high in protein, and so it does not appear to ferment as vigorously because it does not foam.
The sugars in apple juice are nearly completely fermentable, so you should expect an FG at, or slightly below, 1.000. The OG is highly dependent on the source of the juice and the ripeness of the apples. My juice was 1.054 this year.
Feel free to taste the contents of your hydrometer sample jar. At this point, it may taste a bit "green" or even sulfurous, but that will change with time. Hopefully it will taste "promising." 
Most cider makers recommend VERY long secondary fermentation - a few months at least, a year or more in some cases.
When I bottle carbonate, I use the same priming guidelines I would for beer.
When I want a sweet cider, I use lactose. About half the amount you would use in a sweet stout should do nicely.
Good luck.
thank you again!
I was prepared for a long secondary. My final question (maybe) is whether or not a plastic pail (the one I usually use to sugar beer before bottling) with an airlock on top, would be adequate for the secondary. Otherwise, I think I'll need to transfer it into the pail, clean/sterilize my glass carboy, then move the cider back before hiding it away for hibernation...
Acually, I may want to move it back into the carboy - will make bottling easier. Maybe i'd best get another pail 
)
thanks again, to everyone.
Juliette
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