apple cider newbie question

*sorry about the extra post, at first it went to the wrong place, apologies*

I have brewed a few batches of beer, a belgian golden, a framboise and a chocolate coffee stout, all of which turned out to be really good. I'm trying to brew a cider, and I bought some store bought apple juice (3 gallons) which I added some water and sugar to get the sp. gravity just right. However, on adding champagne yeast its been 2 days and I still don't see the primary bubbling away. Is this normal? I dunno if cider ferments at the same robust rate that a regular beer would. I wanted to ask before I popped open the lid to check the specific gravity.

One of my buddies says that store bought cider has preservatives which might've killed the yeast. He also said that adding regular sugar is probably not a good idea and that I should go with corn sugar. I frankly don't see that from a chemistry standpoint since both of them are basically sucrose, a double sugar. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Ranjan

Check to see if the juice has preservatives or if it's just pasturized. If it has preservatives, you are probably out of luck, the yeast is "dead". As for adding the water and sugar, I have made cider with store bought, organic, pasturized cider. One batch, one gallon, I didn't add anything but yeast. Just added the yeast, White Labs Sweet Mead yeast, to the glass jug the juice came in, and popped in an airlock. Turned out great, just a little dry, which is what a few people have told me happens with "homemade" hard cider. Another batch, 5 gallon, I used the same brand of cider, poured all into a carboy, and added 3lbs of honey and WYeast 1056 American Ale yeast. This batch came out a little "sweeter" but still on the dry side as compared to say a Woodchuck Cider. I wouldn't add the water, you'd just be diluting the juice. Good luck, Cheers,