Back on October 16 I made a German Apple wine for a demo. I pressed about 50lbs of apples, a mixture of Johnathan, granny smith, macintosh, honey crisp, golden delicious, gala, and maybe one more variety. This gave me almost 3gallons of juice. I then added two more gallons of store bought juice to make 5 gallons. The ingredients in the store bought juice are listed as apple juice from concentrate, filtered water, and ascorbic acid. No other ingredient listed, no mention of preservatives. I then added 2lbs of corn sugar as per the recipe here for German Apple wine, and stirred to dissolve the sugar. Since I used fresh pressed apple juice, and was doing it outside, I hit the juice with some potassium sulphite, 1/4tsp per gallon for sanitizing is what the packet said. I waited 24 hours and added a packet of Montrachet. The gravity was 1.070. Several days and absolutely no change or activity. The gravity was still 1.070. I figured maybe there was still some sulphite left, so I gave it a good vigorous stir, and added another packet of Montrachet a bit later. Still nothing. I checked the gravity, still 1.070. Checked the pH at 3.6 and the temperature of the actual juice is 70 degrees F. I carried a sample of the juice to my local brew shop. The guys there, some being beer judges, said that the juice was still ok, i.e. no infections, but still smelled of sulphite. I then bought a drill mounted lees stirrer. I sanitized it, and stuck it down the opening of the carboy and let her rip. I kept it going for a good two minutes. I covered the carboy opening with cheese cloth, and waited 24 hours. I then stirred it with the lees stirrer for two minutes again, covered with cheese cloth, and then added another packet of Montrachet 12 hours after the last stir. I gave it a couple of more days, checked the gravity. Still sitting at 1.070. pH is still 3.6 and the temp. of the juice is 70 and the room temp is 73. I decided to put in maybe a teaspoon full of Fermaid, and stir it in. Few days later, still nothing. I know my yeast is good, all in date, rehydrated by the directions on the packet. I make sure the rehydrating water is the right temperature. I just do not know why this apple wine is not fermenting. Only thing I can think of is possible preservatives in the store bought juice, but none were listed in the ingredients on the jugs. Any excess sulphite should have dissapated by now I would think.