I don’t know yet who is more stubborn, me or the yeast. So I checked it again recently hoping it would be ready for racking. Upon popping the lid and there is a decent build up of fermentation smells going on. But the gravity had dropped a whopping 10 points.
So on an off chance I attempted aeration again. And did some thinking. My primary fermentation space is in my kitchen. This space gets blasted with air when you open our back door as well as our garage door. With as cold as it has been, even though the house is set at 70, that space has got to be dropping to a bit lower at any given time.
My next step now is to cover the bucket with a towl. An attempt to regulate the heat just a bit better. As an added bonus I have now also bungee corded a heating pad to the side of the bucket in hopes that it will help to bring the temps up a bit.
Worst case scenario, if nothing moves any more by next week I will call it dead. There is a good chance that the preservatives in the cider (remember this was commercial cider instead of the good stuff) may be much better than originally thought. It will be sad to lose the batch, but some times you have to realize that the horse is dead and its time to get off.
Time for a pint…
10th Day Brewing 
I do hope you accomplish what you hope for. It would so sad if you didn't. :), Good luck with this. :-)))
The preservatives may indeed be the culprit. Did you ever see the time lapse video of what happens to food from McDonald's that is left out too long? Nothing. It barely even molds after weeks. Hopefully your cysor pulls through 😉
It is a learning curve. I have had good luck with commercial honey but this is my first time with commercial cider. I am hoping for it though. Cause it will be tasty if it lives.
Every new batch of something is like a new born child. With childlike glee I relish the work when everything goes right. Currently I am filled with fret and worry that this one may not pull through.
I'm having the same problem with a half batch of stout. I initially had an explosion of CO2 over night the first day (so much that it blew into the airlock!) Three days later, nothing. I aerated it last night in hopes of waking the yeast back up. I think I may try your towel trick if it doesn't look any better tomorrow.
It's annoying when it happens. This is the worst case I have experienced. The heating pad does help to bring a bit of heat when they get a bit too cold.
It must be frustrating trying to figure out what's going wrong and having to play around with the processes so much. It will be a disappointment if it has to be called "dead" but the positive is that you know what to avoid for next time. You live and you learn.
Sometimes the lessons you learn are very sad. But it is from those that greatness can be found. The tough part of this one will be not being able to attempt this particular combo again till next year. I am hoping that our apple crop in Michigan will go much better next year.