Thanks for all the advice folks, very much appreciated, I'll let you know in a fortnight how it worked. (Though if it doesn't it'll be difficult identifying which one of the myriad of system failures caused the dud batch :)
As might be clear from the header I'm an absolute novice at this lark. My fiance bought me a cider making kit and I've been trying to make a decent stab at making it. One particular issue is causing me concern. There is a seal-able plastic 5 gallon vessel for the fermentation process in the kit...