Complete rookies.... help!

We wanted to try brew our own Cider... we found this amazing site and read a few post then just decided to dive in. Now we have a couple of questions from the gurus...

First a little run down...
we bought 12 liters of yummy apple juice from the supermarket.
re-hydrated EC-1118 yeast and pitched it.
Unfortunately (foolishly) we did not add any extra sugar and did not take an OG reading.
It fermented slow and steady then after 2 weeks it had cleared so we racked it and topped the headspace with 720ml more juice.
We have left it to bulk age and now want to back-sweeten, bottle and allow to carbonate before pasteurizing.

My questions are:

*How much juice should be added for back-sweetening and allowing further bottle carbonation??? (dont want it very sweet just want to take the dry 'edge' off if that makes sense, also hope this will give it a little more flavour as the champ yeast seems to have left it a little bland)

*Is there any way for us to determine the ABV without an OG??? We did take a hydrometer reading but because we are such amateurs we took it after we had pitched the yeast... even then it was very low 1.042

any guidance is much appreciated

Since you didn't add anything, you could just buy another bottle of juice and find the OG, but I'll be willing to bet it was 1.052 !

^what he said.

When it comes to backsweetening & priming, I suggest first adding in your backsweetening. You can easily do this to taste by adding just a bit at a time until the desired level is reached. Then, on top of that add your priming sugar, which should raise the SG by 0.003-0.004. Then follow the pasteurization sticky as normal.

Awesome thanks for the advise!!! Got a reading from juice OG at 1.046 not super high but still a decent alc... Going to back sweeten n bottle this wknd.... Thanks for the carbing tip lebreton

I made 5 gallons of hard cider this fall with a bunch of orchard apples fermented with the natural apple yeasts. Also, this is my 1st fermentation... I added cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spices and a lot of brown and white sugar. I have it in a 5 gallon jug with air lock and I am ready to put it into smaller containers.
I know I can freeze it, but what are my other options?
Can I can it like I would tomato juice or will it continue to ferment and break the jar?
Also, I froze, or attempted to freeze some. It has been in the freezer two days now and it is like a slushy. I have read that in a typical freezer anything under 64 proof freezes solid.
Is it possible that I have 64+ proof hard cider?...?... just doesn't seem possible without distillation.
One more... What kind of hydrometer should I get to test the proof?

Can I can it like I would tomato juice or will it continue to ferment and break the jar?

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Pasteurization temps will kill the yeast.

Also, I froze, or attempted to freeze some. It has been in the freezer two days now and it is like a slushy. I have read that in a typical freezer anything under 64 proof freezes solid.
Is it possible that I have 64+ proof hard cider?...?... just doesn't seem possible without distillation.

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Most yeast have abv tolerance well below 20%. You likely still have high sugar concentration. Concentrated juices will not freeze solid.

What kind of hydrometer should I get to test the proof?

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One frem your LHBS. Hydrometors do not check proof per se. You use Og-Fg to calculate the ABV.

It's not too late to add sugar to your batch. I suggest 4 lbs of standard white granulated.