First Cider Questions

I'm thinking about making my first cider. I was planning on using a 6.5 gal ale pale and fill it almost all the way up (6+ gal) to minimize air space. Hoping to have a drinkable product by Halloween (I know people say it needs to age but I just just want something halfway decent now). I'm aiming to make a slightly sweeter cider, I may have to mix in more apple juice or splenda with the finished product to achieve this but I was thinking about the following recipie:

6 Gallons apple juce (no preservatives, etc)
Wyeas cider acivator
5 lbs brown sugar

Heat up in slow cooker with cinnamon sticks etc to serve.

You do realize, that heating it will drive off some alcohol. Serve it chilled.

You know, there's been so many threads lately with people wanting cider/apple wine that's ready to drink by Christmas or Halloween, and they keep being told that cider and wine take much longer than beer to be ready to serve. If you want something that will be even slightly drinkable by halloween forget the extra sugar and just ferment the juice, and you better start it today. Cider takes 4-6 months to even be ready, longer if you're adding extra fermentables. Hell, carbonating cider takes longer than beer, and in my experience it takes about 2 months before the cider reaches it's proper level of carbonation, that's just barely enough time for just the carbonation! If someone wants cider in November they should have started it back in May. Drinking Green cider is no bueno, go ahead and make the recipe, but wait to have it untill summer or halloween next year.

I'm a patient man. Drink last years cider by Halloween. I haven't tried to rush things, but I once had cider that didn't clear in 1.5 years, another didn't clear at all. I've discovered a couple tricks. Clarifying agents can be iffy, chose the wrong one, it never will clear. Pectic enzyme, yeast nutrient, and correct temperatures help. Freezing, or near freezing temperatures can encourage precipitation. Some stubborn stuff I was about to dump, I gave to a friend. He called two days later to say he left it outside in 25 degree weather. Next morning, it was clear and delicious. Freeze concentrating removes impurities and water. I use a plastic iced tea container with tap. It is rectangular, made to use up a minimum amount of refrigerator space. Freeze hard, open the tap and drain into a container. Stop when it warms enough to leave a brown snow nearly filling the jug. This concentrates the beverage to about double strength. You can do it again, to make something akin to brandy.

I just opened a bottle of hard cider I made back in June or July, and even though I was new to cider making, the batch turned out very well. Well enough to have a dinner guest ask me if I would make her some.
I started out using Red Star wine yeast, and didn't like the end result. Granted, I didn't know cider should be treated like beer in terms of brewing, and the initial results were bad, very bad. After following the advice of a long term cider brewer, I started using ale yeast. ESB 1968 to be exact, and my ciders got better quickly. I use ESB 1968 as my house yeast, so I always have some on hand. The ciders I have made lately have been much better to drink. The last couple of batches I have freeze concentrated and have made some nice apple schnapps.