The best ciders I’ve made were straight juice. No added sugars or spices or nutrients necessary. Regular plain old juice will get you around 6.5% alcohol, plus or minus a little bit. If you really need more alcohol, then go ahead and add a pound or two of sugar. But no need to overdo it.
Be aware that if your juice contains preservatives (e.g., sulfite) then it might not ferment as well as the fresh unpasteurized stuff from an orchard. Orchard juice is always better than store-bought.
Personally I get the best results when I heat the juice to ~165 F for 15 minutes, then cool and pitch the yeast. Otherwise you could have wild yeast in there and the results are more variable – usually still very tasty but not necessarily what you’d expect from your chosen yeast strain.
My personal favorite yeast is Cote des Blancs. I have not tried the 71B-1122 but I bet it will make a fine cider.
Also be aware that my advice will contradict many other peoples’ advice. They will say you need nutrients, and should not heat the cider, blah blah. My advice is based on my own experience. I have made many ciders and the advice above is the best way I know how to make excellent cider.
One more thing: No matter what yeast or juice you use, you will need to be very patient with fermentation. It typically will take a good ~5 weeks to finish fermenting. If you don’t wait that long, you are very likely to get bottle bombs. So be careful.
