yeast problems? ... with extract kits

I just introduced a friend into homebrew and brewed my first batches in three years. Anyway, he was hot to brew and so we stopped into brew & grow (because it was the closest) and picked up two kits. He's a Leinie's / MGD drinker... so we grabbed the Novice Gold and American Dream Ale extract kits. Honestly, I've never been too thrilled with Brew & Grow and would rather use Mid-west or Northern, but I wasn't paying for it. Long story short... On the SPG scale they both came in at right around 27 at 74 degrees F after we'd added the yeast. To get the final SPG should we heat the beer back up to 74 degrees? I would assume so -- I saw this fancy hydrometer ( after we got our reading ) that says you should test the beer at 60F. Well 60F isn't going to happen when it's 85F where you're brewing. We made the two batches and I asked him to check on them when he gets up and in the evening -- just see if they're forming the krausen and if there's any overflow. He said they were bubbling like made the first day and haven't bubbled much since. I was concerned, so I went over there and checked them out yesterday -- just 3 days after we put the beer in the carboys the krausen has come and gone and not more than an inch and a half in a 6 gal carboy. They were both still bubbling, but nothing near as active as I would think they should be. I know I need to relax and have a homebrew, but at what point should I be concerned that the yeast isn't going to break down all the sugar and think about adding a smack pack split between the two 5gal batches. I think I always brewed (ales) at between 68 and 72 and never had an issue, but I use smack-packs instead of dried yeast. Thanks for the insight. Ryan **