two fermenters, two questions

[Lepetitnormand]

well sounds like I will live in this part of the forum for a while each fermentation bringing a new question, this time a cider and a nut brown ale.

quick background both 1 gallon, no hydrometer and fermeting in the middish 60's, home is in the upper 70's and fermetters are in a 5 gallons pail with some iced botlles.

the cider have been fermenting for 2 weeks with nottingham yeast, there is no airlock activity visible, the moving part of the three piece airlock is on the top of the inside hollow tube and do not move just like it is when I cold crash them in the fridge. That being said I see plenty of bubble going up the fermetter, enough to think that there should be airlock activity, I checked the airlock and stopper and all seems sealed is this gas reabsorbed ? is this usual ?

For the second on e the beer thereseems to be some "dust" on top of it and on the fermetter wall above the liquid level, this was my first all grain so maybe I missed something during mashing but is this usual ?

happy brewing

 

[Calder]

Fermentation is basically done. Bring them up to room temperature to finish off for a week and then take a gravity sample and drink it to see what you have.

The bubbles in the cider are likely just CO2 coming out of solution, and not much fermentation. It takes a lot of small bubbles to move the airlock. But cider has a lot less nutrients than beer wort, and fermentation may be slower. Bringing up too room temperature will help it finish if it hasn't finish yet.

'Dust' on the other. Without seeing it I would suspect yeast on surface and the remains of the kraeusen on the walls. Take a gravity reading and taste it; if done and fine, bottle and drink. You can't tell anything from just looking.

For future reference, you really only need to control temperatures for the first few days of fermentation. It is pretty much done my then, and high temps will no longer hurt it (lagering is a special case). Raising temp after the first few days is beneficial for most fermentations.