Shake Wort after Pitching?

I've read to shake the wort after transferring to the carboy to aerate the wort. Should this be done before or after pitching the yeast?

Thanks for the help!

Aeration should take place before pitching yeast. After the yeast has been pitched, you want to limit your worts exposure to air as much as possible.

Should you shake the carboy slightly to mix in the yeast?

Don't worry about mixing in the yeast, it will take care of itself.

Aeration and pitching yeast into the wort go hand in hand, and it is recommended that they are done at the same time, or for the analy retentive
pitch yeast and then aerate.

So, we've got conflicting answers here. Any more votes on which method is correct?

Pitch then aerate. The first part of the yeasts life-cyle is an aerobic process, it needs oxygen at that point. Fermentation is an anaerobic process, so that is when oxygen is not wanted.

cubbies said:

Aeration should take place before pitching yeast. After the yeast has been pitched, you want to limit your worts exposure to air as much as possible.

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close....

Once active fermentation has started you want to limit oxygen exposure.

I know people on here will oxygenate the wort several times in the first 12-24 hours after pitching and they seem to make outstanding beer.

nicholschris said:

Should you shake the carboy slightly to mix in the yeast?

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From what I've read the answer is no. I think in "How To Brew" it says you can gently rock the fermenter to get the dried yeast wet, but if you hydrate the yeast before hand you can just pour it in. I think there is no need to even rock it. There is no need to mix it, the yeast is alive and it will grow and take over before you know it. All you really need to be concerned with is that you get the wort around the right temperature and that you've got a good batch of yeast, other than that anything else amounts to personal preference and honestly doesn't make all that big of a difference one way or the other.

malkore said:

close....

Once active fermentation has started you want to limit oxygen exposure.

I know people on here will oxygenate the wort several times in the first 12-24 hours after pitching and they seem to make outstanding beer.

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Interesting. Never heard of that method myself. Everything I have read has said to aerate before pitching, which is the technique I use very successfully, and you would certainly raise the risk of oxygenation if you are aerating after 24 hours. I have had beers get to terminal gravity in 24 hours before. Certainly wouldn't be a good idea to be introducing oxygen at that point.

Honestly, if you pitch then immediately aerate, or aerate then immediately pitch, it makes no difference. Just don't pitch then aerate later after fermentation has begun.

Most people will aerate/oxygenate then pitch the yeast. The only thing with this method is that aerating/oxygenating can sometimes put a bunch of foam on top of the wort. Sometimes this foam will cause a bit of a barrier to the yeast (especially if you pitch dry yeast that hasn't been rehydrated). Just give it a shake to mix it in and you are good to go.

FlyGuy said:

Honestly, if you pitch then immediately aerate, or aerate then immediately pitch, it makes no difference. Just don't pitch then aerate later after fermentation has begun.

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Agreed. My last batch that I used a dry yeast in I pitched then aerated. It took off in 3 hours.

You can shake the heck out of it up until fermentation... if is doesnt start to ferment for 2 days, you can still shake it. Yeast love oxygen... you just dont want to oxygenate your beer once it begins to ferment.

Thanks everyone!

This seems clear to me now.

This forum really answers any question I can ever think of, thanks guys!

FlyGuy said:

Honestly, if you pitch then immediately aerate, or aerate then immediately pitch, it makes no difference.

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Not to say this is the exactly same thing, but in bread making, it is strongly advised not to manhandle the yeast... You want to completely and utterly baby it. For that reason, I feel more comfortable with vigorously shaking the carboy first for a good solid minute, then pitching the yeast into the aerated environment and giving it a gentle 5 second rouse to ease incorporation. In the past, I've been negligent with stressing out bread yeast and the end result was always of lesser quality compared to now where I take close care to baby the yeast.

In bread making it is not the yeast that gets hurt by manhandling. It's the dough itself. You will get chewy glutenous bread by overworking the dough. Or possibly flat bread because you just popped all the bubbles the yeast made already. That is the only reason to baby it.

The yeast itself will be just fine either way.

I rehydrate, pitch, and then shake the heck out of the carboy for a few seconds. Then forget about it till it's done fermenting.

I usually aerate, pitch, then give it a few good shakes and call it good. That always seemed to work well for me and most start fermenting within 8 hours.

Zombie thread. It's alive!!!

I usually aerate, pitch the yeast (I almost always use WYeast liquid cultures), and then aerate again, although slightly less vigorously the second time. The reason I do this is because I sometimes get yeast that sticks to the side/top of the carboy and giving it the second shakes makes sure all the yeast is in the wort. This has seemed to work well for me, and I have no complaints about any of my brews yet. As many have said though, it is what works best for you.