To agitate while fermenting, or to leave alone

This has been a constant argument with my home brew friends. Do you agitate the wort during fermentation, or do you leave it be?

 

Leave it. The points achieved with rousing makes it not so worth it id say. Let the wine makers rouse.

 

I've never done it and all my beers finished fermenting

 

As far as I can tell, there is zero benefit to agitating wort during fermentation. Pitch enough yeast with enough oxygen and keep it at the right temperature, and you don't need to do a darn thing to your beer until it's time to transfer.

 

Normally rousing is not required. However, with bigger beers, particularly if you are using a strongly flocculating yeast, it may be a good idea to give the fermentor an occassional swirl when the fermentation is slowing down. This will help get the yeast in suspension and help to prevent apremature stop in fermentation.

 

I think rousing is an acceptable counter measure... I do not think of it as a technique.

That being said, I have heard tell of brewery's that have agitators in their fermentors but I believe that it's main benefit in those applications is exclusively for the purpose of shortening cellaring time for quick turn-around.