Yeast: Aeration or Tamping

[scibiobeer]

Most brew recipes I've seen call for some sort of "top" fermenting strains.

What's the school of thought on pitching yeast:

1. Stir/Shake to aerate?

or

2. Sprinkle and gentle "tamp" yeast onto surface of wort in primary?

[Tronathon]

I pour between my 7.5g boil kettle and the 6.5g primary fermenter until the beer is frothy and such (like 10-15 times) once it has cooled below 80 degrees. Then I pour a little wort into the fermenter, add the yeast, and pour the rest of the wort on top.

Stick it down in my 68 degree basement and there ya go.

[BrewDog]

Pure O2 through a diffusion stone for about 90 seconds.

[Tronathon]

In How to Brew Palmer says that too much pure O2 causes sweet "insipid" beers. have you had any problems with that?

[BrewDog]

Nope. A healthy starter, a bit (not too much) O2, and proper temp control work wonders (assuming you have your sanitation regimen in line).

[Mikegobrew]

What I did is take a 10 inch section of copper tubing. I drilled 4 holes about an inch and a half down the copper tube. Drill all 4 holes around the tubing in the same area by turning the tube 1/4 turn each drill. Then used sand paper to smooth out the holes. When I transfer to the fermenter from the height of my burner stand (just above the carboy or bucket) I use a foot long section of 1/2" hose, with one inch piece of 3/8" hose as a coupler to the copper tubing. The wort passes through the copper tubing and the holes cause the air to be sucked in aerating the wort upon transfer. It'll foam like crazy especially in a carboy, so I have to swirl it to knock down the foam a little. Sometimes I get busy doing something else and find the foam coming out of the carboy on transfer but oh well, I just spray some StarSan on the neck before putting the bung on. Since I started doing this about 4 batches into my brewing history 4+ years ago, my beer's been great. Sure, the air being sucked in isn't "sanitary", but neither is shaking a carboy and I'll bet I get more dissolved oxygen in the wort than any method other than pure O2 being used. And it is extremely cheap.

Edit: Not sure now that I read the original question again if this isn't off subject. I don't get how option 2 of "tamp" yeast would aerate the wort, or if the question is how to add the yeast. If it's how do you pitch the yeast I think your thinking to much.

[Mill Rat]

Back to the OP's question. Toss the yeast in. As long as the wort's not hot enough to kill it, a top-fermenting yeast strain will quickly find its way to the top without any help, and a bottom-fermenting strain will drop to the depths all on their own too. Don't overthink this. It's not where you place the yeast to start, it's where they end up on their own.