To stir or not to stir?

I am just about to start my first all grain brew of English bitter or 'real ale' style beer. I have read that the intial yeasts which form will purge the beer of 'unwanted hop fractions and protein debris', and that there is some scum to remove at this early stage as well. Some recipes I have read leave the brew alone after pitching the yeast, others say stir vigourously. Which one is best I wonder? Does stirring disrupt any good work the initial yeasts do? Answers on a postcard to 'curious of Kent' please.
  Incedently I am very new to beersmith and though I do look for answers using keywords in the search tool before asking dumb questions, if anyone has any pointers on using this great website more effectively I would be glad to hear them.
Many thanks, Chuck.

Dear curious of Kent,

The simple fact that you made the effort to use the search engine in the first place means that your a good forum user already .

As to your question regarding Skimming the debris off the top, I think you will find that very few brewers practice this anymore unless brewing a highly hopped high gravity beer. When I first started brewing 25 years ago this was recommended but I can honestly say I know of no brewer today that does it, of course I am sure there are still some that do.

I believe some brewers will skim in order to collect yeast for future brews but this is usually done at high kruesen(sp).

As far as stirring vigorously after the yeast is pitched, that is OK if it is done when you pitch the yeast but is not a good idea after the yeast has become active and you have a layer of foam on top, at this stage you do not want to introduce any more oxygen to the fermenting wort.
So, whisk or stir vigorously when you pitch the yeast to aerate the wort, but not when the wort is fermenting.

Cheers
Andrew

I don't think there is any reason to skim.  All the debris will settle out after active fermentation has stoped.

Don

I still use the "blow out" method to get rid of the foam.  Basically you fill a 5 gallon carboy to the top and put a large diameter hose on the top that leads to a separate container with water, forming an airlock.  As the beer ferments, it forces the excess out the top and into the secondary container.

Cheers!
Brad

I don't skim either.  I used to use a large bore blowoff tube, but I don't do that anymore either, but I do use a food grade anti-foam agent which disapates and drops out during the fermentation.  I don't like picking up bucket lids from strange places. 

Fred

Thanks guys, good advice, it's a pleasure using this forum. Chuck.