Not necessarily. Years ago, I used to pick up the carboy and shake it, but that can be pretty dangerous if it’s slippery or if you’re near anything that can bump against it.
There are devices that aerate the wort by splashing on the way into the fermenter and I’ve also heard of a paint stirrer that collapsed to fit through the neck of a carboy. I think it was on this forum…
I use either straight oxygen through a sintered stone (usually for about a minute, full open), or a mix-stir until you need to stop.
I’ll use the oxygen on bigger beers or ones where I have some concern about fermentation, but the mix-stir is great for normal beers. I didn’t get the mix-stir until I started doing no-boil meads; it’s invaluable for that. But now that I have it, it’s much easier to do that than get out all the oxygen stuff. Cheaper too.
Hmm. I just tilt and rock the carboy back and forth really hard for about 5 minutes. No lifting. Seems to work for me, although I have bought a mix stir recently which is easier, but not helping me built up my biceps
The thought of tilt and rock scares me to death these days, even though that’s what I used to do. It just seems like one of those things that will work great right up til the day the carboy breaks.
Simple, low tech solution - place carboy in plastic milk crate. tip crate up on edge (one hand holding top of milk crate, the other on the top of carboy). Rock back & forth. This protects very well against potential breakage while also making the mechanical action of rocking back & forth very easy. You can aerate your wort very effectively.
I have a plastic milk crate for each of my glass carboys. Use them for storing, moving, etc. Also protects against one carboy knocking up against another - with potentially disastrous results. Keeping the carboy in that protective container is a good precaution throughout the cycle of carboy use. Be safe.