Real-life kernel debugging scenario

This describes a real problem I've had twice in the last two years while tracking Linus's kernel tree:

I update my local kernel sources every morning using cg-update (formerly bk-pull) and compile and install and reboot the new kernel.

Okay. On rare occasions I get a kernel panic on reboot. So... I know that something Linus committed in the last 24 hours is responsible for the problem.

The last two times this happened I was able to guess which commit caused the problem and I emailed the developer off- list and got the problem fixed very quickly. (This is why I love open-source software!)

My worry: what happens when I'm not smart enough to guess which developer to email? My first instinct is to back out the most recent commits one-by-one until the bug goes away.

First:  is this an optimal tactic?

Second:  how to back out individual commits using git or
cogito?  I suppose this is already spelled out in the docs,
but I invite everyone to point me to the relevant places
in the docs that have escaped my attention so far.

Thanks!