Metric vs. English measurements

[haaseg]

I was looking at the beergoat application the other day. It's quite nice, but I quickly realized that it's in metric, and all my recipes to date are in english system. Fortunately, it's got a little conversion calculator. Unfortunately, some of the sliders don't include decimals. When converting lbs to kg, I couldn't set the recipe exactly the way I wanted.

It made me think. Most of the recipes you see are tweaked so that you have mostly whole and half pound increments of grain, with maybe a few quarter pounds increments and even eight pound mixed in for more complex beers. I think this pretty much adds up to the human tendency to make things easier on oneself. Who is going to try to measure out 5.438 lbs of grain on their scale.

Given that, what would be the comparison of the finished product between a metric recipe and an english one. I mean, 1 lb = 0.55 kg. But if you were creating the metric recipe from scratch, you'd probably just start with 0.5 kg. I wonder if the affect is less than subtle?

[unkle bik]

I voted "why measure."

I rarely follow a recipe to the letter whether I am making beer or cooking something in the kitchen. Approximations and experimentaion are what makes it more fun. I do write down EVERY recipe and it's proper amounts, though.

Now my wife is a little more anal retentive about cooking and baking. She won't attempt a recipe unless she has the EXACT ingredients in the PROPER amounts.

Not complaining though. She's a great cook.:)

[xtalman]

I am one of the looks good to me type of cooks also. Though I do know that when it comes to baking you do have to me a little more exact or the bread my not rise.

Of couse that being said, my great-gradmother was a fantastic baker and I don't think she owned a measuring cup. My mom had her over one time to learn some of her receipes and great-grandma was like a hand ful of this and a pinch of that and then she would add something while mom's back was turned. Mom did manage to get most of the receipes close to what great-grandma did and at some point if I think to get them I hope I can follow them.:)

[wortchillergoal]

I went with why measure as the only thing I really meassure is the volume of water.

[HogieWan]

I just adjust my recipes for easy measurements - 1 lbs of this grain - 1 oz of this hop (half oz sometimes)

[HarkJohnny]

I think i'm just incapable of following a set of rules. I feel obligated to make a change of some sort to everything.

[brewmonkey]

Having grown up an Army brat and then spending 9 years as a grunt in the Army I am well versed in both English and Metric and can convert in my head fairly quickly, so I use both.

[noby]

I always used imperial for cooking, but do rough metric conversions when needed.

When I started brewing I got burned early on when confusing U.S with imperial volumes, so this is the only area I'm careful with, and convert a recipe to Imperial or metric before starting.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by brewmonkey
I am well versed in both English and Metric and can convert in my head fairly quickly, so I use both.

show off:p

[haaseg]

I'm curious: Those (quite a few) of you who don't measure at all. It seems fine to say that and all, and I'm not really that religious about measurement either... at least at time of brewing. But how exactly do you formulate your recipes and stuff? Do you not keep journals of your brewing and batch information? How do you order your grains?

I just image someone walking into the LHBS and saying: Giving a big bag of that pale malt there, and a handful of the chocolate, and maybe 2 handfuls of the light crystal.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by haaseg
I just image someone walking into the LHBS and saying: Giving a big bag of that pale malt there, and a handful of the chocolate, and maybe 2 handfuls of the light crystal.

I did that once - I recommend formulating the recipe first. As far as measuring, If something says 1/2 oz flavor and 1/2 oz aroma, I pour the oz on a paper plate grab about half and toss it in - I don't weigh anything.

[Lamprey]

Originally posted by HogieWan
If something says 1/2 oz flavor and 1/2 oz aroma, I pour the oz on a paper plate grab about half and toss it in - I don't weigh anything.

That's exactly what I do with hops, wood chips, etc. I do weigh DME at home. I weigh specialty grains at the store.

[HogieWan]

Originally posted by Lamprey
That's exactly what I do with hops, wood chips, etc. I do weigh DME at home. I weigh specialty grains at the store.

dme goes in at 1 pound increments - lme at 3.3 pound increments - any questions?

[haaseg]

Okay, I'll go with that. We usually just order our grains crushed online and throw in what they send us. Last weekend we actually weighed them for the first time... not so much because we thought we had too, but because we got curious about how accurate they were. It was more like "You know, they could be short-changing us and we'd never have a clue". Actually, everything measured just a smidgen over.

But I think we're getting side tracked a bit here... the original point of the thread was whether or not the subtle difference in ratios in the grain bill had any effect.

e.g. someone making a brown ale might do:
English:

8 lbs Pale Malt - 84%
0.75 lb Breiss - 8%
0.5 lb crystal - 5%
0.25 lb chocolate - 3%


Metric:

4 kg Pale Malt - 82%
0.5 kg Breiss - 10%
0.25 kg crystal - 5%
0.125 kg chocolate - 3%


Now that I've actually done some math, I see that the difference doesn't equate to much difference at all. So much for science... might as well just throw stuff in the pot without measuring ;)