That's one way to look at it, but without establishing it has an impact on things like OG (which some adherents claim it doesn't), any adjustments would be on a whim. Now we know where to go. That's how science works.
Don't get me wrong - I'm glad one of your folks decided to tackle this rather large chore, and I hope there will be more exbeeriments looking into LoDO.
I say rather large chore, because it takes a lot of work to try to tighten up a system to be able to consistently hit a low O2 goals. I know I'm not there yet. I am experimenting with the phenomenon, and have an open mind about, and am excited about the prospects it offers, but I am not yet an adherent, and am a born skeptic in everything, low O2 brewing included.
I am still lagering my two attempts, so I can't speak to the quality of the final product, but I can speak to the observable phenomenon like reduced color, suppressed aroma during mash, and an undeniable fresh sweet cereal grain flavor during fermentation that has never been there before. So it is obvious that it does SOMETHING. What it does, and the observable qualitative differences it produces, I have yet to see, but I am cautiously optimistic.
I think this experiment could be repeated and simply using a gentle stir after mash-in to verify temperature uniformity could reduce or eliminate the huge efficiency differential, which, in my opinion, threw off any results. In my last (only) two Low O2 batches, I still got 75% brewhouse efficiency (I stir).
Anyway, like I said, I applaud the effort, but wish it would be repeated, knowing a simple method to ensure closer efficiencies. It would make the experiment more valid in the eyes of many.
I don't have a dog in this fight, and I think it shouldn't even be a fight. It's one more optional process that nets results that may or may not be to the brewer's liking (like step mashing, decocting, different sparging methods, etc.) (And for the record, my personal jury is still out on this matter).
My only criticism is that I just don't think the experiment was terribly effective because the beers were too different even before evaluating any impact that low O2 methods would have.
I really hope you guys will do a few more. I love reading your exbeeriments.