Canadians. Metric or Imperial?

[mattech]

Hello fellow Canadians. I would like to know if most of you brew all in metric, imperial, or a mix of the two?

Sometimes it gets a little weird measuring grams of hops for a X gallon brew, or how many 500ml bottles that brew will fill...

Have any of you made the switch to metric and never looked back, or is keeping it mixed the way to go?

 

[-DELETED-MEMBER-]

Ugh, I use a mix of two. I keep telling myself I'll commit to metric on the next brew day, but inevitably I don't. The biggest hurdle for me is thinking about mash temps in Celsius. Everything else I do in life is Celsius why can't I just do this? I guess the language in the brew books I learned from was all imperial so the habit has just stuck. Maybe my brew day this weekend will be full metric.

 

[peterhub]

When I started brewing (less than a year ago) I converted everything in Palmer's book to metric. Since then I've followed the natural progression from "extract only" to "extract with steeping grains" and now do all-grain. Along the way I realized that everything I was ordering and most recipes use Imperial units, so I switched. I even use Fahrenheit for my temperature measurements.

 

[bonecitybrewco]

I am exclusively imperial yet grew up in the metric system. We Canadians all weigh most stuff in pounds but measure temp in C so I just took the dive into Imperial exclusively. Unless you're going big time you don't ever need to worry about metric.

 

[MaplePaddle]

Grain bill...oz, lbs
Water additions....g
Water...qts, gallons
Hops...oz
Propane tanks....lbs
Whirlfloc tablet....1

Total hodgepodge. Love base 10, but so much learning material is imperial and that's how it all worked out.

 

[day_trippr]

Hadn't thought about it before, but now that the topic has been raised...

Starters: milliliters, grams - and Fahrenheit
Brew Day: imperial gallons and ounces/pounds, except for salts/minerals/acid additions in grams - and Fahrenheit
Cold Side: gallons, ounces/pounds, Fahrenheit - and PSI

Yup. That's a soup sandwich right there, but somehow it all works

Cheers! (I blame Reagan And I just realized I'm on the wrong side of the border )

 

[Sir-Hops-A-Lot]

I've learned how to convert back and forth constantly. It is a great skill to have. Metric makes so much more sense but then again, so does universal health care and a solid public education.

 

[artichoke]

Metric for weights and volumes, Farenheit for temperatures. This makes no logical sense, I know, but it's what I'm most comfortable with and it works well for me.

- Artichoke

 

[Godot]

I'm totally metric. It is occasionally a bother with so many popular online sites, magazines and recipe books using "US units" (I was going to write "Imperial units", but that's another problem with that system). Metric is so much more logical and easy to work with (the decimal system; 0 is freezing; 100 is boiling; 1 litre of water weighs 1 kg; etc.). I refuse to revert back to an outdated, complicated, nonsensical system just because Americans dominate the English Internet and refuse to see the future.

 

[Sailingeric]

I've learned how to convert back and forth constantly. It is a great skill to have. Metric makes so much more sense but then again, so does universal health care and a solid public education.

Hydrometer drop

 

[tgolanos]

Growing up in the States I used nothing but imperial units. Having lived in Germany and now Australia, I know the metric system like the back of my hand. When it comes to brewing (and even cooking) I use a mix of both systems - weights and most volumes are all in metric but I still prefer Fahrenheit for temperature. I find it's more specific than Celsius, especially when it comes to mash and rest temps.

 

[Totally]

I use a mix like most everyone else, though I am not happy about it.

Brewed one brew in full metric and it was a huge chore due to how many items I had to buy in imperial units from shops.

Went back to hodgepodge mix on my most recent brew

 

[rhys333]

I use a mix too. I design my recipes in metric, kg for malt and g for hops. I do stick with 15-30g increments mostly on hop schedules to be in line with ounces. Same with water volumes. I design for litres, but standardize to 19 and 23L (5 and 6 US gal). Mashing is always in Foreignsheit because I'd rather deal with whole numbers like 153F than 67.222C. Strangely though, I switch to Celsius for fermentation temp.

 

[BeerMakesPeopleHappy]

I use a crazy mix of the two. All temperatures are in Fahrenheit, with the exception of my brew/dispensing fridges which are Celsius. Weighing grain and hops are pounds and ounces. DME for starters is grams. All recipes are built using the imperial system. I guess it's like speaking two languages and ending up with a messy hybrid of the two.

 

[ajdelange]

Growing up in the States I used nothing but imperial units.

Except that the US doesn't use Imperial units, they use US units. That's why I stay with metric when in Canada (and largely in the US too). There is only 1 liter.

I'm a bit surprised that people are saying they don't do Centigrade. All the thermostats in my house read centigrade as do all the thermometers I see on banks, etc. My wife and son have no idea what the readings mean, of course.

 

[mattech]

I'm glad that the only way that most of us are on the same page is by being all over the measuring map.

I keep thinking about going all metric, but never quite do it. I should do it once as an experiment just like I would for a new hop or beer style. You never know until you try.

 

[Genghis]

For some things, it's hard to get off of. When all the recipes I follow have grain bills measured in lb/oz, and the local shops sell grain in lb/oz... well...

I drop to grams for greater precision when it comes to hops and water additions. Temperature is still Fahrenheit. Water is still gallons.

It makes sense. Canada has, in my mind anyways, always kind of been a style/culture mish-mash of America vs. the rest of the world. I still measure many things in pounds and feet/inches despite Canada fully adopting metric years before I was born.

 

[brieuxster]

This old Grandfather tries to use Metric for everything. Too much confusion with U.S. Gallons, Imperial Gallons, Quarts, #%@*&

 

[Vedexent]

All metric - but I do struggle sometimes not to give into the temptation to use Fahrenheit for mashing temperatures.

 

[xpops]

Hadn't thought about it before, but now that the topic has been raised...

Starters: milliliters, grams - and Fahrenheit
Brew Day: imperial gallons and ounces/pounds, except for salts/minerals/acid additions in grams - and Fahrenheit
Cold Side: gallons, ounces/pounds, Fahrenheit - and PSI

Yup. That's a soup sandwich right there, but somehow it all works

Cheers! (I blame Reagan And I just realized I'm on the wrong side of the border )

i'm the same way - also grew up on celcius, but when it comes to brewing it's all F, and i can't get my brain to work in C!

Even my fermentation chamber controller is in C...but i still need a C to F conversion chart attached to the front of it to get my ferm temps right!...just craziness...

 

[rhys333]

Except that the US doesn't use Imperial units, they use US units.

...and Americans often refer to their US units as English. Meanwhile, the English use metric.

 

[Brickman]

Metric here for everything other than temperature. Gotten used to is and actually prefer it over Us units. Drives the guys in my brew club crazy but getting easier and easier for me.

Mark

 

[shortyz]

both.

 

[canehdianman]

Metric