Awful American units!

[531Man]

"you need to multiply US gallons by 1.2 to convert to imperial."

Err... You have that back to front @An Ankoù.
You need to multiply US gallons by 0.8 to convert to imperial.
I think what you meant was - You need to multiply US gallons by 1.25 to convert FROM imperial gallons?
Hope I got this right and it helps.
Regards,
Robin.

 

[JohnB]

And if you think measures are a problem, try writing an English computer program, when the spelling of commons in a computer uses the US equivalent: color = colour, etc.

With brewing I stick to Imperial, it just makes my life easier being brought up in an Imperial age.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I’ve lived through the switch to metric so pretty comfortable with both system but I do have preferences simply based on routine, I’m a creature of habit…

Like many, I started brewing using kits. There was no mash and temperature was given in degrees C for fermentation. I still use degrees C for fermenting.

As I looked into all-grain I read lots of information about mashing and almost all of this was in degrees F. I still use degrees F when mashing.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Not so much about American measures but pipe and screw threads are a pain in the rear end - tapered and parallel threads, metric and imperial, internal and external bore measurements, thread pitch…

 

[TonyT]

+1 on the frustration with cups of ingredients and sticks of butter. The idea of measuring ingredients by volume rather than weight is so frustrating when cooking. For many ingredients it's an illustration of the amounts not being that critical, but it just makes recipes difficult to reproduce, oh and the whole Fahrenheit thing is hard to understand too. However, I do have to recognise that I still think in miles for distance and speed, but that is in part due to that being the unit used on road signs and car speed, but I'd also be perfectly comfortable switching to km. To return to @moto748 's point about gallons - it is difficult when the same name is being used for a different unit and really if that's the only unit given then you're in the experimental zone when it comes to reproducing a recipe!

I’m with you on the distance thing although I’m happy with kilometres. I think the problem stems from the fact that the UK introduced metrication in a piecemeal fashion rather than just doing the whole thing at once. And now we’re in the ridiculous situation where commercial vehicles operate in kilometres but cars, distances and speed limits are imperial. But we buy our fuel in litres. The whole thing is a mess.

 

[MartinF]

I was taught imperial at primary school, then imperial and metric at grammar school in the early 70s as the UK supposedly went metric. So why, for goodness sake, do we still insist on using miles for road distances (and don't get me started on pints of beer and milk) when petrol & diesel have only been sold in litres for the last uncountable number of decades? And why we still use, and cars for the UK are calibrated in, miles per gallon just beggars belief. Makes calculating things like cost per mile or per litre a job for a spreadsheet! Give me metric measures any day, but I'd almost rather use imperial rather than the stupid, backward mix we have suffered with for so long.

 

[Tanglefoot]

To add to the confusion, in the building trade we routinely use both imperial and metric in the same breath
e.g I need a 4.2 (m) length of 6" x 2".
Sheet material is quoted in feet and inches ( 8' x 4' ) but generally measured/cut in metric.
I suppose this will eventually become obsolete as the old duffers like me who grew up in the transitional phase
die out !

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

Of course the USA does actually have legislation for metric, it's just that it's use isn't mandatory and many industries have chosen not to switch.

The irony? America would have been using metric hundreds if years before the UK if it hadn't have been for the British:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_States

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

To add to the confusion, in the building trade we routinely use both imperial and metric in the same breath
e.g I need a 4.2 (m) length of 6" x 2".
Sheet material is quoted in feet and inches ( 8' x 4' ) but generally measured/cut in metric.
I suppose this will eventually become obsolete as the old duffers like me who grew up in the transitional phase
die out !

Timber measures are even worse eg 2x4 just isn’t!

 

[Tanglefoot]

Timber measures are even worse eg 2x4 just isn’t!

Yes confusing ! That's the rough pre-planed dimension.
For me, metric is better for smaller, more precise measurements and imperial for larger ones. I will plan in sheet sizes for example.

 

[cushyno]

In late '80s I joined an engineering company as an apprentice. We made trial pieces in metric and imperial because the business was equally split creating new components and supporting historical customers (largely throughout the old British empire). I found it equally easy to work both metric and imperial except for drilling holes as all the drills were in metric, so conversion was always needed. Materials were largely metricated imperial sizes but more often than not, imprecise. 1" cold rolled steel strip wasn't 25.4mm or 25mm, tolerances were wide +/- 2mm in some cases.
Spending time as a draughtsman on metric and imperial drawings you had to be able to juggle both units and work with, say, metric bolt lengths on an imperial fixture.

I am quite happy using imperial for dimensions but imperial weights, volumes and temperatures drive me up the wall!

 

[An Ankoù]

Err... You have that back to front @An Ankoù.
You need to multiply US gallons by 0.8 to convert to imperial.
I think what you meant was - You need to multiply US gallons by 1.25 to convert FROM imperial gallons?
Hope I got this right and it helps.
Regards,
Robin.

We need to be careful here:
1 US gallon is 3.785 Litres
1 UK gallon is 4.546 Litres

Multiplying 3.785 x 1.2 gives 4.542, which is close enough for our purposes.

 

[cushyno]

What about global positioning and navigation?! Degrees longitude and latitude pretty much makes sense, but then some subdivisions of that are metricised i.e. 53.012345 degrees, whereas others use degrees minutes and seconds e.g. 53° 03' 22"

 

[The Baron]

its just as bad when dealing with my local drug dealer he sells coke in grams and wacky baccy in 8ths (imperial ounces)

 

[TonyT]

Those of a certain age will remember £sd (no, not hippy smarties) and that really was confusing.

 

[531Man]

We need to be careful here:
1 US gallon is 3.785 Litres
1 UK gallon is 4.546 Litres

Multiplying 3.785 x 1.2 gives 4.542, which is close enough for our purposes.

Agreed.
Let's stick to litres and grammes and we can't go wrong.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

What about global positioning and navigation?! Degrees longitude and latitude pretty much makes sense, but then some subdivisions of that are metricised i.e. 53.012345 degrees, whereas others use degrees minutes and seconds e.g. 53° 03' 22"

Niche.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Niche.

I was in Greenwich a few years back and sent a FB message to say that its zero degrees here . My wife's American cousin replied oh that's awful.

 

[moto748]

With brewing I stick to Imperial, it just makes my life easier being brought up in an Imperial age.

Well that's my point, John, this is exactly how confusion can arise.

I was brought up on Imperial measurements too, and of course you can use them if you like, as long as you realise that the recipe you are working from is in US units, and if you measure at home using Imperial units you'll be a long way out.

As 531Man says, stick with metric units and you can't go wrong.

 

[531Man]

Niche.

Don't get me started on the US illogical date system.
Year Month Day (like in the military),
I can understand,
Similarly:
Day Month Year, is a logical progression.
But come on USA,
Month Day Year?
Where did that come from?
Better start a new thread, perhaps.