When I first arrived in the US, in 2002, very often at the store, customers asked me for “pints” or “quarts” or a "gallon", and I need to admit that it took me a bit of time to get acquainted with the different sizes and names. When you've grown up all your life using it, it is easy, yet even some American that I know still have no clue. I was even asking my wife to help me to comprehend that new system, which was quite intriguing for a European guy like me.
Since then, I learn how to spontaneously convert things in my head, but it took me a few years to get to that point. Therefore, and because I think that I’m not the only person facing that problem, here is a quick and easy chart, to help you every time you need to.
This short chart is by no mean exhaustive and I'm sure that I could have add plenty of other things... but, hey, that's an helpful start!
Wine & Spirits: Quick and Easy Chart of size and volume (and name) conversion from the US System to the Metric System
| US & UK Unit system | Metric System | |
| Length | Helpful conversion | Length |
| 1 inch | 2.54 centimeters | |
| 1 foot | 12 inches | 30.4801 centimeters |
| 1 yard | 3 feet | 91.44 centimeters |
| 1 mile | 5,280 feet | 1.609344 kilometers |
| 3.937008 inches | 10 centimeters | |
| 39.370079 inches | 3.28084 feet | 1 meter |
| 328.08399 feet | 109.36133 yards | 100 meters |
| 1093.613298 yards | 0.621371 miles | 1 kilometers |
| Area | Area | |
| 1 square feet | 0.092903 square meters | |
| 100 square feet | 0.92903 square meters | |
| 100 square yards | 83.612736 square meters | |
| 1 ares | 100 square meters | |
| 1 acres | 4046.856422 square meters | 0.404686 hectares |
| 10.76391 square feet | 1.19599 square yards | 1 square meters |
| 107.639104 square feet | 11.9599 square yards | 10 square meters |
| 1076.391042 square feet | 119.599005 square yards | 100 square meters |
| 107639.104167 square feet | 2.471054 acres | 1 hectares |
| 24.710538 acres | 10 hectares | |
| US Liquid Btle name | US Liquid Btle volume | Metric Bottle volume |
| A Nip (given name in store) | 0.033814 ounce | 50 ml (or a shot) |
| A Half Pint (given name in store, not official name because of volume = 236.5ml) | 0.422675 pint or 6.762805 ounces | 200 ml |
| A Pint (given name in store, not official name because of volume = 473ml) | 0.792516 pint or 12.680259 ounces | 375 ml (half a bottle) |
| A Fifth (given name in store, not official name because of the volume = 757ml) | 25.360517 ounces or 0.198 gallon | 750 ml (regular bottle) |
| Quart (given name in store, not official name because of volume = 946ml) | 0.264172 gallon | 1 Liter (1L) |
| 0.396258 gallon | 1.5L (magnum or 2 bottles) | |
| Half a Gallon (given name in store, not official name because of volume = 1.892L) | 0.462301 gallon | 1.75L |
| 0.792516 gallon | 3L (Double Magnum or 4 bottles) | |
| 0.792516 gallon | 3L (Jeroboam Champagne or 4 bottles) | |
| 1 gallon (given name in store, not official name because of volume = 3.785L) | 1.056688 gallon | 4L |
| 1.188774 gallon | 4.5L (Jeroboam Bordeaux or 6 bottles) | |
| 1.188774 gallon | 4.5L (Rehoboam Champagne or 6 bottles) | |
| 1.32086 gallon | 5L | |
| 1.585032 gallon | 6L (Imperial or 8 bottles) | |
| 2.377548 gallons | 9L (Salmanazar or 12 bottles) | |
| 3.170065 gallons | 12L (Balthazar or 16 bottles) | |
| 3.962581 gallons | 15L (Nabuchodonosor or 20 bottles) | |
| 26.417205 gallons | 1 hectoliter (or 100L) | |
| 56.796991 gallons | 1 Beaujolais Barrel (215L) | |
| 59.438712 gallons | 1 Bordeaux Oak Barrel also called "Bordelaise" (225L) | |
| 60.231228 gallons | 1 Burgundy Oak Barrel also called "Pièce" (228L) | |
| 60.759572 gallons | 1 Maine et Loire Barrel (230L) | |
| 63.401293 gallons | 1 Sarthe Barrel (240-250L) | |
| 79.251616 gallons | 1 French Hogshead Oak Barrel (300L) | |
| 237.754847 gallons | 1 Tonneau (Big Oak vat) (900L or 4 Bordeaux Barrels or 9 hectoliters) | |
| 1 (liquid) US pint (pt) | Official US Pint size (16 ounces) | 473.1765 ml |
| 1 (liquid) US quart (qt) | Official US Quart size (32 ounces) | 946.3529 ml |
| 1 (liquid) US gallon (gal) | Official US Gallon size (128 ounces or 4 quarts) | 3.785412 L |
| 1 (liquid) barrel (US) | 31.5 gal or 1⁄2 hogshead | 19.2405 L |
| 1 oil barrel (US) | 42 gal or 2⁄3 hogshead | 158.9873 L |
| 1 hogshead (US) | 63 gal or 8.421875 cu ft | 238.4810 L |
| | www.LeDomduVin.com |
Created by LeDom du Vin with a little help from http://www.digitaldutch.com/unitconverter/
Enjoy! and let's hope that it will help you.
LeDom du Vin
