is a measure of the amount of a raw material that survives a process as a percentage of the amount of that same raw material used as input into that process. Two important yields that brewers are concerned with are brewing material efficiency (BME) and hop utilization. See hop utilization. BME is a measure of the amount of extract that is actually delivered to the fermenter compared to the amount of extract that is theoretically extractable from the grist. Most breweries aim for a BME in the mid- to upper-ninety percent range. Hop utilization is a measure of the amount of bitterness, as measured in International Bitterness Units (ppm of iso-alpha acid), contained in the beer versus the amount of alpha acids of the raw hops that was added to the kettle. See international bitterness units (ibus). Hop utilization rates vary widely as a result of many factors, including variations in kettle boils, hop products, yeasts, and fermentation performance. Process consistency is the key for any given brewery to maximize its yields.

Downstream from the brewhouse, yield is often measured in terms of beer loss, which is often expressed in terms of extract rather than raw volume losses, because this removes the variable of concentration and/or dilution from the equation. In most breweries, beer losses are measured and tracked for each step of the beer-making process, rather than simply as the amount brewed versus the amount packaged. At the packaging line, too, yield is measured as beer loss.