Capsule size and weight-check tool

Two jobs. The first panel sizes the capsule for your dose and works out the diluent and overage. The second checks the weights from your first plate against USP <1163> and Ph. Eur. 2.9.5. Nothing you enter leaves the page.

1. Size the capsule for the dose

Dose and batch

Active per capsule (mg) Number of capsules

The powder How do you know the capacity?

I measured a pack stat I know the blend density Pick a diluent, use its published bulk density

Pack stat (mg of blend a level capsule holds, your method) Size the pack stat was measured in

A pack stat beats a density every time. Fill 10 or 20 capsules with the diluent alone, the way you'll fill the batch, weigh the contents, and take the mean.

The patient Who takes it?

Adult Child, older adult, or anyone who finds capsules hard Cat or small dog Large dog

Your plates Which sizes do you run?

The suggestion is the smallest of these sizes that holds the dose. Each size needs its own plate set, so most pharmacies settle on a handful.

Overage

Extra blend to make (%) Teaching rule is 5% to 10%. The DAC/NRF method sets a 3% loss limit and suggests 10% on the active. Weigh what's left on the plate once and use your own figure.

Every size at your density

Size	Volume (mL)	Holds (mg)	Active (mg)	Diluent per capsule (mg)	Fill of capacity

Batch weigh-out

Item	Per capsule	For the batch	With overage

2. Check the weights from your first plate

Target

Theoretical content weight per capsule (mg) Batch size (capsules)

Your weights What did you weigh?

Contents (shell emptied, or tared with an empty capsule) Whole filled capsules

Paste the weights in mg, one per line or separated by commas or spaces. Ten for USP, twenty for Ph. Eur.

Capsules weighed
Mean contents (mg)
Standard deviation (mg)
Coefficient of variation
Mean against target
Lightest / heaviest (mg)

Each capsule

Green is light, red is heavy, an outline marks a capsule outside ±10% of the target.

#	Contents (mg)	vs target	vs mean

Volumes are the makers' nominal figures. USP <1163> compares each capsule's contents to the theoretical content weight, sample 10 (or 5% of the batch, whichever is less), retest 20 (or 10%) on a failure, destroy the batch on a second failure. Ph. Eur. 2.9.5 weighs the contents of 20 capsules against their mean; under 300 mg no more than 2 may deviate over 10% and none over 20%, at 300 mg or more the bands are 7.5% and 15%. Some states keep the older rule that each capsule sits within 90% to 110% of theoretical weight. Nothing here is advice about what a capsule's contents do for anyone. Read the article for the reasoning behind each rule, or get the AI prompt pack to do this with your own records.