Why capsules at all? Because loose powder fails three ways: it tastes like what it is, it travels badly, and every serving becomes a fresh measurement problem. A manual capsule machine solves all three — filling 24–100 caps per tray for less than a tub of branded pre-workout.
Now the concept the rest of this guide rests on. Capsule 'sizes' are volumes, not weights: a size-00 encloses 0.95 ml, and the milligrams that equals depends entirely on the powder — 570 mg if it's fluffy, 1,140 mg if it's dense. So the method never changes: fill, weigh a trial capsule, write the measured number on the jar. The chart estimates; the scale decides.
Why the scale outranks the chart
Density isn't a fixed property of an ingredient — it shifts with grind, humidity and how long the powder has been sitting compacted in the jar. Two bags of the same material, from the same vendor, can fill the same capsule differently.
That's why every procedure here ends in a weighed check rather than a printed number. The size chart below is a planning tool — it tells you roughly which capsule to buy. The dose you actually write down comes from your own scale, every time.
The size chart (mg depends on powder density)
| Size | Volume | ≈ mg @ 0.6 g/ml | ≈ mg @ 0.8 g/ml | ≈ mg @ 1.0 g/ml |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 000 | 1.37 ml | 822 | 1,096 | 1,370 |
| 00 | 0.95 ml | 570 | 760 | 950 |
| 0 | 0.68 ml | 408 | 544 | 680 |
| 1 | 0.48 ml | 288 | 384 | 480 |
The fill
- 01
Separate
Pull caps from bodies. Bodies go into the machine's tray, open side up.
- 02
Load
Spread your mixed powder across the tray and scrape it into the bodies with the card.
- 03
Tamp
Pack the powder with the tamper — each pass increases the fill weight. Tamp count = dose.
- 04
Cap & eject
Join the cap plate, press, done — a tray of finished capsules.
- 05
Verify
Weigh 5 finished caps on the mg scale. Divide by count. That number — not the chart — is your dose.
The canonical caps
The study stack
MOST-REPLICATED| Caffeine anhydrous | 100 mg | $0.05 |
| L-Theanine | 200 mg | $0.07 |
≈ $0.12 per cap
Fits a size-0 with room to spare. The caffeine:theanine ratio the research keeps confirming.
Curcumin + piperine
CLASSIC| Curcumin extract | 500 mg | $0.10 |
| Piperine (BioPerine-style) | 5–10 mg | $0.02 |
≈ $0.12 per cap
Piperine multiplies curcumin absorption ~20× (Shoba 1998) — the pair is the whole point.
The deciding question: cap it or drink it?
Reason it out from dose size. Milligram-scale, bad-tasting ingredients — caffeine, theanine, curcumin, huperzine — are capsule-shaped problems. Gram-scale ingredients are not: creatine would demand five size-00 caps a day, and a chore that heavy removes itself from the routine.
Shell material follows the same logic — match it to the powder's weakness. Gelatin: cheapest, dissolves fast. HPMC ('veggie'): handles hygroscopic fills better. Pullulan: an oxygen barrier for oxidation-sensitive powders.