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Luxe Prestige Chronicle

ullage definition

Author

Andrew Walker

Updated on June 01, 2026

Definition of ullage

: the amount that a container (such as a tank or cask) lacks of being full.

What is ullage tank?

Ullage is the volume which is left empty in a tank so that there is space for the liquid in the tank to expand. The air space between the oil surface and the top of the tank is known as ullage. Keeping the fuel storage tank full at all times keeps the ullage at the top of the tank to a minimum.

What is ullage in beer?

It can refer to the process of emptying or drawing beer from a cask or keg of beer—that is, a cask that has been opened and is part full. It is also the amount of beer in a cask when it is not full or the volume of liquid and sediment in a cask after all the saleable beer has been removed.

What does ullage mean in business?

Ullage definition

The amount of liquid within a container that is lost, as by leakage, during shipment or storage.

What is the purpose of taking ullage?

Ullage is the volume which is left empty in a tank so that there is space for the liquid in the tank to expand. The air space between the oil surface and the top of the tank is known as ullage. Keeping the fuel storage tank full at all times keeps the ullage at the top of the tank to a minimum.

What is ullage in maritime?

Ullage is the void space in the tank measured from the top of the tank to the upper surface of the fluid. Ullage is measured when the content of a tank is highly viscous and if the tank is filled to the maximum.

How do I check my ullage?

When measuring level by ullage method, the sounding tape is inserted only till the bob/ tape touches some part of the fluid top surface. Instead of measuring the whole depth of the tank, only the free space (from the top of sounding pipe to liquid surface) is measured (Check Figure).

What does 90% ullage mean?

Ninety percent ullage is the ullage minus 10% of the tank capacity. The 90% ullage volume is the amount of fuel that should fit in the tank without triggering the overfill prevention device. The 90% ullage number can be used to determine the amount of fuel to order.

Where does the word ullage come from?

This is most commonly encountered as a technical word of the beverage technologist, the wine merchant or publican, meaning the unfilled space in a barrel or wine bottle. The word comes ultimately from the Latin oculus, an eye, used in a figurative sense by the Romans for the bung hole of a barrel.

What does ullage mean in wine?

The ullage – sometimes known as the fill level or the headspace – is the gap between the cork in the bottle and the wine itself. ‘Producers aim for fill levels of 3-10mm at the time of bottling.

What is ullage gas in a rocket?

Quick Reference. A spacecraft’s small auxiliary rocket that fires in space to shift fuel into the bottom of partly empty tanks of larger rockets about to be fired. The empty space in a propellant tank is called ullage.

What is ullage book?

British Dictionary definitions for ullage

ullage. / (ˈʌlɪdʒ) / noun. the volume by which a liquid container falls short of being full. the quantity of liquid lost from a container due to leakage or evaporation.

How do you use ullage in a sentence?

The cold gas vernier engines are cross-fed by gas drawn from ullage space of the opposite tank. As a wine ages, the space of ullage will increase as the wine gradually evaporates and seeps through the cork.

What is an ullage allowance?

*Ullage Definition – principally used in the context of the wine and liquid fuel industries but also has a context in warehousing where a special and additional allowance is applied by the supplier to recognize the financial value of an item or items and to offset matters like – Pilfering and wastage.

Is there air in a wine bottle?

This is called dissolved oxygen (DO). The latest “discovery” is that the “air pocket” between the cork and the wine can also be a very important source of oxygen. This is sometimes called Headspace Oxygen (HO).

How were soundings taken in the past?

Soundings may also be taken to establish the ship’s position as an aid in navigation, not merely for safety. Soundings of this type were usually taken using leads that had a wad of tallow in a concavity at the bottom of the plummet.

How is tank sounding done?

A ships tank must have a pipe extending from bottom of the tank to a level which is safe to “sound” the contents of the tank. A sounding pipe is a simple steel pipe, which is open at the bottom so that the liquid in the tank gets filled up to the same level as in the tank.

What is ullage and Innage?

Alternate Ullage Gauge – The ullage obtained by subtracting the measured height of the liquid in the tank from the official reference height of the tank. Innage Gauge (Dip, Sounding) – The height of the liquid surface from the bottom of the tank (or datum plate).