Even in the land of opportunity, an extraordinary story
Karbach Brewing, USA, an extraordinary success story.
Karbach Brewing Co. was founded in Houston, Texas, in 2011 and has since achieved impressive success. The brewery produced 20,000 hl of beer after two years and increased to 40,000 hl in the third year. At 47,000 hl, the brewhouse reached its capacity limit, so the brewery decided to build a new brewhouse and an expanded cellar facility. These investments have proven their worth since the end of 2014.
The brewery was looking for more capacity and a higher yield for its heavily hopped beers. Eric Warner, brewmaster and co-founder, explained, “We have very strong beers in the U.S. that we brew with cone hops or pellets. The trub content is correspondingly high. That’s where most whirlpools have trouble separating that trub from the wort.”
Eric Warner, a veteran of the “craft beer” movement, studied brewing in Bavaria and had gained experience in German and American breweries. In 2014, he joined Karbach Brewing and brought his expertise to the table. The brewery started with three beer styles, including the popular Hopadillo IPA, which now accounts for about 35 percent of output.
Karbach Brewing has embraced the trend of offering higher quality instead of mass consumption. The brewery is among the fastest growing in the U.S. Warner also emphasized the benefits of the 0.33-liter can in a six-pack as packaging that fits well with the Texas lifestyle.
Karbach Brewing’s new brewhouse was equipped by Ziemann Holvrieka with state-of-the-art technology to produce different beer styles with ideal brewing processes. The brewery can now brew up to 12 brews per day with a knockout volume of 140 hl. With the addition of two more tanks, the capacity can even be expanded to around 400,000 hl per year.
Ziemann Holvrieka’s brewhouse design takes into account the needs of craft brewers and includes innovative solutions such as a “Speciality Dosing Vessel” for the automatic addition of ingredients such as hops, coriander seeds, and citrus peels. An additional screening station has been installed to separate the hot trub from the wort.
Practical experience with the new brewhouse has been extremely positive. The mash is mixed carefully and homogeneously, and the wort boiler enables gentle boiling and trub formation. Yields have improved, and the beers have become rounder and more harmonious overall.
Karbach Brewing is already planning the next expansion with Ziemann Holvrieka and has ordered more tanks. The brewery is proud of its exceptional history and rapid growth.
