German brewhouse for Texan brewer
Karbach Brewing Company in Houston is producing its first beers on a new brewhouse supplied by Ziemann, Ludswigsburg/Germany. As part of Karbach’s capacity expansion, Ziemann also supplied the new fermentation tanks and a state of the art automation system.
The brewhouse was designed for 12 brews per day, with a cold cast-out volume of 120 bbl. The yield improvements are based on the latest innovations of the company from Ludwigsburg, including a Colibri mash mixer, Lotus lauter tun and Shark wort boiling.
As brewmaster and founder Eric Warner from Karbach Brewing Company explained: “Our yields have improved dramatically, even with the Rodeo Clown, our Double IPA with an OG of 21.5°P and 85 bitter units.”
In addition, six fermentation tanks with a net volume of 600 bbl were supplied, including catwalk system and spiral stairs. The outdoor tanks are placed on support rings with the cones in a closed operator room. All the equipment was manufactured in the Ziemann workshop in Bürgstadt, Germany. The project also included the automation of the control system with integration of the new malt handling.
The official inauguration of the whole expansion project is scheduled to take place in the second quarter of 2015. The brewhouse is designed for a final capacity of approximately 350,000 bbl per year.
