MBTiles file sans PNG images to use for geocoding (with carmen)

Carmen does geocoding and is known to handle OSM data (and TIGER). If I want to geocode addresses in Germany, what are the steps?

I've found so far:

• resources http://giswiki.hsr.ch/MBTiles
• suggestions how to create a regular MBTiles file with all rendered images inside
• tools http://maperitive.net/docs/Commands/GenerateMBTiles.html and https://github.com/mapbox/mbutil
• related questions, like https://help.openstreetmap.org/questions/24828/how-can-i-easily-convert-osm-to-mbtiles-with-default-styles and http://stackoverflow.com/questions/23965409/how-do-i-download-mbtiles-project-data-from-my-mapbox-account

But I'll only do geocoding, and do not need GB of PNG images.

Maybe the easiest way is still to spend XX hours of fat server power to generate the images and then just delete the images-table from the MBTiles file (since it's sqlite-based)?

But there ought to be a better way. And, if allowed, I'd be happy to reward a less than XX hours solution :-)