DUNELAND BREWHOUSE

A day at the Duneland Brewhouse.- story from news letter

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The Mt. Baldy Cup was held at Duneland Brewhouse May 12, 2001. I was fortunate to take 1^st place in the single style competition. The style for the competition was English bitter. The 1^st place win included a medal and many great prizes and certificates. I would like to thank everyone for the prizes. The most exciting part of winning for me was they were going to brew my beer and have it on tap at the Duneland Brewhouse! I got word from Barb Kehe (the brewer at Duneland) that she would be brewing it in June. I didn’t think it would hurt to ask, so I e-mailed Barb and asked if I could come and watch. A week or so later I got this e-mail:

I had planned to take Thursday and Friday off from work and work around home but that would have to wait. Thursday morning we’re off to Michigan City and the Duneland Brewhouse. My wife and I headed down about 7:00 on Thursday morning. (only 1hr. drive for the 120 mi. down with the time zone change – but 3 hr. back). We arrived about 8:00, my wife was off to the outlet mall and I was ready to brew.

I was met in the brewery by Barb Kehe (head brewer) and Dick Baepler (assistant brewer-or brewbe as he calls himself). After the quick introductions, its time to put on my yellow boots and get to work. Barb was right, she was going to put me to work! We walked over to the Specific Mechanical Systems 15 bbl system and got started. The water was already hot in the hot liquor tank and it was time to mill grain. I loaded the first (4) 50lb. bags of grain in the mill and moved to the mash-tun to help Barb stir the grain as it was dumped in. I could see it was going to be a hot day with the hot water and it near 90 deg. outside. We were making a 7 bbl batch so it didn’t take long to mill the grains and setup the mash. I thought we were done for an hour while the mash converted but I was wrong. There are always thing to do. We cleaned up and transferred glycol for the cooling system. Barb tested the mash after 1 hr. and it had converted. We set up the sparge and started transfer to the kettle. The wort all transferred to the kettle it was time for what Barb had promised, time for me to clean the mash-tun. Dick helped shovel the grain to the side door and I scraped it all out thru the side door. The grain is put in trash cans and a farmer picks it up for his pigs. We scrape all the grain out and I hose down the inside to get all the grain out. They only brew 2 or 3 times a month so everything must be completely cleaned after every batch. Next I climb inside the mash-tun and scrub it down. While I’m inside the open top mash-tun cleaning I heard laughter from Barb and Dick about what an easy brew day it is. I guess you start at the bottom at a new job but I sure was having fun!! We had lunch while the wort came to a boil and then it was time to add hops. I got to add hops for the (4) additions while we got the fermenter ready for the wort. The boil was done and time to whirlpool the wort before it was transferred to the fermenter. The whirlpool stage means its time for a beer (more on the beers later). Barb added the yeast and transferred the wort to the fermenter. We finish cleaning and the brew day is done. I tried a few of Barb’s beers while I was there and all were very good. They have 6 to 8 on tap including Salmon Tail Pale Ale, Shoreline Stout, Open Hearth Amber, Wheat, Lighthouse Lite, Buba’s Brown and a Special. I especially liked the Open Hearth Amber.

What an exciting day!! I would like to thank Barb, Dick and the Duneland Brewhouse for letting me brew with them for the day. If anyone offers to let you brew with them, be sure and take them up on it. The Mt. Baldy English Ale will be on tap in July and I will e-mail everyone when it is ready.

Hours- Mon.- Fri. 4-12
Sat. & Sun. 11:30 –12

Located on US 421 just north of I-94 in Michigan City (second Michigan City exit)