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The split photo is the current version of The Substance and The Substance from 2014.

Tapped the keg today and did a side-by-side. The flavor is very close. The original is a little crisper and hoppier. The color is very close. The clone looks like pond water. It could be that it was the bottom of the keg, or my cousin just needs new lines and taps for his fraught system.

Ingredients 8.00 gal Salem/Beverly MA Water 1 10.00 g Chalk (Mash 60 min) Misc 2 2.00 g Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash 60 min) Misc 3 1 lbs Crystal Light (35.0 SRM) Grain 4 1 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 5 2.0 oz Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 6 10 lbs 8.0 oz Maris Otter Blend (3.0...

I was up in Portland last week and picked up some of The Substance. My beer is on the left, on the right is Substance from a year ago. I haven't emailed Noah, but I would guess the grist might be as high as 10% flaked oats and 10% flaked wheat. In addition to the change in clarity, the...

Looks like a beautiful kettle!

You could also try an English base malt like Maris Otter.

http://www.seacoastbeveragelab.com/2015/03/13/107-bissell-brothers-brewing/

They basically gave me everything. The recipe has changed over time. They stopped using flaked rye and added flaked oats. The hops almost certainly change based on availability. Noah Bissell said on a podcast that he designed the recipe to utilize less sought after hops. He knew a small brewer...

Rice as opposed to corn will give the beer a drier finish. Think Japanese Rice Lagers that you find a sushi restaurants. Corn, when used in high amounts can provide a sweet quality. It has been a long time since I have brewed with rice, but that's my recollection. In Brewing Classic Styles...

They very well would have been darker with more malt flavor and body. I'd suggest using corn or rice, but keeping them at 20% of the grist. Current macros can be as high as 40% adjuncts. I would suggest using Cluster hops as they were the American hop until current American varieties started...

Extract is an option. BIAB also speeds up your brew day by eliminating the sparge step.

Looking at the recipe a 60 and 45 minute hop addition was probably a bit much for a brown ale. Glad to see it mellowed with time. If you were going for more hop flavor and/or aroma you could try adding hops at 60, 15, and 5 minutes.

The flaked rye was only 7% of the grist. At that level it didn't make the beer taste like a rye-PA by any means. Flaked rye isn't dark either, it's only around 2.0 SRM. I imagine the subbed it out for flaked oats. It probably gives the beer a silkier mouthfeel. I haven't been up to Portland to...

If you are only using a small amount of table sugar you will be fine. If want to use a pound of sugar to boost the ABV, I'd stick to dextrose or other sugars like honey, molasses, or even agave nectar. The issue with table sugar is that in large quantities it can make your beer finish overly...

The strain will produce sulfur notes. I'd give the bottles some time. Traditional kolsches use a 3 stage fermentation, with the third stage being a lagering stage. I brewed a kolsch that was way too estery, and repitched the yeast in a Mocktoberfest that was solventy and an acetaldehyde bomb...

Make sure you have enough Star San in your solution. If you have a pH meter or strips, make sure the reading is under 3.0 or 3.5 at the most. If your Star San solution starts to get cloudy, dump it and start over.

I used Vermont Ale in NB's American Wheat kit and it worked well. The strain ate everything and gave the beer a dry, almost phenolic bite. Adding a little extra grain might not be a bad idea.

The recipe looks pretty close. The only thing I wouldn't be sure about is the amount of peanut butter to add having never brewed with it. Has anyone tried this yet?

That is very helpful! I must admit I usually give my grain mill a couple bursts of compressed air and hope that is sufficient.

The only way to match the attenuation a commercial brewery gets is to use pure O2, pitch a large starter, and heat the wort after primary fermentation starts to slow down. On a homebrew scale a small amount of dextrose (0.5 lb) in lieu of malt will help.