Founders Breakfast Stout - Clone or Ideas

[sremed60]

FOR MY NEXT TRICK... I want to brew a BIG Imperial chocolate/coffee stout. I'm intrigued by the hype surrounding Founder's Breakfast Stout. I live in Arizona so I've never actually had it. We get some Founders' beers here but I don't think we get that one, (at least I've never seen it here).

I was looking at clone recipes, but since I've never had the original there's not much sense in trying to do a "clone." So at this point I'm using an all-grain clone recipe I found as a starting point. The clone I found uses cacoa nibs and bakers chocolate, both thrown in late boil. I'm OK with the cacoa nibs, but I'm looking for some alternative ideas to bakers chocolate, probably cocoa powder. I'd be interested in hearing some opinions from people who have experimented with natural vs dutch, and with adding it at different stages of the process. I know the dutch stuff has a higher PH, with the real black (Oreo) stuff being almost an 8.0 PH, while the natural powder has a very low PH, (5.0-5.2 ish)

At this point I'm not too concerned with whether or not it is true to a Founders Breakfast Stout, since I have no way of knowing anyway. I just want to do something similar.

Thanks in advance for ideas

 

[Build]

I add my cocoa after fermentation. Just dissolve it in gin, vodka, or bourbon (for an light oak flavor) then add it at kegging. This way some of it doesn't disappear with the hops and trub. Founder's is a great one.