Building on my base Oatmeal Stout Recipe.Lets make it better

[Yakman619]

I'm about to brew my second stout. The first batch was intended to develop a solid base recipe for an oatmeal stout (which I'm happy with.) This time around I want to build upon the last batch and shoot for something with a little complexity. I'm leaning towards making a vanilla bourbon stout using the previous oatmeal stout recipe as a base. I'll post the recipe and process below; and advice on tweaking the recipe or process would be appreciated. If you have another idea all together that would be a great addition to my base recipe (or adjustments to the base to suit a vanilla bourbon stout) I'm all ears. Thanks in advance!

After brewing the below recipe, I intend to transfer it to secondary (for 2 weeks) along with 2 x Madagascar vanilla beans, the 6 oz of bourbon the beans were soaked in, and 1 ounce of bourbon soaked wood chips(would 2 weeks be too long for the wood chips?). The base recipe below produced a smooth and easy drinking oatmeal stout, with a pleasant mouth feel and noticeable chocolate flavor:

Yeast: WLP 002
Yeast Starter: No
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.00
Original Gravity: 1.060
Final Gravity: 1.022 est
IBU: 31.28
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 40
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 @ 66F

Ingredients

7.50 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 59.1 %
2.0 pounds flaked oats Grain 15.7 %
1.00 lb Black prinz (or Carafa III) (525.0 SRM) Grain 7.9%
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3.9%
0.50 lb Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 3.9%
0.50 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 3.9 %
0.70 lb Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 5.5 %

1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 14.8 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [4.50 %] (30 min) Hops 11.4 IBU
1 x WLP002 (or another English ale yeast)

Brew Day
BIAB method, mashed at 152 degrees for 75 minutes. Batch sparged 2.5 gallons (170 degrees). Cool to 68 degrees using wort chiller and transfer to primary.

[BDawg]

If you are already happy with the base recipe, just brew it this way. Then you'll be able to taste it and know what to change.

That said-
The recipe overall seems to venture a bit on the sweet side for an Oatmeal Stout -- I'd say its more of a Sweet Stout (with Oatmeal added). It's only 25 IBUs, which is the lower limit from the BJCP style guidelines for an Oatmeal stout, but that's dead smack center for a Sweet Stout. Not to mention that you add a generous amount of lactose.
On top of all that, you'll be adding vanilla which lends a perception of sweetness as well.
My gut feeling is you may want to boost the bitterness a few IBUs for a bit more balance.

HTH-

[Yakman619]

If you are already happy with the base recipe, just brew it this way. Then you'll be able to taste it and know what to change.

That said-
The recipe overall seems to venture a bit on the sweet side for an Oatmeal Stout -- I'd say its more of a Sweet Stout (with Oatmeal added). It's only 25 IBUs, which is the lower limit from the BJCP style guidelines for an Oatmeal stout, but that's dead smack center for a Sweet Stout. Not to mention that you add a generous amount of lactose.
On top of all that, you'll be adding vanilla which lends a perception of sweetness as well.
My gut feeling is you may want to boost the bitterness a few IBUs for a bit more balance.

HTH-

Thanks for the advice, Bdawg. I'll look into upping the IBUs a bit. I'll do some homework and see what would be appropriate for this style.