Hopping my Imperial Vanilla Oatmeal Stout

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andypantz13

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So, a group of my friends got together and donated money to me to make a beer such as this. I think I've got my recipe down, however I'm a bit unsure on what I should do with my hop schedule. I have perle and columbus hops. I was originally going to bitter with the perle at 60, and then use some columbus around 15/20 minutes for some flavor. Then I got to thinking that the hop flavor may not go too well with the vanilla beans I'm going to put in the secondary.

So now I'm unsure. I've only ever had one commercial version of an imperial oatmeal stout, Fat Dog from Stoudt's Brewing, and its not really my favorite beer. I also know that when I made a normal oatmeal stout, that it did only had bittering hops. So should I add my columbus hops at all? Or will they clash with the vanilla flavor I'm hoping to bring out in this?
Thanks!

-Andrew
 
Given the strong flavor profile of the roasted malts and vanilla in this beer I would probably skip the late hop additions. However I'm sure other people will have different opinions.
My favorite beer is BORIS (Bodacious Oatmeal Russian Imperial Stout) the Crusher from Hoppin Frog brewery in Akron, OH. This is a wonderful full-bodied roasty RIS. They claim it has a FG of 1.038 but I don't find it to be overly sweet.
Craig Baker
 
I would leave the Columbus out. Maybe a little of one of the earthy hops, EKG, Fuggles, etc.
 
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