Bourbon Oak Porter Recipe

I've read some threads and recipes on this...JZ's robust, Denny Conn's Vannila bean....I've never brewed a porter so I thought I'd try a version this week and I had a few variations to bounce off you experts out there.

1) Denny Conn has a recipe using WLP001, wouldn't and English or Irish ale yeast be more to style? I have both WLPIrish and S-04 (nottingham dry ale yeast) washed out of previous batches....(I also have the cali ale)

2) 10 minutes seems like a pretty late hop addition for this type of beer (Denny Conn recipe)....would think a 60 and then a 30 (20 max) would fit better, just drop EKG's a tad to adjust IBUs?

3) I've taken to only adding dark grains (c120/special b/chocolate/black patent etc.) at end of mash since they are fully converted....thinking of the cold steep tea method as well...does this mean you need to up the chocolate. Or swap 25% of the chocolated out for black patent? Also, Brown malt is not in my LBHS, the color should still be fine, for flavor could I swap some golden promise or marris otter in for two row, or add some aromatic/up the munich/vienna?

4) Seems like mashing a little higher around 155-156 is more to style...or is that more for a stout? Should I stick with 153-154?

5) I am going to steep 1.5-2 oz. of french oak cubes in Makers Mark for 2 weeks, then add to bottling bucket to taste (no oak directly in fermenter), this seems the right amount, correct?

6) I don't like the idea of the vanilla oils from the beans killing the head retention, so I thought to use extract. If so, do you add this at bottling or can you just pour it in the fermenter? How much extract (pure) do you use?

I may enter a bottle in the NHC locally in San Diego, won't medal this young but just want feedback, it would be ready for next year though, if the feedback is mainly that it's too young. Any thoughts on these points/questions are greatly appreciated, and I'll definitely update how it turns out.

To summarize....this will be an OG of around 1.75-1.080, finishing 1.015-1.020, IBUs 35-40 with low hop aroma and dark as hell. French Oak infused Makers Mark Bourbon and pure vanilla extract added at bottling time to taste. Using an English or Irish ale yeast? and fermenting 64 up to around 70?

So the recipe I've come up with is

9 lbs. american 2 row
3 lbs. british pale marris otter
2 lbs. Munich
1 lb. C40
1 lb. C120
1 lb. British Chocolate (lovibond 350)
1/2 lb Aromatic
1/2 lb Cara Pils
1/4 lb biscuit

Bittering, 60 minutes Magnum or Northern Brewer (whatever smells freshest) to about 25 IBU.....EKGs at 30 minutes to bring up to 35 IBUs...

Yeast - WLP-002, going to kick a 2 liter starter tonight (for 5 gallons) to brew Thursday, will settle yeast out before pitching as I don't want the light extract added to the porter.

LHBS didn't have oak cubes so i'll be going with the chips I've already got, bought some makers mark, how do the chips compare to the cubes? Should I use less because of increased surface area?

So my starter smelled a little sour (is this commong for WLP002?) I was suspect so I pitched a 2 liter of Burton Ale yeast on a stir plate instead last night and am going to go tonight, I used dark liquid extract so I should be able to dump it straight in. I found Hungarian Oak cubes so I'll go 1.5 oz of those in about a cup of bourbon. I guess the grain bill is a little overcomplicated but I figured it should be a complex beer with little hop aroma.

Any idea where one can find whole vanilla beans? Trader Joes? Whole Foods?

Also, has anyone tried carmerlizing the first half gallon or so Scotch Wee Heavy style?