Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal...Stout (First AG!)

A fellow employee of mine is going to show me the all-grain ropes, and he and I are going to have a brew day at the brewery (nothing like 200 degree water, nearly unlimited grain and hops, a yeast lab, and hose-able floors for brewing!). He is going to do an imperial stout with Belgian yeast (he's nuts) and I am going to do my first AG recipe, a Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal...Stout. The recipe:

7 lbs. American Vienna (the brewery has tons of it, so I was told to use that as a base)
.75 lbs. roasted barley
.5 lbs. chocolate malt
1 lb. instant oats

-2-step mash, first at 122* for 35 minutes, then at 155*ish for 25 minutes
-Sparge
-Add 1 oz. Williamette and boil for 60 minutes
-Pitch house ale yeast, OG should be 1.047
-Ferment to 1.012, rack to secondary, add maple syrup and molasses

My only question: how much maple syrup and molasses, and how do I sanitize it? Keep in mind I want the maple and brown sugar flavors to be pretty noticeable in the final product. And also it's my first AG recipe, be gentle. Thanks for any suggestions.

I can't help you with the late additions but I did plug it into beersmith and it looks good except the hops may be a bit low. Another 1/4oz will get you into the low-moderate side of bitterness depending on the calculation method.

why wait to add the maple syrup and molasses at secondary? if you add enough to make a difference you will start a rigorous fermentation anyway. I would add it to the boil just like adding Barley Syrup. If you scorch it you will just get more molasses flavor!

Note I think there is a big difference between molasses (caramel) and maple syrup (earthy, nutty, slighlty astringent) flavors. To get real maple flavor woud either be real pricey or I think would need a more delicate beer to shine through.

I have been curious for a few years would brewing a beer using Maple sap as your brewing water would be like. I think a rye maple sap beer with lighter than normal bitterness could be very refreshing....

Yeah explain the maple/molasses in secondary, its just going to start another fermentation.

I did an Oatmeal Stout not too long ago and I used 1/4# Molasses in a 6 gal. batch. I added it at about 5 minutes left in the boil (you'll get more Molasses flavor and better hop utilization if you add it at the end of the boil...that is if you decide to add them to the boil). To be honest, I wouldn't want Molasses or Maple flavors to be real noticeable in the final beer. I just wanted the Molasses to provide a subtle accent. But it's your beer.

Be careful with a stuck sparge...it probably won't but Oats are very gummy and could cause that. Supposedly a Beta-Glucan rest at ~112o F can help with that. I did that rest and my sparge was still slow but never stuck.

I agree that the hops look too low but I didn't calculate it.

I would also consider some Crystal malt...that will get you some sweetness. Maybe 1/2# of 60L.