Cherry Uber-RIS-Stout

So i've been digging around the database and decided that i want to have Ohiobrewtus' Sweet Imperial Stout as a base recipe. Here it is:

Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
12.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 64.86 %
1.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 8.11 %
1.00 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 5.41 %
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.41 %
1.00 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 5.41 %
0.50 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 2.70 %
0.50 lb Black Barley (Stout) (500.0 SRM) Grain 2.70 %
1.00 lb Flaked Oats
3 Cans Oregon Cherry Puree

1.50 oz Hallertauer [6.00 %] (60 min) Hops 21.7 IBU
0.50 oz Hallertauer [6.00 %] (15 min) Hops 3.6 IBU
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [10.00 %] (5 min) Hops 2.4 IBU

1.00 lb Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 5.41 %

1 Pkgs Wyeast 1056/WLP001 Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 17.50 lb
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Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 5.47 gal of water at 170.1 F 154.0 F

So here go the questions:

1. I want to get a smooth, silky mouthfeel so i added 1 lb of flaked oats. Should I? add more? less?

2. The Oregon fruit puree cans are about 3 lbs. per can. In Ray Daniels DGB, he mentions using 2lbs fruit per gallon of wort. should i use 3 cans to get me around 9lbs.-ish in a 5 gallon batch?

3. While it is "acceptable" to have a late hop addition in a RIS, would it be best if i cancel it out completely as not to conflict with the cherry?

4. Any other suggestions?

I want to age this sucker a year from my wedding in January and drink it with SWMBO on our anniversary.(Aw, how cute, yeah i know)

Bring it HBTers!

Dave

I think you are firing on all cylinders in your thinking.

Personally, and this is purely a personal taste issue, I'd trade both black patent and black roasted barley for more chocolate malt.

Dave,

I share your concern that the late hops might conflict with other flavors. Rather than muddle the fruit, I think it best if you omit that hops addition.

Also, in my experience, in order to get a perceptible contribution from the oats, you need a hell of a lot more than a pound. We're talking ~10% of the grist. In this case, that's a lot of oats. I wouldn't bother, were I you.

Other than advising you to add the fruit to the secondary, I think you're set. Adding it to the primary will scrub out too much aroma through carbon dioxide gas devolution. You will be forced to monitor it by regular sampling (oh, damn!), say, every couple of days. Once the desired level of flavor/aroma is reached, you can rack off the fruit into another storage vessel. In my experience - adding raspberry puree to Imperial Stout - a week was just enough to add the perception of fruit. Any longer than that, and the fruit was too strong.

I disagree with Ecnerwal; RIS needs the broad spectrum of roasted grains to ensure the signature profile of the style. He really likes chocolate malt!

Cheers!

Bob

Bob knows my dark but not very well kept secret!