I have a shameless stout kit from mr beer sitting in the cupboard, and I'm thinking I may try an oatmeal raisin stout. I want the flavor of the oatmeal and raisins to come out more than the feel of the oatmeal or the added ABV from the sugars in the raisins. That being said, my plan is to roast the oats until they start to brown and boil them in a bag for the recommended 5 minutes, then squeeze all the goodness out of them and discard. For the raisins I am thinking about waiting about a week into fermentation, giving the raisins a coarse chop, pouring boiling water over them (and letting them sit for about 15 minutes) then adding them to the fermenter.

Does this sound about right to everybody? Also I will be using an extra standard mr beer yeast packet I have lying around. Again I'm looking to maintain the oatmeal and raisin flavors more than anything else.

Thanks for the help

Also, I like my stouts thick. I have read that for AG brews a higher mash temp can help attain this, does this also work for extract brews or is there another way to thicken it up a little?

look into a grain called Special B. it's a very deep caramel malt... that can be steeped... that supposedly imparts a nice rasiny/plum taste. Crystal 120 will give the same results, as well. you could try raisins, for sure, as well... but using those grains might really bring out the raisin taste you're looking for.

your plan with the oats sounds fine, as well.

The oats will help with the body, but what would also help to thicken things up is to sub in some DME or LME (or another Mr. Beer UME) for the booster. The booster won't thin things out, but the other options will actually thicken things up a bit. With that big of a beer, definitely rehydrate your yeast.

And Chunk is right on with the C-120/special B recommendation...in addition, it'll have a good amount of unfermentable sugars which will also help with the body.

It currently has a HME, a UME, and a booster. Then with the oats addition you think it should be thick enough for a stout? Also ou think the yeast will need more than a 5 minutes bath to rehydrate?

Booster will thin it (I never liked the stuff)
I'd replace it with a 1/2 # of DME
I will have to run this through Beer Calculus tonight.

I try to give my yeast at least 15-30 minutes to rehydrate and I use US-05 regularly.