Extract with specialty grains too watery

I have made a couple of kits from my LHBS that are extract with steeped specialty grains. They taste good, they are just way to "watery" ( no mouthfeel, body). I have searched around and found that my options seem to be mash oats or add malto dextrin. Just wondering if there are any other options that anyone knows of? If not, how much oats would i be looking at for a 5 gal batch? Would i mash just oats at 154 f for an hour? Im not too sure of the procedure here, if anyone could offer some advice that would be great!

Post up some the recipes you've been making.

The brew store puts everything together in a package, but neglects to list ingredients. There is a bag of crushed grains 1-2lbs, couple bags of pre measured hop pellets, a tub of LME and dry yeast. There is no mention of what specific grains or hops are used.

If no other information is available, I'd add 1/4-1/2 lb of carapils (aka carafoam, dextrine malt) to your steep. It will increase body and head retention with little or no change to the flavor. Oats will tend to make the beer cloudier and add a cereal flavor to the beer. If you like the beer except for it's lack of body, I'd recommend doing the least you need to remedy that one defect. I.e., don't get into mashing oats - which will require some pale malt in addition to the oats - because it doesn't take a lot of changes before you;re making a different beer than the one you were trying to repair in the first place.

I'd try a different "recipe"! If you can buy ingredients individually, then you'll know what's in there and be able to fix the problem.

Adding oats will NOT give body. Oats first need to be mashed, not steeped, and secondly give a "slick" or creamy/oily mouthfeel, not body. But in order to fix any issues, you'd have to know where you're starting.

Can you build your own recipe and have them crush the grains for you? If so, we can help you create a good recipe to your liking.

Captian Damage - Ill try the Carapils addition to the kits I have purchased already, and ill post the results when its done! Thanks for the tip. Just curious why the Carapils doesn't have to be mashed?

Yooper - I can defiantly find a recipe and have my LHBS crush the required grains for me. I am not sure I would be able to make my own recipe but ill hunt around for one that sounds tasty!! Once Ive found one ill post it to see if there are any changes that need to be made. Thanks!!

Carapils is a "crystal" or "caramel" malt. These are essentially mashed as whole grains by the maltster - they call it "stewing", so it's starch is already converted to sugar so it doesn't need to be mashed. (Also, as a point of interest, it's enzymes are denatured so it cannot be used to convert other starches to sugar). After stewing the grain is roasted to add flavor and color. Carapils is the lightest roast and so contributes very little flavor; darker crystal malts will contribute flavors ranging from caramel, to biscuit to fruity. The sugars in crystal malts are almost entirely non-fermentable, so they contribute body to the beer.

You can add some maltodextrin to boost the body of your watery beers. I have used it a couple of times to improve thin beers with great success.

Your LHBS not telling you the recipe is not a very customer-friendly practice. It's impossible to learn your ingredients if you don't know what you are putting into your beers.

I add 8oz of maltodextrin to my extract IPAs. My normal amount of extract used is 9# LME or 7.5#DME depending on what I have on hand. I also steep 1# of Crystal Malt.

I've found that the maltodextrin really adds to the mouth feel. I've tried Carapils in my Hefeweizen but I prefer maltodextrin.

This is an interesting thread on maltodextrin and Extract brews:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/4lbs-malto-dextrin-nowhere-go-71921/

Thanks to everyone who replied, I appreciate all the advice. I decided to make a "pale ale" kit from my LHBS that was way too watery last time I made it. I added 8oz of maltodextrin during the boil. I just racked to the secondary and tasted a little sample, its already 10X better than last time, in a couple of weeks it will be kegged, cant wait!! CHEERS!!!

Well just an update to let everyone know how it turned out, I decided to bottle rather than keg and cracked one open tonight. After only a week in the bottle i must say this batch turned out very good, the 8 oz of Maltodextrin worked like a charm. Thanks again to everyone for their advice!