Oak Chips, yes or no?

I'd like to hear some about brewing successes and failures with adding oak chips to a beer. Does the flavor at all approximate real oak-aging? Would you make a beer like this again? Did it taste AWESOME?

I'm very tempted to get either an oak-aged porter kit from AHS or NB, or re-make my porter from earlier in 08 and add the chips, but I don't want to bother if its not really going to achieve the oakiness I love...

I don't know what real oak aging tastes like and it's debatable whether real IPA's even picked up any oak flavoring but I've made an oak tea and added it to the secondary. It was overpowering at first but mellowed after 3 months.

I made an ale a month ago that had oak chips in the secondary for 10 days. It is kegged now, but I have not tapped it. Oak chips will impart a more harsh flavor than cubes, SO, use less, and use them for a shorter soak in the secondary.

There's a ton of threads on here about using OAK...I looked at them last week when I was searching for the same info as you...search for "Oak" and you will find all you need, including pratical tips, and probably all the answers to all the questions you might have.

Had me curious... tried my oak chipped beer, tried a sample from the keg, probably a good month early... it is quite oaky! Chips will do the trick!