Oak chips

Im going to be brewing my first batch this weekend. I have a autumn amber ale extract kit with steeping grains. I would like to add a touch of oak to it and was wondering whats the best way to do this, Im going to toast them some and Im not sure when to add them. Do you ferment with the chips? Makes the most sense to me but not exactly sure. Also Im going to ferment in a ale pail with no secondary ferm. I was planning on fermenting 2-3 weeks in the pail and them bottling with carbonation tabs.

Add after fermentation is done, and preferably after the yeast drops out of suspension (otherwise, when the oak sinks it'll get covered with yeast)

You can just drop them right into the primary. 1-2 oz for a week should be good for an amber...so the last week in your case.

Other option, and perhaps easier, is to make an oak-tea...soak a few oz of chips in hot water, like 170*, discard the chips and just add the "liquid oak essence" to your bottling bucket. Keep adding until it's at the level of oakiness you want.

Less is more...it's easy to overdo it, and woodchip beer doesn't taste too good.

Thanks , i think the tea is the way to go , im just wanting to add a hint of oak so this seems the best way to control the amount of flavor...

Yeah, I mean, the chips are pretty darn easy too...just steam quick to sanitize and drop 'em in. Easy peasy.

For the tea, it's really easy to overdo it. Pull a small sample of beer, like 8oz, and add small amts of tea to find a proportion that you like.

Less is more...in an amber, if you can identify the oak, it's too much, imo. But subtle oak is awesome in an amber...I like your style

PS - here's a helpful chart for toasting:
source: www.homedistiller.org