Oak Chips and Super Irish Moss

[got_homebrew]

Well another stupid question from me again......well 2 of them actually.

First dumb question of the day.... I'm brewing a Double IPA and would like to add some oak chips, I'm surrounded by red and white oak trees do I need to buy store bought chips or can I just cut a couple down.
Is there something special about the store bought ones??

OK next dumb question.........
Picked up a bottle of super irish moss the other day and the directions say to take a quarter teaspon into a cooled four ounce cup of wort then add it to the last 10 minutes of boil, Has anyone tried just putting the powder in the boil? I'm usually to busy drinking beer to be worrying about cooling off 4 ozs of wort right before the end of the boil, shouldve stuck with the original moss:rolleyes:

[beerking]

The "store bought" oak chips have been seasoned and dried, then toasted to bring out flavor. If you are going to follow that routine, you will be fine, but if you want something soon, buy them.

For the supermoss, I would try using cold water to hydrate it before adding to the boil.

[got_homebrew]

kewl that seems easier then trying to cool down 4oz of wort, thanks