Mash PH - Should I bother mashing

[rimski]

I was going to start a Coniston Bluebird clone this evening and for the first time I had available PH testing strips and here is the result.

The water has been treated as follows

25Litres with a crushed camden tablet and left for 24hrs and the PH is 6.6, I have now boiled the water and the PH is still 6.6 (expected this), my 2 questions are

1 - With a PH of 6.6 is it really worth mashing?
2 - What exactly can I do to reduse the PH??

Cheers

[Befuddler]

The pH of the water doesn't really mean a lot, adding the grains will reduce it. You need to test the mash itself to get a meaningful reading.

It's worth getting the Salifert KH test kit for next time to measure your total alkalinity (not the same as pH) and adjust it accordingly, but for now don't worry about it, just make the beer.

[rimski]

just make the beer.

Music to my ears

Will also test the PH at the end of the mash as well then

[Russ]

Pretty sure you should be checking the mash pH in the first 5-10 mins of the mash not at the end. I collect a sample on a clean dry saucer and let it cool to approx 20oC before dipping the test strip into that. Also no need to let your water stand for 24 hours after the campden tablet as it does it's trick almost instantly.

Hope that helps

Russ