Mash PH after treated water

[rimski]

I brewed the following brew today with the following in the mash

3.29kg Maris Otter
0.170kg Wheat Malt
0.170kg Pale Crystal
1 Tsp Gypsum

I used the Salifert kit and muscled my water down to 42.5 mg/l CaC03 using CRS Fluid when I checked my mash PH, this is the first time I have checked the PH, I got a PH of 5.8 ish so my question is.

If I want to get my mash PH down to 5.2 should I try and get the water closer to 30 mg/l CaC03 for this style of beer (A Pale Ale).

Thanks in Advance

[Scotty]

Thanks for that description Chris! Just a quick question about a tsp of gypsum.... are we talking a level or heaped teaspoon?

[rimski]

Lots of useful stuff

Cheers Chris

I took the reading straight from the mash tun so it was 67c, by the sounds of it I will add 2 teaspoons of gypsum and see what I get.

I take it that if I take the reading the same way the ph I see is the ph I am at

[rimski]

I have brewed a best bitter today so I tried to get my mash a little lower/closer to 5.2.

The figures are
Alkalinity 37.5 mg/l CaC03
PH 5.4 in the mash

This time I added 2 tsp of gypsum to the mash so a little lower CaC03 and an extra tsp gypsum have got me much closer to the apparent ideal mash PH.