Been following Methheads Push/Pull. He stats that after you add the lye you PH test it and should be blue...Which means basic right? Then you add muric until it reachs a redish-pink. Swims initial test showed a redish-pink not blue. Why was this? Did he not add enough lye?
Im assuming that you're talking about the reaction mix, at the beginning of the workup... the PH paper should be acidic (red) initially since the reaction mix has a bunch of HI in it.... you'll probably need to add quite a bit of NaOH to neutralize it
Read this
Post 428410 (https://www.thevespiary.org/talk/index.php?topic=8697.msg42841000#msg42841000)
(geezmeister: "The post-reaction workup: a cook's summary", Stimulants)
Actually your Target PH reading should be more of a peach color,in my opinion anyway™