Getting ready to brew my first AG this weekend and was doing some prep work during lunch. I am brewing a kit (5 Gallon 1554 clone) from AHS that has directions for fly sparging and I am going to be doing batch sparging. The calculator from here says I will need 3.65 gallons of mash water at 165 degrees and then I will need 5 gallons of sparge water (I assume at 185 degrees). I have read that it may be a good idea to try and have the water additons as close to the same "weight" as possible. Should I adjust my mash thickness higher? Also, I am unclear on how a mash out works and if it would even be benefitial for batch sparging. Any benefit to trying to raise the temp of the mash to 165 before first runnings? One other question... how long to let the sparge water sit before vaurluf (sp?)?