Small AG Recipes - Help with water volumes?!

I'm just starting AG brewing, and my first project is to brew six two-gallon batches. However, I'm worried that simply scaling down the amount of mash and sparge water will not work.
So, my question is, if my desired batch size is 2 gallons, how much mash and sparge water should I have heated and ready to go when I start my brew day?
Of course, this assumes that the original recipe produced a 5 gallon batch.

We need to know how many pounds of grain you plan on using. Grain absorbs the strike water, more grain will require more water to account for absorption.

jhoyda said:

We need to know how many pounds of grain you plan on using. Grain absorbs the strike water, more grain will require more water to account for absorption.

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That, and what kind of pot/burner are you using? I boil off nearly two gallons an hour with my system, so I have to start with two gallons more than my desired batch size in the boil. Others boil off only one gallon per hour.

But normally, a good rule of thumb is to mash with 1.25- 2 quarts of water per pound of grain, if doing a sparge. Then, sparge up to your boil volume.

For no-sparge type of brewing, you'd use more water in the mash.

Thanks to both of you. I'll have to do a boil test to check what my boil-off rate is. In regards to "the rule of thumb," I'll definitely keep that in mind when I'm preparing my brew day ingredient/instruction sheets.
Thanks again!