How much water is required for all grain brewing?

[clogwog]

Here's a thought! Keep it simple, and don't worry about it in detail!

I heat my HLT to 9ºC above my desired mash temperature (works for my system) and at dough in, I turn on the tap on my HLT, and just keep dumping water into my mashtun until I hit my target temperature.
At the end of the mash I fill the mashtun with additional water to full capacity, as I only use a small 25 litre mashtun.

I immediately vorlauf and run it off completely, no waiting. I check against the measurer in my kettle how much I have collected.
That tells me how far short I am from my desired pre-boil volume. That's the volume I add for my sparge.

Simple. No need to fret about measuring volumes at all stages. I just check it once after my initial runoff.

[thesmasheddemijohn]

Can I just check ive been doing it right so far....

Wort Required for the Boil: 30.6L
Made up from two equal quantities of: 15.3 liters of wort collected from the mash.
Total Quantity of Water Required For Batch #1: 21.3L
Mash Volume: 12.5 L
Top Up With: 8.8L
Water Required for Batch #2: 15.3L

Where it says top with 8.8l does that mean to just mash with just 12.5l then add the 8.8l straight to the boiler and then sparge with the 15.3l, or do I add 21.3l all in one go to the mash tun.

[Parva]

Put 12.5l into your mash tun and stir in the grains. If the temperature is correct then that's it for 60/90 minutes. After 60/90 minutes, add the top-up volume of 8.8l, this should be at a high enough temperature to raise the mash above 70c hopefully. Stir, leave for 10 minutes before recirculating the first couple of jugs then run off to the boiler. Once emptied, add 15.3l to the mash tun, this is batch sparge #2. Again, stir, stand for 10 minutes, recirculate the first couple of jugs then run off to the boiler. If all has gone well you now have your pre-boil volume of 30.6l.

[thesmasheddemijohn]

Sorted thanks Parva

Ive just seen a how to vid on you tube by jimmythebrewer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY0c-7F4PbQ

he does it like ive been doing so far so which way should I go now ??