I'm fairly sure that you would as you suggested drain off the wort from the mashing, then with the 170 degree hot water fill with the specified amount (either acquired from beersmith or recipe) allow to stand, then drain off the additional wort. This would follow suit with the fly-sparge as well I think. Please take this with a grain of salt because I have not done either.
jbelokur


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Makes sense...

So the mash out water is just the amount you put in to bring it up to X temp.

Next question is, when you fill the mash tun back up with (roughly 1/2 per lb of grain) what temp do you do that at? Not 170 I assume?



Bottled: Oatmeal Stout
Bottled: California Ale

What I am asking is...do you do the the second batch sparge with the temp you mash out with initially? In my example I said I would raise the temp to 170 for 10 minutes then drain. The batch sparge temp would be 170 as well, correct? Obviously the current grain temp would come into play as well.



Bottled: Oatmeal Stout
Bottled: California Ale

The mash-out is to denature the enzymes in the mash - basically halting the conversion of starches into sugars.  As Dabbler said, the sparge rinses sugars from the grains, so warmer water will help dissolve more sugar - up to a point - you don't want to leach tannins from the husks which will give you astringent flavors.  Yes, 170 sounds like a fine sparge temp.

I've never done a mash-out and plan to anytime in the future (unless I start playing with decoction mashes).  The sparge water ends up giving the same effect.

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Sorry...you have your mash temp at 152-154 F. or whatever your mashing at.  You put the lid on your mash tun (cooler) and mash away for an hour.  When that is finished you drain that off into your boil kettle.  Then start your batch sparge.  As stated earlier your sparge water temps will vary based on equipment. 

How much water I use will depend on the style I'm brewing or other factors that I'm trying to achieve.  I will mash with anywhere from 1qt. - 2qts. of water per lb. of grain.  I will sparge with anywhere from 1.5qts. - 2qts. of water per lb. of grain.  I do a double batch sparge so I split my sparge water in two.  For simplicity lets say I have a total grain bill of 10 lbs. and I'm going to use 2 qts. of water per lb. of grain for the mash and the sparge.  I would need 20 qts. of water for the mash.  After the mash when you drain this off you will not get 20 qts. out.  I would also need 20 qts. of water for the sparge.  I split that into two 10 qt. sparges.  The temp. of my sparge water will stop any conversion that is still happening.  That is basically what a mash out is for to stop the conversion of starches to sugars.

I hope that answers your question.  If not...I'll try again.  

Sorry if I am making this too complicated. Here is what I plan on doing, feel free to correct me if you see any problems.

1) Mash X quarts for 60 minutes @ 149F
2) Bring mash up to 170F for 10 minutes
3) Drain mash tun into boil kettle
4) Mash in X quarts for another 60 minutes at 170F ( some people claim to batch sparge for another hour)
5) drain into boil kettle and start the boil.





Bottled: Oatmeal Stout
Bottled: California Ale

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