Finnagann wrote: Yar this looks much better than what I was doing
By "first run off" do you mean the liquid in the mash before adding any sparge water?
Yes, that's correct.
At the end of my mash period, I stir my mash, recirculate a few litres until it runs clearer, then drain the whole mash tun into the kettle.
I measure the amount I've collected, compare it to my target pre-boil volume, and easily calculate how much sparge water I then need to add.
Once I add the sparge water, I stir the mash again, recirculate until it runs clearer, and totally drain it.
Now, this is batch sparging. It is different to fly sparging, where you drain slowly, and gently keep adding water to the mashtun as you drain it from the bottom, until you collect your target volume or the runoff SG drops to 1.010 or lower.
I really suggest batch sparging for your first few batches before you consider fly sparging. I still always batch sparge, and don't personally see any reason to change with my set-up. I regularly get over 90% mash efficiency, so it's not as if I need the extra SG points which fly sparging is alleged to provide.