The first felids emerged during the Oligocene, about 25 million years ago. In prehistoric times, a third subfamily, known as Machairodontinae, included the saber-toothed cats, such as the well known Smilodon. Other superficially cat-like mammals, such as the marsupial sabertooth Thylacosmilus or the Nimravidae, are not included in Felidae despite superficial similarities.
One of the key benefits to mashing out is lowering the viscosity of the liquid inside your mash tun. In other works, thinning it. This is especially important if you are using lots of non-barley grains such as wheat or rye (or pretzels). Also, many brewers tend to mash at a 1 quart per pound of grain ratio. Which, if not hot enough, could stick. Better put, is more likely to stick. And by making the mash more fluid what you are really doing is making the sugars in the wort more fluid. So, you will extract more of them; mashouts give you better efficiency.
Strike temperature is usually anywhere form 10-13F higher than your desired rest temperature, because the grain will absorb some heat. To figure out how much water is needed you will have to use a water to grain ratio. A good all round one to go by is 1.5 quarts per pound of grain. For example: Your recipe calls for 11 pounds of grain for a mash rest at 150F for one hour. This will equate to: 11lbs grain x 1.5 quarts water = 16.5 quarts or 4.125 gallons of water at 162F Once your water has reached strike temperature you will add your grain to the water and stir checking the temperature to make sure it stabilizes to the desired temperature.