hnsfeigel

Recipes 

A lot of people ferment 5 gal batches in 6 gallon better bottles! The trick is you may need to run a blowoff tube (which you accounted for in your list) if you're running a beer that goes wild in fementation. I am 1 week into fermenting my 1st batch in my new 6 gal BB and it's been doing great. No blowoff tube needed, just the airlock. Granted, bigger beers may make quite a mess if you push it.

See this post about the differences if you haven't read yet.
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/vs-pro-con-analysis-109318/

I was very similar to you in putting my equipment together. Decided I was going to buy things separately so I wasn't paying for stuff I didn't want in a kit. Also, you don't necessarily need all of it on brew day (ie, capper, siphon). Some other ways I kept SWMBO happy by cheaping out:
*Food grade buckets at Lowes + $3 spigot from LHBS = half the price of buying a "bottling bucket."
*I am borrowing an auto siphon, bottle wand and capper. I will buy my own soon, but for the 3 hours I'll need them my friend didn't mind.

So, for my initial investment, i spent a whopping total of $87, and that included the ingredients for my first batch.

Zrab11

Recipes 

Alright ill check out the link! Thanks..

Anymore advice anyone?

dfess1

Recipes 

2 oz of PBW?? Man, I use that on EVERYTHING. 2 lbs would be better, 4 or 8 better still!

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My Single Tier Brew Sculpture

My Stumps BBQ Clone Build

Yooper

Recipes 

Yes, but generic scent free oxiclean is $1 for a tub at the Dollar Store and it works well for every piece of brewery equipment. I rarely spend the money on PBW, as I only use it for my CIP HERMS.

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Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

usfmikeb

Recipes 

Sending wife to dollar store now!

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Primary: Apfelwein 6/12, Peach Pyment 2/12, Cherry Melomel 9/12
Secondary: Douglah Capsicumel 10/11, Chocolate Mead 10/11, Bochet Mead 11/11, Cranberry Mead 11/11, Elderbarrel Flanders Kriek 9/12, Skeeter Pee 6/12
Bottle Conditioning: Spiced Mead 5/11, Peach Mango Mead 7/11, Spiced Cherry Dubbel 8/11
Kegged: English Barleywine 11/11, Chocolate Stout 2/12, Apfelwein 2/12
On Tap: Porter 10/12, Cherry Dubbel 9/12, Yooper's Pale Ale 11/12
Gallons in 2012: 88

dfess1

Recipes 

fair enough. i split a pail in a recent group buy, but I use it pretty much everywhere, not just in the brewery.

__________________
My Single Tier Brew Sculpture

My Stumps BBQ Clone Build

comer88888

Recipes 

Have you checked craigslist? You can get good deals on there.

markmc40

Recipes 

+1
That's what I did and they are really the perfect bottles to re-use. The only drawback is if/when you enter into a competition they won't take bottles with markings. (Samuel Adams is in raised lettering around the neck), but you can pick up a 12 of plain brown ones at the LHBS for that purpose when the time comes.

Also, if you go with a glass 6.5 gallon carboy , I would strongly urge a brew hauler. They make lifting and hanging onto that big hunk of glass a breeze.

Zrab11

Recipes 

As I said in my original post I HAVE 300 + bottles so I don't need any bottles.