That's your best bet. Trial and error. Once you see the results, it'll help you decide how to proceed in the future.
{Initial start up costs for brewing can be mildly pricey if you want to get everything at once but basics like a hydrometer, bottles and a capper, and some way to control temps are pretty essential in my opinion.}
The 2nd paragraph says it all. Needs & wants are different things. You NEED proper pop top bottles to properly contain your beer,which also means you NEED a 4 buck bag of 144 caps to put on with a $25 wing capper. I have a Red Baron wing capper that needs a new bell. Get a new bell for it & it's yours,free! Just tell her to make sure she/you buy bottled beers in pop top bottles from now on. And have friends save'em for you. I got a few hundred bottles pretty quickly that way,with sturdy craft beer 12 pack boxes. They're compact & stack real well. Here's a pick of my brewery,with lots of re-purposing & dollar store/sale stuff;
http://[URL=http://s563.photobucket.com/user/unionrdr/media/PICT0004_zpsef5e6404.jpg.html]
[/URL]
I had many different craft brewery's boxes,but replaced them with Leinenkugels,since the have seperators & multi-layer tabbed top flaps.
The fermenter stand is an old printer stand from Staples that now holds all my brewing stuff. It can hold 3 ale pails & a bottle tree/vinator. That's a 20 quart,5G SS stock pot with lid on the bottom,polished form a nested set of for for $25 @ Giant Eagle. The gallon jugs are for local spring water,25c per gallon. SunnyD 1 gallon jugs next to the BK are for measuring water,Starsan,& PBW solutions. Behind those are 1/2G plastic vodka jugs for blow offs. Tubing is from home depot. Measuring cups,spoons,spray bottle,& funnels are from Dollar Tree,1 buck for each set. That's an orange home depot bucket with Barley Crusher grain mill on top for storing & grinding my grains. The lil 12 pack cooler is great for de-labeling bottles & for setting empty bottles on while filling on bottling day. That's the 45 bottle tree,vinator,& super Agata bench capper on the left,all by Ferrari. Ya just gotta know where to look!
Or,more precisely,what the Mechanic says to max-