getting ready for my first brew

I'm about to go out and buy a 6 gallon stainless steel pot and giant steel spoon to start on my first ever brew. I've spent the last two weeks reading and watching ever brewing website I could find and I think I have a grasp on how to do it.

Luckly I found out I live within walking distance of one of the better homebrew stores in Michigan "cap n cork" which is where I plan on getting the rest of my equipment to start. Now the question is which beer to start with first. I have been craving an octoberfest for quite sometime. I would assume that the closest thing to it without lagaring is a red ale? Any ideas of any decent recipes for that nice sweet taste. I'd prefer to do an extract as it seems pretty simple, but going grain doesn't seem to difficult, just a bit more work.

Get your feet wet with extracts first. Watching videos and reading only go so far. You got to be ONE WITH THE WORT. Going grain is a lot more work and more equipment demands. There are plenty of good extract Octoberfest kits out there that use ale yeast. If you looking at sweetness, you can always add lactose at the end of the boil to bring it up.

If you are on your own, I would definately recommend starting with an extract kit, and a simple ale at that. Ive tought a few people on my system (Rims) and it always looks easy. If you can, try to sit in with another homebrewer while they do their thing. Learning hands on is soo much easier (and quicker) than trial and error.

+1 on getting started with extracts.

I would say when you go out to buy your brew kettle, look for something in the 7.5-8 gallon range, especially if you'll be brewing outside on a powerful burner. 6 gallons will put your wort a few inches from the top, things get splashy and its a mess

Also very often with all grain you will collect more than 5 gallons of wort and a bigger kettle will accommodate that without boil-overs

extract first it is. I work with two home brewers and plan on watching one of them do their first lager next week. I've found these forums to be the most helpful. I have keeping everything infection free and gravity reading beat into my head.

Don't get so worried to death about infections. If you generally clean you should be OK. It's not like you need to be as sterile as an operating room.