I think starting at AG may be a bit overwhelming for some people. The 1st brew day will be pretty intense and you will worry about every little thing. I did an extract 1st and am REALLY happy I did. It was a kit that had some stepping grains. I, like most new brewers, practiced hitting and holding temps, how to add in the malts and hops ect,ect. It takes some time to get used to your equipment. Either way you choose will be fine. Some people need to be "put in the water to see if they can swim." while others can handle "being thrown from the cliff to see if they can fly."
Next I did a partial mash then went to AG from there. AG is great and everyone will tell you to get into that for a bunch of different reasons (they are all good ones btw). I personally liked a fast stepping stone approach and with each step being able to add a bit more.
Either way do what you feel most comfortable with.
I will direct you to read Death Brewers easy stove top partial guide and AG guide (they link to each other and the 1st one is stickied at the top of this section.) if you have not.
Since you stated that you will be doing this "stove top and can not boil more than 5 gallons at a time" I do have a few good suggestions for you since I am still on the stove top, as well. I do AG "split boil" batches now and love it.
* Split boil is boiling your 6.5-7 gallons of wort in 2 different pots and splitting the hops additions in half, then cooling them generally with an ice bath and dumping them into the fermentor.
- Get 2 boil kettles. I prefer stainless steel and 5 gallon sizes (25 quarts), I currently have 1-5 and 1-4 gallon pot. Walmart has these and if there is a Big Lots near you check with them (or even the vendors here).
- Get a basic kit that will include: a 6.5 gallon ale pail, a carboy or Better bottle (6 or 6.5 gallon), a floating thermometer and a hydrometer. You will also want an auto siphon, capper, bottling wand as well as caps and sanitizer. The kit should also come with an airlock and bung.
- Do yourself a massive favor and invest a few dollars in a spray bottle and fill it with sanitizer. This will help you use less AND you can spray the hot break so you do not have a boil over and a huge mess on the stove.
- A digital scale (for food) is another great investment and will help you greatly.
- A large spoon and/or mash paddle, also a must for brewing.
I also have some extra brew bags large fine/coarse and a jumbo coarse, Irish Moss and Camden tablets on hand as well.
The above will be enough to get you through either an extract or DB's partial mash easily.
Here is the really nice to have section but not necessary: A vinator and a wine thief. Crates or empty bottle cases. Walmart has some for back to school for $3 each they hold between 24-30 bottles. Each batch is about 50 so you can figure out how many you want. These just make life easier...
Next comes the DIY or "deep pockets section", your choice.
You will need pry off capable bottles. You can either buy empties or start buying some decent craft brews to test. I choose the later...because to get them filled with beer is just a little bit more than buying empties and I get to learn what I may like to brew...
- blowoff tube and bucket - these are pretty straight forward and IMO a MUST to have for every beer that is in primary. I have had a few close calls that my blow off tube has saved me from cleaning massive messes. search for it here.
- a swamp cooler if you need temp control. Also easy to find a ton of info here on this.
I built the rubbermaid cooler conversion MLT and it is AWSOME for AG, indoors.
The above will let you do AG no problems.
I also am building - a bottle tree, wort chiller, grain mill and stir plate because they are nice to have also in the DIY section and far cheaper to DIY than buy.
The next step is to move outside and do larger than 5 gallon batches which all the above will "prime you for". For that you will need a larger boil vessle (keggle or pot) and a good burner.
The reason I mention moving outside is it will probably come to that and I want to add here that Craigs list is a GREAT way to get items for cheap. I check mine daily. I have bought a few kits/items and hit a few rummage sales that have paid off BIG TIME IMO.
I hope this is not an "information overload", it is not meant to be. Having a good plan is important! The very last piece of advice is this, Try to plan your next batch/brew day 2-3 weeks from your 1st one so you do not run out of home brews! I also try to squeeze in 1 DIY in-between batches if I can.
Let us know how it goes and welcome to the obsession!