Easiest method, and cheapest to set up, IMO, is “brew in a bag”
To do a typical homebrewer’s batch of 23l, you can get started with the following if your hob is gas or old fashioned electric:
32l stainless steel brewpan with tap and hop strainer – £75ish
Ritchie’s “New mashing & sparging bag” – £10ish
Siphon tubing, bottling stick – £10ish
Fermenter – £10-15
Bottles – free if you buy bottled beers. Fullers, Theakstons & Black Sheep are really easy to clean & remove the labels
Crown caps – £2 for 50
Big plastic spoon £3
Thermometer £3-4
Hydrometer & trial jar about £10
Grains – typically 4-5kg pale malt – about £8 ; crystal malt, 1-200g about £2 for 500g
Hops – a single hop recipe can be as little as £4 for more than you need for 1 brew
Yeast – £2-4
Patience – priceless 😉
My LHBS does complete recipe kits from about £15, contains all the grains, hops, yeast etc to make a whole batch; pale malt can also be bought in 25kg sacks for about £35 or less. Works out cheaper that way
How long? Typically 2 weeks to ferment, 2 weeks for carbonation in the bottle and another 2 weeks for bottle conditioning