A cone-shaped herb often added to malt to introduce bitterness. Without hops, most beers would be unbearably sweet. Often found in concentrated pellet form. The basis of all beers. The cheapest ingredient of all.
Tap water works fine.
Usually you can buy all the hardware, as well as your first can of hopped malt, in a kit. Once you've mastered kit beer, you can move on to the more difficult stuff like full-grain malts. Sanitize your equipment first. Next, prepare your wort. Bring 1-1.5 gallons of water to boil in your brewpot, then add the malt extract and four pounds of sugar.