right, a widemouth glass quart jar with mesh lid (can be made from cheap plastic mesh sold at hardware store plus rubber band) is good for most things, but other less ideal setups are possible too. generally soak in water (room temp) 8 hours or overnight, then the rinsing and sprouting begins (with jar propped at 45 angle). need ventilation and some rinsing to prevent spoiling, but otoh don't want them to just dry out. buckwheat, though, one of my favorites for sprouting, only needs to be soaked 30 minutes or so. an hour's ok but i wouldn't leave buckkwheat much longer than that. in general smaller seeds can take less soak time, like sesame less but beans more. the amount of soak time, rinsing frequency, and length of sprouting time is the part for experimenting. in general, one might eat when sprout length equal to seed, but to taste. it's important to try to find grains that aren't old, this seemed to be a challenge i encountered. often i like blending sprouted grains into whatever, but they could become bread or eat as is (at least some quantity).

books- ann wigmore's are classics,of course there are others too. try living-foods.com for more recipes, articles, links if you are interested.