I am new to distilling. I have researched a basic corn mash recipe. However I am getting mixed results whether or not to use malt. Some recipes call for water, sugar, corn meal and yeast. Others call for water, sugar, corn meal, yeast and malt. So I need to know if I need to use malt or not. Please help.
It won’t hurt to add it- but if you are already adding sugar you don’t need to add it. The malt will help convert the starch in the corn meal into sugar- but since you are already adding sugar you are not depending on that conversion to happen.
Beerdcomb is right the malt will help break down the stretch to sugar, which the yeast loves. You can also use an amylase enzyme which will also help break down the starch to sugars.