can sprouted Mung Bean be used as a Malt

[Blueflame46]

Hi Folks,
I just joined your wonderful site yesterday. 20 years ago I did a lot of distilling, mostly from sugar washes, as this was the only product available in S. Arabia. I have always wanted to do some grain mashes, and now that I have am semi retired here in S.E Asia, I have a hankering to make some good ole Moonshine again, this time from Grain.
I have spent the last few weeks looking for Barley with the husk on or just plain old wheat. But haven't located any. Items available here are hulled barley at the supermarket, whole corn and rough ground corn, and millet at the feed store. Can Millet be Malted?
Since I will have to use some sort of malt, I was wondering if sprouting Green Mung Bean (the ones they make bean sprouts from), Malting and drying them, would produce enough of Diastase to convert the ground corn.
Every time Malt is mentioned, it is always associated with grain, never with beans. Also these beans are quite affordable about 2$/kg.
The hulled Barley is about 4$/400gm packet. I did buy one packet this evening, and will try and sprout them. They look too polished to be alive. I will also try malting some of the corn. I bought 5 kilos of each, whole and ground, at about 50 cents a kilo.
Your kind insight will be much appreciated.
Conrad

[WalkingWolf]

Blueflame -- I did a bit of digging and I read more about mung beans than I ever thought imagineable -- couldn't find a single reference to diastatic power value associated with mung bean. No reason not to give it a try though and report back to us. You mite be on to the next big thing.

good luck

[Blueflame46]

Walkingwolf,
thanks for your quick response. I guess none of our members have been faced with this dilemma. I will go ahead and malt a kilo each of Mung Bean, Corn and the Barley. I checked the Barley packet again this morning, and its Pearl Barley, packed by Mcgarret. Problem is I cannot ferment any of the mash, till my still is ready, probably in another week or so, depending on how much time I have!Will keep you updated, when Im up and running
Cheers
Conrad

[Bushman]

I've never heard the term Mung Bean for Green Bean, had to look it up. My knowledge level grows every day from this forum

[clarkee142]

The other product that I suspect contains a high amount of amylase is manioc which maybe available in SE Asia. Its a root product and when cooked it tastes quite sweet which I suspect is conversion of starch to sugars via amaylase. Fresh ginger is also a source of amylase which you need to break down the starch into its sugars. Good luck!

[Dnderhead]

I posted somewhere, but
the highest in enzymes are grain /seeds ,, then next was beans and of these soy was the highest and roots on the bottom end
with the winner of roots being sweet potato.
any grain/seed can be malted.