Do I need Malt Vinegar for pickling onions?

I intend to make several kilograms of pickled onions. Last time I made them, I just dumped in basically what ever vinegar i had to hand. A combination of white malt, brown malt, unmalted, and rice vinegar; plus a tablespoon of cloves.

Turned out just fine (for the onions. Not great for pickled vegetables).

I thought (since my pickled vegitables didn't work), I would look up and see if I had forgotten the recipe. I see in all the recipes I've looked up that it calls for Malt vinegar, or Pickling vinegar.

I'ld really like to use the very plains of vinegars (ie cheapest), The kind that comes in 2L bottles and is marketted for cleaning mirrors (But is food grade).

• Will anything go wrong with this?


• Should I add anything to replace the lost flavour? (eg more spices)


• Can I got 50:50 malted/plain?